For people out there who are roughly around 40 and younger, you might not even know that Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving Day football are two separate things. Some people legitimately believe that Thanksgiving is an NFL-sponsored holiday. That’s how synonymous football is with turkey on Thanksgiving. It really is amazing how much the sport of professional football has grown in America, and how it’s the thing that millions of people are looking forward to on Thursday, not their overly-dry turkey slices and jellied canned cranberry stuff. Las Vegas oddsmakers understand just how popular football is on Thanksgiving, and so they’re taking no holiday when it comes to handicapping the matches.

Throughout this post, we’re going to look at the Las Vegas odds for Thanksgiving Day football games, and speak briefly about how those oddsmakers in the desert are actually coming up with their numbers.

Current Odds For Thanksgiving Day NFL Football Matchups

Let’s go over the odds quickly for the three games being played on Thanksgiving Day. First up, we’re going to have the Minnesota Vikings (6-4) visiting the Detroit Lions (6-4) in a game that will decide the leader in the NFC North. At this current juncture, there may be no two teams in the NFL as evenly matched. The Lions have a top offense, the Vikings a top defense, and each team has an identical record. Though because the offense trumps defense in most NFL games today, the slight edge goes to the home team, and the Detroit Lions are favored at -2.5. The O/U is 43, so it’s not even expected to be much of a high-scoring game. Something about 24-20 for the over seems to be the practical outcome. The Lions get the nod here by, in part, being a hot team, winners of 4 of their last 5, while Minnesota has actually lost 4 of their last 5.

What will likely be the more exciting game, we have the Washington Redskins (6-3) traveling to Texas to face off against the Dallas Cowboys (9-1). The Cowboys have the longest winning streak in the NFL, and with Dak Prescott, they have a young QB who’s set the record for the longest winning streak by a rookie in history. Can this continue? With the Cowboys favored at -7, some seem to believe they will. The Cowboys may just be too much for the Redskins to handle while at home. They have a very strong running game, an unflappable passing game, and a defense that bends but doesn’t break. It will take Kirk Cousins racking up some insane yards to compete, and the edge is going to stay with Dallas in this regard, as the Cowboys’ pass rush should be able to shut that down.

The fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-5) and Indianapolis Colts (5-5) aren’t division rivals doesn’t make this game any less exciting. The Steelers are favored, going off at -8, and that’s mostly because the Colts are without Andrew Luck, who’s out with a concussion this week. Although we also see Pittsburgh winning, we don’t believe it’s going to be some run-away walk in the park. The Steelers’ offense can be held in check with even a modest set of man coverage keeping Antonio Brown underneath. The Colts are certainly intelligent enough to play tight in the secondary, which may keep the game close going into the 4th quarter.

How Oddsmakers Come up with Their Odds

Before we get into the numbers and data used by oddsmakers to set their odds, here’s something incredibly important to keep in mind: A favorite doesn’t necessarily mean that Vegas is picking that team to win. In other words, having the Cowboys at -7 doesn’t mean the oddsmakers believe the Cowboys will win by a touchdown; it’s simply a number that’s used to hopefully induce the same amount of action from each side. Oddsmakers are trying to balance a book at the end of the day, allowing the proceeds from the bets lost (by people) to pay out the bets won, with a healthy chunk going to the sportsbook in question. To this end, all data used by oddsmakers is used to determine a line you expect to see, want to see, and will bet on.

A good example of this would be the 2007 Super Bowl, played with the New York Giants vs. the New England Patriots. All computer models of facts and figures had the Patriots at only a 9-point favorite, which is pretty big. But Vegas’ oddsmakers realized that, colloquially speaking, the Patriots were more or less invincible, and to get people to bet on the Giants, they were going to have to give up more points. Therefore, the average line out of Vegas for the Super Bowl was Patriots -13. AccuScore provides the data, which is objective, but the way the line is set and moves is subjective to what the gamblers actually want to bet on. Bet you didn’t know that you—and not Vegas—were the entity responsible for the odds lines!

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We made 4 bold predictions for the 2014 NFL Draft, Round 1. Nailing 3 of those 4 predictions was nice, but Houston could have helped us out by trading away the #1 overall pick. That didn’t happen, as they drafted arguably the best raw physical talent in the entire draft, and some say of the past few years, in Jadeveon Clowney, the All-World defensive end out of South Carolina. Johnny “Football” Manziel was another big name going into the first round of the 2014 National Football League Draft Thursday, but he slipped, slid and tumbled all the way to … the team that wanted him and the team he wanted to play for anyway. The Cleveland Browns originally had the #9 overall pick, and they traded up from there to #8 to ensure they would get CB Justin Gilbert out of Oklahoma State. (Draft Trivia: the Browns got Manziel in a trade with the #22 spot. The last two picks at #22 for Cleveland were also QBs, Brady Quinn in 2007 and Brandon Weeden in 2012, two failed projects. Deja Vu all over again?)

The 2014 NFL Draft is upon us. A record 30 college football players have been invited to the Radio City Music Hall in New York, as anticipation of the always exciting first round gets underway Thursday, May 8 at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time. And while it is very easy for even the average fan to predict that DE Jadeveon Clowney and QB Johnny Manziel will be big money makers on Thursday’s first round, no picks are guaranteed until they are announced. This includes the number one overall selection. That belongs to the Houston Texans this year, and they could stick with Clowney, a virtual lock as a 10 or 12 year dominant defensive presence, they could trade that pick away, or they could do any unpredictable number of things. Along those lines, here are our 4 bold predictions for NFL draft 2014 odds.

March Madness is a much better moniker than the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and the term actually originated back in 1939 and had nothing to do with college basketball. Henry V. Porter wrote an article called “March Madness” for the Illinois High School Association magazine, referring to the fanatical high school basketball fans in his state. It wasn’t until 1982 when CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger mentioned March Madness during that network’s NCAA tournament coverage that the term was applied to NCAA basketball, and one year later, madness was in full effect. Even though filling out a perfect NCAA tournament bracket is 18 times more unlikely to happen than being killed by a waterspout, bracketology will be running wild after the NCAA Selection Committee announces the teams that it has chosen and passed over on Selection Sunday, March 16.

With predictions flying like crazy on anything Super Bowl related, it seems to be the only topic worthy of discussion at the moment. I have seen predictions that it will be the most violent NFL game in history, that there will be the most injuries of any Super Bowl game in history, that the Seahawks will win, and that the Broncos will win. It is safe to say that everyone is obsessed and has their own take on the game. It is not surprising that everyone wants in on the action, but quite honestly the only predictions I am really interested in are the Super Bowl betting odds that are shaping up and the point spread that is being designated because I will be betting on this game, and I am not alone. It is estimated that more than $8 billion is wagered on this one game alone.

It is week 14 and the early futures bets are in on who will win Super Bowl XLVIII. The clear favorites are currently the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos, with the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers making a late season run. The 2014 National Football League Super Bowl will be played in MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey on February 2, 2014. In what may add some serious repercussions to the outcome of the game, this is the first Super Bowl ever to be played outdoors in a cold weather environment. This is also the first Super Bowl in 38 years which has the AFC and NFC participants competing on artificial turf outdoors, which may also significantly impact game play.

The NFL Draft 2013 is big on “beef and potatoes” as one NFL exec stated. With no clear high-profile quarterback projected to go number one overall, and no wide receiver or running back destined for that historical pick, an offensive tackle appears to be the right move. After four straight years of a marquee quarterback going number one overall, this year could see three offensive tackles in the top 10 picks. The Kansas City Chiefs have the number one pick of this year’s NFL draft, and have openly talked about trading down, but if they do pick first, Texas A&M tackle Luke Joeckel is about the surest thing in a draft which is filled with question marks.

Randy Moss proclaims himself the greatest NFL wide receiver of all time. Sports Illustrated claims that Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis huffed an illegal deer antler spray to enhance his abilities on the field. Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs prefers gumbo to jambalaya, and 49ers backup QB Alex Smith is frustrated about losing the starting job to Colin Kaepernick, expressing his feelings about being in the Super Bowl as “bittersweet.” Welcome to the annual madness that is Super Bowl Media Day. Every year the Tuesday before the upcoming Super Bowl is scheduled for the media to talk to the players and coaches, and it is always memorable.

Super Bowl XLVII will take place between the Baltimore Ravens of the AFC and the NFC’s San Francisco 49ers on February 3, held once again at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Call it the Har-Bowl, the battle of the undefeated (neither team has a Super Bowl loss), or the geriatric bowl with senior citizens Ray Lewis and Randy Moss on opposite sides of the ball, but the matchups and story lines are very intriguing to say the least. Two stingy defenses and two offenses capable of big plays and quick strikes will be on hand, and the first ever brother versus brother head coaching matchup in Super Bowl history will take place.

The poor NFL replacement refs working in place of striking seasoned officials have had their day in the sun, and it wasn’t a pretty one. Here is what happened. Vegas odds on the Seattle Seahawks playing at home against the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football this week showed Seattle as a 3 point underdog going into the contest. That was even though Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers have struggled in this early NFL season. Also, Seattle has been impressive in MNF games, is very strong as a home underdog the last couple of years and plays well at home. Despite those clues that Seattle would cover against the spread at home against Green Bay, many bettors around the globe put their money down on Green Bay to get back on track with a big win on the road. But with 8 seconds remaining in the game and trailing 12 – 7, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson threw what was ruled on the field as a touchdown pass to wide receiver Golden Tate as time expired, and the Seattle faithful at CenturyLink Field exploded in celebration.