Tampa Bay Rays ODDS

Betting on the Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are one of the MLB’s youngest franchises, but it built up a reputation for consistency in its short time, making it a popular pick among bettors.

Tampa Bay Rays Franchise History

Tampa Bay integrated into Major League Baseball as an expansion team in 1998. The franchise wanted to be the Tampa Bay Sting Rays, but a short-lived minor league baseball team owned the rights. As a result, Tampa Bay originated as the Devil Rays.

For nearly a decade, the Devil Rays couldn’t quite climb out of the league’s basement, reaching 70 wins just once. In 2008, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays became the Tampa Bay Rays.

Coincidentally, in its first season with a new name, Tampa Bay mad a run to the World Series for the first time in its short history.

Evan Longoria, Carlos Peña, and a solid pitching staff couldn’t quite complete the team’s magical run as they fell in five games to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The franchise’s second World Series appearance came in a shortened 2020 season when it fell to the Dodgers 4-2. Despite failing to win a World Series title to this point, the Rays have kissed their losing ways goodbye as they routinely position themselves for the playoffs.

Betting on the Rays in Florida

Florida sports betting is complex, but as of March 2022, there are no available online sportsbooks. Oddly enough, mobile sports betting was offered in Florida for about a month toward the end of 2021.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida launched its Hard Rock online sportsbook app to Floridians, but a complex web of legal issues resulted in the app being taken down a month after launch.

Essentially, a compact agreement between the Seminole Tribe and the state of Florida led to statewide online sports betting. However, the Department of the Interior only let the agreement proceed and did not explicitly approve the compact.

That decision shifted any rulings to the court system, which is where complex legal disputes led to the Hard Rock sportsbook app’s demise.

In 2022, sportsbook operators DraftKings and FanDuel failed to acquire enough signatures to land sports betting on the 2022 ballot.

Despite admitting defeat for 2022, DraftKings CEO is confident that sports betting will make its way onto the 2024 ballot which would likely set up a 2025 launch.

For Rays fans and bettors itching to place a wager on their team, you can expect to see something like this when Florida solves its complex sports betting issues:

-          Tampa Bay Rays -110

-          Red Sox -110

In this example, both the Rays and Red Sox are -110 on the moneyline. That means a bettor who likes either team to win would need to place a $110 wager to net $100 in profit.