With so much interest among New York sports betting fans on the Mets and Yankees this time of year, along with the Brooklyn Nets and New York Rangers in the playoffs, bettors might forget there is Major League Soccer (MLS) to wager on right now.
Let’s take a closer look at the two local teams with fan bases in New York.
New York City FC
The defending MLS champions are 2-1-3 (7 points) six games into the young season and currently sit in 10th place in the 14-team Eastern Conference standings, tied with the New England Revolution (2-1-4), FC Cincinnati (2-1-4) and Inter Miami CF (2-1-4). The Philadelphia Union (16 points) are in first place with a 5-1-1 record.
A look at the latest future odds by BetMGM (April 15) to defend the league title have New York at +1200 after opening the season at +1000 with 4.8% of tickets and 5.5% of the handle.
In its next match, New York FC (-275) will host Toronto (+675) on Sunday (5 p.m., YES Network, ESPN+) at Citi Field Stadium, more commonly known as the home of the New York Mets.
Bouncing back would not be a shock for New York City FC supporters. The team ended last season in fourth place in the East with a 14-11-9 record (51 points) and stormed its way to the MLS Cup, beating the Portland Timbers in the final in a penalty shootout.
Last year, Valentin Castellanos, from Argentina, led the team with scoring with 19 goals. His four goals to date again top the team.
New York Red Bulls
The Red Bulls (3-2-2, 11 points), based in Harrison, N.J., are currently tied for third place in the Eastern Conference with Atlanta United (3-2-2) and Toronto FC (3-2-2).
A look at the latest future odds by BetMGM to capture that elusive first league championship has the Red Bulls at +2500; they were +2000 before the season. The Red Bulls currently have 2.9% of the tickets and 2.5% of the handle.
New York has two matches this week, starting with a Wednesday contest at Hartford Athletic in a U.S. Open Cup match at Trinity Health Stadium at 7 p.m. The Red Bulls then will travel to Orlando City in a top 3 MLS matchup on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at Exploria Stadium.
BetMGM has Orlando City listed as a +130 favorite in regular time, with the Red Bulls at +195 and a tie at +225.
Check out EmpireStakes.com for updates and the best New York sports betting promo codes.
March Upswing Brings April ????
New York enjoyed a big month for sports betting in March with an announced handle of $1.63 billion, almost topping the record set in the 24 days of legal betting in the month ($1.69 billion) of January.
Much of that is attributed to one of the biggest events of the year, March Madness.
There still will be plenty of sports action in April but traditionally the handle number will not be as strong. The first week of April, however, showed encouraging results.
