The San Francisco 49ers open their preseason schedule Thursday evening when they host the Dallas Cowboys at Levi’s Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. PT, and I don’t think I will ever stop complaining about a 10 p.m. ET kickoff to a football game.
The 49ers enter the game as a 3.5 point favorite. Preseason betting is never a simple task because teams are not playing to win. We see limited play from the starters, particularly in the first preseason game. Teams are not game-planning for their opponent, but rather trying to install their own systems and evaluate their roster for the eventual cuts.
Nonetheless, it is still interesting to see where bettors are looking in these games. In the case of 49ers-Cowboys, there is an interesting split. Oddsmaker William Hill released an update on the kind of betting they’re getting on the game. 57 percent of total tickets have been bet on the Cowboys, while 60 percent of total money wagered on the line has gone in the direction of the 49ers. Our partners at Odds Shark also track total tickets wagered on the game, and they have Dallas with 59% of bets.
We don’t know how many tickets or how much money is being wagered, so any analysis has to be taken with a certain grain of salt on preseason wagering. It is possible this is a small number of bets with one or two making for a drastic swing. But just based on these numbers, it could suggest that more recreational bettors are betting on Dallas, while a smaller number of sharper (more professional) bettors are betting more money on the 49ers. If that were the case, you’d probably be more inclined to lean on the 49ers if you were betting the game.