Jim Irsay: Indianapolis Colts Owner References Week 1 Point Spread on Twitter

Jim Irsay is one of the more active NFL owners in terms of social media, consistently reaching out to his 160,000-plus Twitter followers, but one of his Wednesday tweets caught my attention as the site's sports betting columnist.

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I guess we're 10 point Dogs in Vegas in Opener in ChiTown already...I hope we get ColtsFans making the journey 2 ChiTown,Twitter Bus maybe? 

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The Indianapolis Colts are currently 10-point road underdogs against the Chicago Bears in the NFL betting odds for Week 1 (courtesy of SBR Forum), with oddsmakers signaling that the franchise has a long way to go in its rebuilding phase.

I would have simply skimmed over the tweet if he mentioned the team being an underdog in traveling to the Windy City, but referencing the exact point spread and Las Vegas in the same sentence is a topic for discussion.

It also comes at a time when New Jersey governor Chris Christie is challenging the federal government to legalize sports gaming in his home state—a potential domino in allowing the rest of the nation to enjoy something that only four states are able to engage in.

The National Football League is big business and will likely need to embrace sports betting in the not-too-distant future, as there's few things more exciting than visiting a Sin City sports book on a fall afternoon.

After all, Irsay's comment is still worlds apart from horse racing—a sport that allows a trainer to earn an extra $20,000 for winning the Kentucky Derby.

The Colts owner was only able to offer $300 and an Andrew Luck jersey when tweeting on the first Saturday in May:

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Derby Time! Pick Winner $300 and A Luck Jersey..Bonus extra $300 for picking Win,Place,Show,1 guess only by 4pm,Abby hatpick for Winner!

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Bravo, Doug O'Neill, bravo.

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