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Hot Dog Eating Contest: Sportsbook shares how July 4th tradition is being bet
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Happy Fourth of July! What better way to celebrate the USA than with a hot dog eating contest?
The annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is being held Thursday. The women’s competition will be held in the morning (10:45 a.m. ET) with the men’s competition set to begin at noon.
The 2024 event will have a different feel. Multi-year champion Joey Chestnut is not involved in this year’s Nathan’s contest due to his representation with Impossible Foods to sponsor a meatless dog, a conflict with Nathan’s and Major League Eating.
In Chestnut’s absence, Geoffrey Esper is the favorite at BetMGM. The sportsbook has Esper priced at -115 to win the competition. It would take a $115 wager to win $100 on Esper for a $215 payout.
With the above odds, Esper has received 30.8% of the tickets (bets) for 33% of the handle (money bet), in BetMGM data shared with Saturday Down South.
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There’s more money on one of Esper’s rivals. James Webb is priced at +130 at BetMGM. A Webb win would turn a $100 wager on Webb into a $230 payout.
Webb at +130 has received 30.5% of the tickets for 51.1% of the handle, per BetMGM data.
Props are also popular bets for this year’s Hot Dog Competition. While Joey Chestnut ate 70+ hot dogs multiple times, no other official competitor in the Nathan’s contest has ever downed more than 65.
In Chestnut’s absence, the odds look a bit over. On over/under bets, fans are hammering the overs, believing that there is always room for another hot dog.
Here’s what BetMGM shared about participant over/unders for Thursday:
- 99% of money on Nick Wehry over 44.5 hot dogs eaten
- 99% of money on James Webb over 47.5 hot dogs eaten
- 69% of money on Geoffrey Esper under 49.5 hot dogs eaten
Miki Sudo has won the Nathan’s women’s competition nine times since 2014. She’s a strong favorite to win again in 2024. Priced at -1600 at BetMGM, Sudo has received 23.1% of the bets for 89.6% of the handle. Her over/under is set at 40.5 hot dogs, with 93% of the money on over.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
