It was the boost heard ‘round the world — especially in New Jersey.

On Saturday, ESPN BET offered the Baltimore Ravens to beat the Houston Texans by 10 or more points — i.e. Ravens -9.5 points — at +110. They offered this in all states where they operate.

The line everywhere else was the same -9.5, but at -110 odds. (ESPN BET also boosted the Ravens -10.5 to +140.)

Also — and while ESPN BET wouldn’t confirm it, though some sports bettors would — limits on this boost were high. As in, very high. As in, nosebleed. One sports bettor told Sports Handle of a $50,000 bet. Others were posting on Discord channels of $2.5 million limits.

So why was ESPN BET offering this boost at seemingly infinite limits? Some thought it was because Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale put a fortune down on the Texans and ESPN BET was looking to even things out. And while McIngvale did indeed lay down a fortune, he did it with Caesars Sportsbook.

He placed 3 bets on the Texans @CaesarsSports:

$210K on HOU (+345 ML) vs. Ravens to win $724K

$263K on HOU (+9.5) vs. Ravens to win $239K

$27K on Texans to win the Super Bowl (+3000) to win $810K

If all 3 hit, he will win $1.77 MILLION pic.twitter.com/POc6yEg4L8

— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) January 20, 2024

Is it possible there was another large bet, or a series of large bets, that had ESPN BET out on a ledge with the Texans? Representatives for ESPN BET would neither confirm nor deny that hypothesis. 

Regardless, money flew in, and one way this is known is because of what happened in New Jersey, as bettors flocked to Prophet Exchange and Sporttrade. The two betting exchanges were offering the Texans +9.5 at even odds. (New Jersey is the only state where such exchanges are fully licensed and operational.)

The high limits at ESPN BET coupled with the basically infinite limits at the exchanges created a massive arbitrage opportunity for bettors seeking to guarantee themselves a profit. For example, a bet of $10,000 on the Texans at Prophet Exchange could be matched with a bet of $9,523 at ESPN BET on the Ravens, guaranteeing the bettor a $476 profit.

“Our exchange is a free environment, and as a result, had the best price on the Houston Texans spread,” said Jake Benzaquen, the co-founder of Prophet Exchange. “We saw over $1 million matched on these spreads as a result of arbitrage from users on ESPN BET. It was our biggest-bet game in history.”

— Jake Benzaquen (@jakebenzaq) January 20, 2024

Sporttrade experienced a similar scene, based on a LinkedIn post from their COO, David Huffman, who wrote, “New and existing customers flooded to their Sporttrade deposit pages to plug in as much money as humanly possible to maximize this promotion leading to quite a crazy day. This led to a bit of an internal fire drill, but turned out to be quite a fun day after the Ravens covered 9.5!”

It is unknown how much money was wagered on the game at ESPN BET, as a company representative noted that it, like other sportsbooks, doesn’t routinely share that type of information.