| | Huge point spread might have cost casinos
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS -- Bettors who had the New England Patriots over
the favored St. Louis Rams were the big winners in Nevada's sports
books after Sunday's Super Bowl.
Football fans and oddsmakers said they were surprised that the
Patriots beat the 14-point favorite Rams by 20-17. The game also
finished below the over/under line posted at 53 by most of the
city's sports books.
"I'm doing lousy on my bets," said Mike Klimeck, a salesman
from Chicago and a Rams fan who was watching the game in the busy
sports book at the downtown Golden Nugget hotel-casino. "The
Patriots' defense is surprising. I thought the Rams would have had
a lot more points."
The winning Patriots going into the game as the underdog could
mean Nevada's sports book ultimately come out losers in this year's
big game, according to Bally's-Paris Las Vegas Race and Sports Book
director John Avello.
"Any time the underdog wins the game straight up, more players
did well than not," he said, adding that the moneyline opened up
paying 5-1 and closed at 3½-1. That means a $20 bet at 5-1 was a
$100 winner.
"It's a patriotic year, so I guess it's fitting," Avello said.
"But I would say that overall the sports books probably didn't do
well. I think the moneyline is where the difference is in the game.
That's where the books may have gotten hurt."
Although it will be several days before the final betting
results are totaled, oddsmakers were estimating before the game
they would take in from the biggest sports betting event of the
year about $70 million -- up from last year's $67.7 million.
Last year's figure was up from the $40 million wagered in Nevada
on the 1991 Super Bowl, but down from the all-time high of $77.2
million on the 1998 game.
"We were a winner because we didn't have a whole lot of
liability on the game," said Joe Lupo, manager of the Stardust
hotel-casino's sports book, because the line didn't move much from
the Rams opening as a 15½-point favorite.
But Lupo and Avello agreed that money might not have been there
despite capacity crowds.
"The money wasn't there because the point spread was a little
huge and a lot of people weren't sure which way to go," Avello
said.
Lupo agreed.
"I don't think it will beat last year's numbers because I don't
know if the volume in dollars was here," Lupo added.
Both said it was too early to tell how the proposition bets came
in, but Lupo said the books were fine on futures bets at the
beginning of the season when the Patriots were favored 50-1
compared to the Rams at 3-1.
"The Rams more than made up for Patriots," he said.
Industry observers believe the state's handle, or sports books'
hold on the Super Bowl has been dropping annually because there are
more opportunities for people to place their bets on the big game
elsewhere, namely in "offshore" sports books, which allow bettors
to place their wagers over the phone or on the Internet.
In 1998, Nevada sports books had a record handle of $77.3
million on the Super Bowl, but the handle has dipped in each of the
last three games despite growth in the state's population and its
visitor volume.
In 2001, according to state Gaming Control Board figures,
casinos won a little more than $11 million for a 16.3 percent
profit -- the best take for the house in more than a decade.
Hundreds of millions dollars are bet illegally across the
country on the game, from office pools to corner illegal bookies.
Offshore sports books which operate Internet gambling sites were
also expected to do a heavy business.
"Offshore betting is hurting us," Lupo said. "The offshore
industry has a history now and I think people feel more comfortable
(placing bets)."
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SB XXXVI Over/Under
