Sports betting roundup: NBA and NHL playoffs near the end of the first round

One NBA playoff series is over, and most of the others are close. The NHL playoffs have been a little more even.

In the Western Conference in the NHL, all four series are tied at two games apiece. In the East, three of the four series are 3-1, with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers playing Game 4 Monday night.

It’s a little different in the NBA. The Oklahoma City Thunder have swept the Memphis Grizzlies and only one series is tied at two (Nuggets-Clippers).

The Boston Celtics took a 3-1 lead in their series against the Orlando Magic with a 107-98 win on the road Sunday night. At the BetMGM online sportsbook, Boston closed as 6.5-point favorites and took in 84% of the bets and 89% of the money in against-the-spread betting. In moneyline betting, only 26% of the bets and 20% of the money came in on the Magic (+240).

The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-113 in Game 4 on Sunday to go up 3-1 in the series. Minnesota closed as a 2.5-point favorite, so even with the narrow margin, they were able to cover the spread. They only drew 33% of the bets and 38% of the money, however.

In the NHL, the Washington Capitals now lead the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 after a 5-2 victory Sunday night. The Capitals took in 66% of the bets and 86% of the money in moneyline betting. The Edmonton Oilers also took a 3-1 series lead with their 4-3 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings. Edmonton drew 69% of the bets and 85% of the money in moneyline betting.

Saturday’s Nuggets-Clippers game was one of the best of the weekend with Denver winning 101-99 on Aaron Gordon’s buzzer-beating dunk. Los Angeles closed as 6.5-point favorites. Only 34% of the money was on Denver (+220). In against-the-spread betting, 60% of the bets and 80% of the money was on the Clippers.

In golf, Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak each won for the first time on the PGA Tour in the lone team event of the season, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The pair finished at 28 under, which gave them a one-shot victory. They were +2500 in pre-tournament betting and took in 5.1% of the bets and 3.5% of the money.

Following the completion of the NFL draft, the Philadelphia Eagles still have the best odds to win the Super Bowl at +650.

The Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs all closely follow at +700, +750 and +750, respectively.

The Detroit Lions rounds out the top five at +900. Those are the only teams with odds shorter than +1000.

This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports

Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell, the Philadelphia Eagles' first round draft pick, selected 31st overall, poses with a jersey during an NFL football news conference at the team's training facility in Philadelphia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Ben Griffin, right, walks up the 17th fairway with teammate Andrew Novak during the final round of the PGA Zurich Classic golf tournament at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La., Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Edmonton Oilers players celebrate a goal against the Los Angeles Kings during an overtime of an NHL playoff gamen in Edmonton on Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Washington Capitals' Connor McMichael (24) watches as the puck goes through the pads of Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) for the game-tying goal by teammate Brandon Duhaime (not shown) during the third period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Los Angeles Lakers center Jaxson Hayes (11) goes up for a dunk during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac, center, shoots as Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic defends during the second half in Game 4 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) shoots the ball past Memphis Grizzlies Vince Williams Jr. (5), Scotty Pippen Jr. and John Konchar (46) during the first half in Game 4 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, right, makes a move to the basket against Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero during the first half in Game 4 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

NEW YORK (AP) — Up until this week, Wall Street has generally benefited from the Trump administration’s policies and has been supportive of the president. That relationship has suddenly soured.

When President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law in July, it pushed another significant round of tax cuts and also cut the budget of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, at times the banking industry's nemesis, by nearly half. Trump’s bank regulators have also been pushing a deregulatory agenda that both banks and large corporations have embraced.

But now the president has proposed a one-year, 10% cap on the interest rate on credit cards, a lucrative business for many financial institutions, and his Department of Justice has launched an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that many say threatens the institution that is supposed to set interest rates free of political interference.

Bank CEOs warned the White House on Tuesday that Trump’s actions will do more harm than good to the American economy. But in response, Trump did not back down on his proposals or attacks on the Fed.

BNY Chief Executive Officer Robin Vince told reporters that going after the Fed’s independence “doesn’t seem, to us, to be accomplishing the administration’s primary objectives for things like affordability, reducing the cost of borrowing, reducing the cost of mortgages, reducing the cost of everyday living for Americans.”

“Let’s not shake the foundation of the bond market and potentially do something that could cause interest rates to actually get pushed up, because somehow there’s lack of confidence in the Fed’s independence,” Vince added.

The Federal Reserve’s independence is sacrosanct among the big banks. While banks may have wanted Powell and other Fed policymakers to move interest rates one way or another more quickly, they have generally understood why Powell has done what he's done.

“I don’t agree with everything the Fed has done. I do have enormous respect for Jay Powell, the man,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told reporters Tuesday.

Dimon's message did not seem to resonate with President Trump, who told journalists that Dimon is wrong in saying it’s not a great idea to chip away at the Federal Reserve’s independence by going after Chair Jerome Powell.

“Yeah, I think it’s fine what I’m doing,” Trump said Tuesday in response to a reporter’s question at Joint Base Andrews after returning from a day trip to Michigan. He called Powell “a bad Fed person” who has “done a bad job.”

Along with the attacks on the Fed, President Trump is going after the credit card industry. With “affordability” likely to be a key issue in this year’s midterm elections, Trump wants to lower costs for consumers and says he wants a 10% cap on credit card interest rates in place by Jan. 20. Whether he hopes to accomplish this by bullying the credit card industry into just capping interest rates voluntarily, or through some sort of executive action, is unclear.

The average interest rate on credit cards is between 19.65% and 21.5%, according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. A cap of 10% would likely cost banks roughly $100 billion in lost revenue per year, researchers at Vanderbilt University found. Shares of credit card companies like American Express, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Capital One and others fell sharply Monday as investors worried about the potential hit to profits these banks may face if an interest rate cap were implemented.

In a call with reporters, JPMorgan’s Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Barnum indicated the industry was willing to fight with all resources at its disposal to stop the Trump administration from capping those rates. JPMorgan is one of the nation's biggest credit card companies, with its customers collectively holding $239.4 billion in balances with the bank, and having major co-brand partnerships with companies such as United Airlines and Amazon. JPMorgan also recently acquired the Apple Card credit card portfolio from Goldman Sachs.

“Our belief is that actions like this will have the exact opposite consequence to what the administration wants in terms of helping consumers,” Barnum said. “Instead of lowering the price of credit, it will simply reduce the supply of credit, and that will be bad for everyone: consumers, the broader economy, and yes, for us, also.”

Even the major airline and hotel partners who partner with banks to issue their cards were also not pleased with the White House's push to cap interest rates.

“I think one of the big issues and challenges with (a potential cap) is the fact that it would actually restrict the lower end consumer from having access to any credit, not just what the interest rate they’re paying, which would upend the whole credit card industry,” said Ed Bastion, CEO of Delta Air Lines, to analysts on Tuesday. Delta has a major partnership with American Express, and its co-brand credit card brings in billions of dollars in revenue for Delta.

Trump seemed to double down on his attacks on the credit card industry overnight. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, he said he endorsed a bill introduced by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, that would likely cut into the revenue banks earn from merchants whenever they accept a credit card at point-of-sale.

“Everyone should support great Republican Senator Roger Marshall’s Credit Card Competition Act, in order to stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff,” Trump wrote.

Trump told reporters Tuesday that he was not going to back down the credit card interest rate issue.

“We should have lower rates. Jamie Dimon probably wants higher rates. Maybe he makes more money that way,” Trump said.

The comments from Wall Street are coming as the major banks report their quarterly results. JPMorgan, the nation’s largest consumer and investment bank, and The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., one of the world’s largest custodial banks, both reported their results Tuesday with Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and others to report later this week.

President Donald Trump arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, speaks at the America Business Forum, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, file)