There wasn’t much faith at BetMGM that Robert Francis Prevost would be selected as the new Pope — less than 1 percent of the money wagered for the next Pope betting market (yes, you could’ve bet on that, but only in Ontario) came in on Prevost. After that Hail Mary cashed in at +5000 odds this past Thursday, bettors, or let’s call them optimists in this scenario, are now backing other long shots related to Prevost’s life before becoming Pope Leo XIV.
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Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago in 1955 and graduated from Villanova University with a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1977 before his journey with the Catholic Church. The first American pope was even captured in old game footage from the 2005 World Series, where he was shown on the FOX broadcast during Game 1 in the Windy City between the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros.
While sportsbooks didn’t report any recent notable betting activity on the White Sox (who are tied for the second-worst World Series odds at +50000 at BetMGM), there were surges on other teams with connections to the Pope immediately after the announcement.
“Sports fans are looking for anything, even potential divine intervention, to help their favorite teams win,” said Neil Walsh, Hard Rock Bet’s SVP-Sportsbook. “Some of our players look at data, others rely on gut feeling, and in this case, potentially a higher power, as we’ve seen a greater than expected volume of bets come through with fans tailing the new Pope’s hometown teams with their wagering.”
Other Chicago teams were immediately flooded with action on them to win the championship. Hard Rock Bet told The Athletic that Thursday featured the most bets on the Cubs to win the World Series and the most bets on the Bears to win the Super Bowl in any day since each betting market was first put up by the sportsbook.
ESPN BET reported similar popularity, with the Bears receiving over two times more bets than any other NFL team to win the Super Bowl in the 24 hours after Prevost was selected as Pope. Can you blame Chicago fans after this tweet from quarterback Caleb Williams?
Daaaaaa Pope
— Caleb Williams (@CALEBcsw) May 9, 2025
The Cubs racked up the third-most World Series wagers at ESPN BET over that same timeframe, while zero bets were placed on the White Sox.
The other team that bettors flocked to on Thursday was Villanova, which currently has +8000 odds at BetMGM to win the men’s basketball national championship in 2026.
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“The interest in Villanova basketball picked up pretty much as soon as we saw the white smoke,” said Adam Landeka, ESPN BET’s VP of Sportsbook Strategy & Growth. “While the Bears and Cubs also saw an uptick in futures betting, the action on Villanova is most notable, with more than 50 percent of bets and nearly a third of all handle on next year’s NCAA men’s champion coming in on the Wildcats.”
That’s right: Villanova attracted more national title bets at both ESPN BET and Hard Rock Bet than every other college basketball team combined in the 24 hours after Prevost was named Pope. At BetMGM, Villanova secured 22 percent of all men’s basketball championship bets over that stretch after entering Thursday with less than 1 percent of the overall title wagers.
According to Pikkit, an app that allows sports bettors to sync their sportsbook accounts, Villanova racked up 70 percent of the bets and 40 percent of the money among all national title bets that it’s tracked across all sportsbooks since Thursday.
As if that wasn’t fun enough, some bettors are even parlaying all three teams to win it all in their respective leagues. Hard Rock Bet told The Athletic that one of its most popular parlays overall last Thursday and Friday was this three-legger: the Cubs to capture the World Series, the Bears to triumph in the Super Bowl and Villanova to cut down the nets.
A $10 wager on that parlay would pay out $703,970 if all three legs hit. If that ends up happening, it may be referred to as the Holy Trinity in sports betting lore.
(Photo by Tiziana Fabi / AFP via Getty Images)
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