Good read:
thanks to Micah Roberts;;
LAS VEGAS - Sports books here couldn’t have asked for a better opening weekend to the NFL season, as the underdogs went 10-3 against the spread and nearly every key result they needed came through against what was a top-heavy group of favored teams supported by the majority of the betting public.
“This was the best opening day we’ve ever had here,” said Golden Nugget sports book director Tony Miller. ”Just about every game we needed came through for us beginning with our biggest, the Falcons, (SORRY CHOP) and then the rest just followed suit like the Browns, Dolphins and then the Panthers. It wasn’t a good day for those that bet parlays.”
The Las Vegas sports books that generate the most public parlay action are the local joints around neighborhoods off the strip, such as Coast Resorts, South Point and Station Casinos. These books live and die with parlays, and on Sunday they lived like kings.
Jason McCormick, director of Station Casinos’ 18 books across the valley, said the Falcons beating the Saints 37-34 as 3-point underdogs was their gateway to success. (AGAIN SORRY CHOP) Miami knocking off New England, 33-20 as 4-point underdogs was great too, but the Bills -- straight-up winners as 7-point underdogs at Chicago -- were "key to knocking off teaser and money-line liability for the rest of the day.”
After the 10 a.m. (PT) games posted, there were only three games remaining for the bettors to try and recoup their losses from the morning, and those games didn’t turn out so well for them, either.
The 49ers, in front of a surprisingly large sea of 49er-red at AT&T Stadium, beat Dallas, 28-17, as 3.5-point road favorites. The public was right on that one, but unfortunately, they guessed wrong on the other two.
The public loved the Buccaneers at home against the Panthers, and the sharps loved them even more when Ronde Barber, who was covering the game for Fox Sports, reported that Cam Newton wouldn’t start at QB. Derek Anderson, according to Barber, attended the production meeting, something a backup never does.
Even prior to Barber’s report, sharp money was betting against Newton’s banged up ribs and had pushed the Bucs from -1 to -3 (Panthers opened -2.5 in April) . When the report began to carry some weight and the public got behind it, most books got to as high as -5. But in the end, it was the Panthers’ dominating defense that had Newton and Anderson’s back in a 20-14 road win to ruin Lovie Smith’s Tampa debut.
At this juncture, nearly every book in town was jumping for joy, as there was only one game remaining on the day and most of the serious parlay jeopardy had been eliminated. While most books were still long on Denver, the Broncos would have easily been a 7-figure risk across the state if the earlier games had turned out differently.
The Broncos opened the week as 7.5-point favorites over the Colts and got as high as -9.5 Sunday at the Golden Nugget.
“There was so much public money on Denver, and even when I raised it higher than the market number, I was still getting action on them with limit straight bets and parlays,’ said Miller. “They couldn’t get enough of Denver.”
The Broncos had the game in control, 31-10, with 9:49 left, and it looked to be an easy win for about 75 percent of the bettors with live tickets. But Indianapolis scored two late touchdowns to make it 31-24, giving the relatively few Colts bettors -- who may have already tossed their tickets -- an unexpected back-door cover.
The Denver total opened 56 back in April, but was dealt at 55 to 54 most of the week, closing at 54. That number gave many OVER bettors something to cheer about, but not enough to dampen the mood of sports book across the city, or at least in the neighborhood books.
At some Vegas bet shops, what the public plays matter less, because they’re dealing with a certain clientele that local books never get. Wynn Las Vegas book director John Avello, for example, wasn’t as giddy as his colleagues after the day’s results because of heavy-hitting house players who are given virtually as high limits as they want. On this day, it wasn't even football that Avello was sweating.
“A Broncos cover would have been bad for us, but our biggest decision on the day came from baseball, where we had a guest wager heavy (six figures) on the Tigers to beat the Giants (on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball). Just look at my line on the game, and you can tell the type of situation we're in.”
The Tigers were -107 favorites in the morning, but Avello closed his number at Tigers -136, by far the highest in the state. Detroit won, 6-1, but with all the underdogs covering in the NFL, Avello was able to withstand such a huge blow and show a profit for the day. It just wasn't as big as those houses dealing to the frenzied parlay bettors on the first week of NFL action, who also don't have to deal with free-wheeling millionaires betting baseball games on a whim.
thanks to Micah Roberts;;
LAS VEGAS - Sports books here couldn’t have asked for a better opening weekend to the NFL season, as the underdogs went 10-3 against the spread and nearly every key result they needed came through against what was a top-heavy group of favored teams supported by the majority of the betting public.
“This was the best opening day we’ve ever had here,” said Golden Nugget sports book director Tony Miller. ”Just about every game we needed came through for us beginning with our biggest, the Falcons, (SORRY CHOP) and then the rest just followed suit like the Browns, Dolphins and then the Panthers. It wasn’t a good day for those that bet parlays.”
The Las Vegas sports books that generate the most public parlay action are the local joints around neighborhoods off the strip, such as Coast Resorts, South Point and Station Casinos. These books live and die with parlays, and on Sunday they lived like kings.
Jason McCormick, director of Station Casinos’ 18 books across the valley, said the Falcons beating the Saints 37-34 as 3-point underdogs was their gateway to success. (AGAIN SORRY CHOP) Miami knocking off New England, 33-20 as 4-point underdogs was great too, but the Bills -- straight-up winners as 7-point underdogs at Chicago -- were "key to knocking off teaser and money-line liability for the rest of the day.”
After the 10 a.m. (PT) games posted, there were only three games remaining for the bettors to try and recoup their losses from the morning, and those games didn’t turn out so well for them, either.
The 49ers, in front of a surprisingly large sea of 49er-red at AT&T Stadium, beat Dallas, 28-17, as 3.5-point road favorites. The public was right on that one, but unfortunately, they guessed wrong on the other two.
The public loved the Buccaneers at home against the Panthers, and the sharps loved them even more when Ronde Barber, who was covering the game for Fox Sports, reported that Cam Newton wouldn’t start at QB. Derek Anderson, according to Barber, attended the production meeting, something a backup never does.
Even prior to Barber’s report, sharp money was betting against Newton’s banged up ribs and had pushed the Bucs from -1 to -3 (Panthers opened -2.5 in April) . When the report began to carry some weight and the public got behind it, most books got to as high as -5. But in the end, it was the Panthers’ dominating defense that had Newton and Anderson’s back in a 20-14 road win to ruin Lovie Smith’s Tampa debut.
At this juncture, nearly every book in town was jumping for joy, as there was only one game remaining on the day and most of the serious parlay jeopardy had been eliminated. While most books were still long on Denver, the Broncos would have easily been a 7-figure risk across the state if the earlier games had turned out differently.
The Broncos opened the week as 7.5-point favorites over the Colts and got as high as -9.5 Sunday at the Golden Nugget.
“There was so much public money on Denver, and even when I raised it higher than the market number, I was still getting action on them with limit straight bets and parlays,’ said Miller. “They couldn’t get enough of Denver.”
The Broncos had the game in control, 31-10, with 9:49 left, and it looked to be an easy win for about 75 percent of the bettors with live tickets. But Indianapolis scored two late touchdowns to make it 31-24, giving the relatively few Colts bettors -- who may have already tossed their tickets -- an unexpected back-door cover.
The Denver total opened 56 back in April, but was dealt at 55 to 54 most of the week, closing at 54. That number gave many OVER bettors something to cheer about, but not enough to dampen the mood of sports book across the city, or at least in the neighborhood books.
At some Vegas bet shops, what the public plays matter less, because they’re dealing with a certain clientele that local books never get. Wynn Las Vegas book director John Avello, for example, wasn’t as giddy as his colleagues after the day’s results because of heavy-hitting house players who are given virtually as high limits as they want. On this day, it wasn't even football that Avello was sweating.
“A Broncos cover would have been bad for us, but our biggest decision on the day came from baseball, where we had a guest wager heavy (six figures) on the Tigers to beat the Giants (on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball). Just look at my line on the game, and you can tell the type of situation we're in.”
The Tigers were -107 favorites in the morning, but Avello closed his number at Tigers -136, by far the highest in the state. Detroit won, 6-1, but with all the underdogs covering in the NFL, Avello was able to withstand such a huge blow and show a profit for the day. It just wasn't as big as those houses dealing to the frenzied parlay bettors on the first week of NFL action, who also don't have to deal with free-wheeling millionaires betting baseball games on a whim.
