This is from Dave Tuley's article on 1/2/06 in Daily Racing Form. Mr. Tuley does an excellent job w/the sports betting section of the form and I enjoy his read's very much.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=heading1>Offshore books lift Steelers to favoritism</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top align=left><TD class=content height=337>By DAVE TULEY
LAS VEGAS - If any doubt remained about the power and influence of the offshore sports betting industry, it was pretty much blown away Sunday afternoon when the opening lines were posted for this weekend's NFL wild-card playoff games.
The AFC North champion Cincinnati Bengals will host the rival Pittsburgh Steelers this coming Sunday in the last of the four wild-card contests. At 3:15 p.m. this past Sunday, Las Vegas Sports Consult-ants sent its opening number of Bengals -3 to its sports book clients.
The Las Vegas Hilton opened the Bengals at -3 (-120), while the Stardust opted for the Bengals -2 1/2. When offshore books such as CRIS, Olympic, and Pinnacle posted the Steelers as 2-point favorites, bettors in Vegas loaded up on the Steelers plus the points. In fact, if you had been in line right away at the Hilton you could have had the Steelers +3 at even money.
To their credit, book managers at the Hilton and Stardust adjusted their odds aggressively. Ed Salmons at the Hilton said he took "two and a half" limit bets on the Steelers plus the points, while Bob Scucci said on the "Stardust Line" radio show that his book moved the line on some bets at less than the $10,000 limit.
That all happened within the span of about half an hour, and by 5 p.m. just about every sports book here and offshore had moved the Steelers to 3-point favoritism, which is where the line stood Monday morning and will probably remain throughout the week.
The over/under on the contest opened at 44 1/ 2 and slowly climbed to 46, where it had pretty much settled by noon Monday.
Here's a look at the line movement on the other wild-card games:
Redskins at Buccaneers: In the wild-card opener set for Saturday afternoon, the Bucs opened as low as 1 1/2-point favorites at the Stardust (offshores opened at 2) and quickly got bet to 2 1/2, which is where it stayed through noon Monday. The Stardust opened the total at 37 1/2 (same as offshore) and the under got bet to drop it to 36 1/2 there. As of Monday, most shops were dealing either 36 1/2 or 37. Jaguars at Patriots: The Stardust and MGM Mirage properties opened the Patriots as 7 1/2-point favorites while most other books went with 8. Within an hour, all books here in Vegas were at 8. The total opened at 38 1/2 at the Stardust, Caesars, MGM Mirage, and Stations and also got bet to the under, settling at 37 at most books Monday. Weather forecasts in the New England area will obviously be monitored closely for this Saturday night game. Panthers at Giants: The Hilton opened this game at Giants -3 (even) and Panthers +3 (-120). With most other books opening at 2 1/2 (though Caesars has the line at just 2), bettors laid the extra juice with the Panthers, and it was at -135 on the +3 as of 5 p.m. By noon Monday, 2 1/2 was the consensus line with the total at 43 points.
His first paragraph says it all. Maybe, the Steelers are the correct fav.
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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=heading1>Offshore books lift Steelers to favoritism</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top align=left><TD class=content height=337>By DAVE TULEY
LAS VEGAS - If any doubt remained about the power and influence of the offshore sports betting industry, it was pretty much blown away Sunday afternoon when the opening lines were posted for this weekend's NFL wild-card playoff games.
The AFC North champion Cincinnati Bengals will host the rival Pittsburgh Steelers this coming Sunday in the last of the four wild-card contests. At 3:15 p.m. this past Sunday, Las Vegas Sports Consult-ants sent its opening number of Bengals -3 to its sports book clients.
The Las Vegas Hilton opened the Bengals at -3 (-120), while the Stardust opted for the Bengals -2 1/2. When offshore books such as CRIS, Olympic, and Pinnacle posted the Steelers as 2-point favorites, bettors in Vegas loaded up on the Steelers plus the points. In fact, if you had been in line right away at the Hilton you could have had the Steelers +3 at even money.
To their credit, book managers at the Hilton and Stardust adjusted their odds aggressively. Ed Salmons at the Hilton said he took "two and a half" limit bets on the Steelers plus the points, while Bob Scucci said on the "Stardust Line" radio show that his book moved the line on some bets at less than the $10,000 limit.
That all happened within the span of about half an hour, and by 5 p.m. just about every sports book here and offshore had moved the Steelers to 3-point favoritism, which is where the line stood Monday morning and will probably remain throughout the week.
The over/under on the contest opened at 44 1/ 2 and slowly climbed to 46, where it had pretty much settled by noon Monday.
Here's a look at the line movement on the other wild-card games:
Redskins at Buccaneers: In the wild-card opener set for Saturday afternoon, the Bucs opened as low as 1 1/2-point favorites at the Stardust (offshores opened at 2) and quickly got bet to 2 1/2, which is where it stayed through noon Monday. The Stardust opened the total at 37 1/2 (same as offshore) and the under got bet to drop it to 36 1/2 there. As of Monday, most shops were dealing either 36 1/2 or 37. Jaguars at Patriots: The Stardust and MGM Mirage properties opened the Patriots as 7 1/2-point favorites while most other books went with 8. Within an hour, all books here in Vegas were at 8. The total opened at 38 1/2 at the Stardust, Caesars, MGM Mirage, and Stations and also got bet to the under, settling at 37 at most books Monday. Weather forecasts in the New England area will obviously be monitored closely for this Saturday night game. Panthers at Giants: The Hilton opened this game at Giants -3 (even) and Panthers +3 (-120). With most other books opening at 2 1/2 (though Caesars has the line at just 2), bettors laid the extra juice with the Panthers, and it was at -135 on the +3 as of 5 p.m. By noon Monday, 2 1/2 was the consensus line with the total at 43 points.
His first paragraph says it all. Maybe, the Steelers are the correct fav.
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