Sports Betting News and Notes: Hamilton Ends F1 Mercedes Run; Card Set for UFC 311; NFL MVP Odds Movement

Posted on: December 9, 2024, 03:05h. 

Last updated on: December 10, 2024, 02:59h.

Mark Keast Read More
Expertise: Canadian Gaming, iGaming, Las Vegas, Sports Betting, NFL, Boxing, UFC.

Lewis Hamilton closed the chapter on his 12 years with Mercedes on Monday — a team with whom he won six F1 titles — as he readies his move to Ferrari for the 2025 season.

Lewis Hamilton wraps up his 12 years with Mercedes at F1. (Image: Remy Steiner/Getty Images for IWC).

Lewis’ time with Mercedes was the most successful run between a driver and team in F1 history.

McLaren Wraps Up Team Title

There’s been about how difficult the move has been for Hamilton. No question the decision, announced in February, impacted the team’s performance this F1 season, as it posted just four wins and finished fourth in the constructor standings.

Nonetheless, according to the , the soon-to-be 40-year-old’s final race behind the wheel of a Mercedes car ended on a heartfelt note:

We dreamed alone but together, we believed,” Hamilton told race engineer Peter Bonnington and team principal Toto Wolff over the radio. “Thank you for all the courage, the determination, and the passion for seeing me and supporting me. What started out as a leap of faith turned into a journey into the history books.”

Meanwhile, the F1 season wrapped up over the weekend with McLaren taking the constructors’ championship after Lando Norris took the checkered flag at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for his fourth win of the season. That was the team’s first constructors’ championship since 1998.

F1 Futures are out for 2025 and Norris is the betting favorite to take the drivers’ title at +180 at , followed by this year’s champ, Max Verstappen, of Red Bull Racing at +225, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari at +450, then Hamilton at +600.

UFC 310 results: Pantoja dominates

Betting favorite Alexandre Pantoja (29-5-0) didn’t disappoint in the flyweight title fight at UFC 310 in Las Vegas on Saturday, beating Kai Asakura in a second-round submission. After the fight, as per tradition, Pantoja called out his next challenger, but he didn’t name Brandon Royval, who he’s beaten twice, including a unanimous decision a year ago, or Brandon Moreno, whom he’s beaten twice as well.

Instead, post-fight he called out for Demetrious Johnson, the ex-UFC flyweight champ who retired earlier this year. Johnson is considered one of the best MMA fighters of all time, finishing his career at 25-4-1, dominating the UFC flyweight division between 2012-2017.

Pantoja is now tied with Johnson for most UFC wins at flyweight, at 13.

Johnson said on X later that he was offered $2 million to fight but turned it down as he’s not at all interested in coming back. But stranger things have happened.

Meanwhile, UFC 311  on January 18 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., is next up with two title bouts led by Islam Makhachev defending his title versus No. 1 ranked Arman Tsarukyan in an epic lightweight division fight.

Makhachev is the UFC’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter according to , last beating Dustin Poirier by submission last June. The second feature bout will see Merab Dvalishvili defending his bantamweight title against No. 2 ranked Umar Nurmagomedov.

Early odds at have Makhachev the favorite at -278 vs. Tsarukyan at +220. In the other main, Nurmagomedov is the favorite at -250 with Dvalishvili at +200.

Allen’s MVP Odds Shift With Dazzling Performance Against Rams

Yes, they lost the game to the LA Rams 44-42 —  the highest-scoring game of the NFL season —  but Buffalo Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen put another stamp on his NFL MVP file with a six-TD performance. Allen scored three times through the air and three times rushing, becoming the first player in NFL history to do that. Allen’s second-half performance included him scoring four times while also going 22-for-37 for 342 yards passing with no interceptions.

With the loss, the Bills, who have already clinched the AFC East, weren’t able to extend their winning streak to eight games.

According to , where the Bills are a popular betting option because of the team’s close proximity to bettors in Ontario, Allen’s MVP odds moved from -200 to -400 after Sunday’s game.

“Most bets are on Allen. Most handle is Lamar (Jackson). Biggest liability is Saquon (Barkley),” said a trader there.

Allen is -400 currently at DraftKings.

“Josh Allen has been excellent all season long, but really separated himself yesterday with six total touchdowns and over 400 yards of offense. Saquon Barkley (+450) is also having an historic season and is still alive in the race, but this has become a quarterback award, and we think it’s Josh Allen’s to lose at this point,” said Johnny Avello, director of sports operations, DraftKings.

And this on the front from BetVictor:

Josh Allen is now 1/4 (-400) to win regular season MVP, was 2/5 (-250) the previous week and it’s now looking like a two-horse race between him and Barkley, who is currently a 9/2 shot (+450),” said Glen Hyslop, a BetVictor trader. “Saquon was traded at 200/1 (+20000) and the top price Allen was traded at was 8/1 (+800).”