Bettors Taking Brad Rutter Early in ‘Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time’ Odds

Posted on: November 19, 2019, 09:39h. 

Last updated on: November 19, 2019, 11:22h.

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Brad Rutter is the early betting favorite to win the “Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time” competition against Ken Jennings and Las Vegas sports bettor James Holzhauer.

Brad Rutter Jeopardy odds
Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and James Holzhauer will vie for the title of the greatest player to ever compete on “Jeopardy!” (Image: Ben Hider/Getty/CBS)

The best-of-seven showdown will begin January 7 in primetime on ABC (8-9 pm ET). The first person to win three games will be declared the game show’s “Greatest of All Time,” and take home $1 million. The two non-winners will each receive $250,000.

“Based on their previous performances, these three are already the ‘greatest.’ But you can’t help wondering: Who is the best of the best?” host Alex Trebek pondered.

Jennings won 74 games and winnings of $3,370,700. Holzhauer won $2,712,216 during his 32-game winning streak.

No one has won more money on Jeopardy! than Rutter, whose haul from the show is $4,688,436. He’s never lost to a human opponent, as the show had appearance caps at the time of his 2000 run.

Rutter Bets

Online bookmaker Bovada was quick to offer odds up on the Jeopardy! showdown. But that might come back to haunt the sportsbook. The initial odds were Holzhauer +110, Jennings +115, and Rutter a distant +280, the latter attractive to many.

I think James will win, but those disrespectful odds for Brad Rutter make me want to throw a few bucks down,” one tweet read. Another: “+280 is great odds for someone who is top earner in Jeopardy history who also happens to be undefeated.”

However, Holzhauer played most recently, and has a slight age advantage. Holzhauer is 35, Rutter 41, and Jennings 45.

“I think that Ken and Brad are going to be at a slight disadvantage,” Trebek opined. “They won the majority of their monies 10, 15 years ago, so they’ve aged a bit. And are their reflexes going to be as good as James Holzhauer’s? Who knows?”

“But we’re going to find out in this tournament. It’s going to be a blast, we’re all excited about it,” the 79-year-old said.

Current Odds

The early action has been on Rutter, which has led to Bovada shortening his odds of being deemed the “greatest.”

The line now stands at Rutter and Holzhauer +140, and Jennings the underdog at +180. The odds imply winning chances of 41.67 percent and 35.71 percent. A $100 bet respectively nets $140 and $180.

BetOnline has Holzhauer the heavy favorite at -200. Rutter is next at +175, and Jennings longer at +225.

The trash-talking is already underway. Jennings never won the Tournament of Champions, as he gave up his entry for a place in the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions. He finished second to winner Rutter.

“This January, watch two Tournament of Champions winners take on a third player brought in to fill out the lineup,” Holzhauer jokingly tweeted.

Meanwhile, Rutter paid tribute to Trebek, who remains battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer. In an ad showing the Jeopardy! host above the three “greatest” contestants, Rutter tweeted, “Srsly tho everybody knows the real @Jeopardy GOAT is the guy in the top half of the frame.”