Las Vegas books experience major loss in NFL Week 15

Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook control room.

After nine straight NFL Sunday’s of getting beat by the Las Vegas sports books, bettors exacted revenge in Week 15 with a furious assault on the posted numbers that led to a massive losing day for the house while turning it into a great Christmas gift for the masses. .

“Our worst day of the year,” said CG Technology VP of risk management Jason Simbal. “We got stuck big with parlays.“

It was almost as if St. Nick himself had been watching the one-sided relationship between NFL bettors and the sports books the past two months and had seen enough of the little guy getting pushed around. Coal in the stocking for the naughty and greedy sports books while the public get cheer and jolly for Christmas.

By no means are the books to be painted out as some kind of villain or Grinch, because all they do is post the numbers and let bettors choose who they want.

It’s pretty simple, the books set the numbers on all the games and you give them money and then pick one side or the other. But where the books make all their money throughout the year is the exotic wagers such as parlays, where a bettor can make a lot for a small amount wagered by tying a couple team together.

Betting parlays was a profitable strategy early on in the season when the public won three of the first five weeks. But after the books ironed out the numbers with five weeks of data, the popular public teams were tougher to win with weekly.

Read More Here....VegasInsider.com

Does Steelers -7 seem too high against Broncos No. 1 defense?

What's the proper number on Steelers-Broncos game?

Last week the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook opened the Steelers (8-5) as 4.5-point home favorites over the Broncos (10-3) in their Early Week 15 lines suggesting they had Pittsburgh rated 1.5-points higher than the Broncos. Following the Week 14 games, that rating differential doubled.

“The Steelers would be -3 or -3.5 on a neutral field so -6 at Pittsburgh was the right number,” said SuperBook vice-president Jay Kornegay, who re-opened the game Sunday night at -6. “I actually think -5 is closer to being the right number. Minus-7 might be a little excessive.”

But that’s where his betting public forced the number. On Friday morning the SuperBook moved Pittsburgh from -6.5 to -7 EVEN while most of the city sits at -6.5.

“The Steelers rating has climbed just over the past week while Denver’s has dropped. The Broncos have a good defense, but its offense can’t run or protect the quarterback. They scored 12 last week and 17 the week before against two lousy defenses (Oakland, San Diego).”

Pittsburgh has the league’s No. 2 offense at 404 yards-per-game while Denver has the No. 1 ranked defense allowing only 272 yards per game, which is 35 yards less a game than No. 2 ranked Seattle.
Last week's game at Denver was a complete mystery. The Raiders, down 12-0 at halftime, ended up winning 15-12 with only 126 yards of total offense. The Broncos threw the ball 51 times and ran it only 21 times for 34 yards, an odd ratio for a team that led most of the game. And, Oakland's Khalil Mack sacked Broncos QB Brock Osweiler five times.

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Updated NFL Division odds heading into Week 15

Who will win the NFC East? Does Chip Kelly have to in Philly?

WESTGATE LAS VEGAS SUPERBOOK

2015-16 NFL DIVISION ODDS

NFC EAST DIVISION
COWBOYS 50
EAGLES 13-10
GIANTS 9-5
REDSKINS 9-4

NFC NORTH DIVISION
PACKERS 1-6
LIONS xxxx
VIKINGS 4
BEARS xxxx

NFC SOUTH DIVISION
PANTHERS ** PANTHERS LEAD IS TOO LARGE FOR ODDS AT THIS TIME **
SAINTS
FALCONS
BUCS

NFC WEST DIVISION
SEAHAWKS ** CARDINALS LEAD IS TOO LARGE FOR ODDS AT THIS TIME **
CARDINALS
RAMS
49ERS

AFC EAST DIVISION
PATRIOTS ** PATRIOTS LEAD IS TOO LARGE FOR ODDS AT THIS TIME **
DOLPHINS
BILLS
JETS

AFC NORTH DIVISION
STEELERS ** BENGALS LEAD IS TOO LARGE FOR ODDS AT THIS TIME **
RAVENS
BENGALS
BROWNS

AFC SOUTH DIVISION
COLTS 2-3
TEXANS 9-5
TITANS xxxx
JAGUARS 6

AFC WEST DIVISION
BRONCOS ** BRONCOS LEAD IS TOO LARGE FOR ODDS AT THIS TIME **
CHIEFS
CHARGERS
RAIDERS

**IN CASE OF TIE--NFL TIEBREAKERS WILL DETERMINE DIVISION WINNER**
**TEAMS MUST PLAY 16 REGULAR SEASON GAMES FOR ACTION.


UPDATED GAMES OF THE YEAR -- WEEK 17

SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2016

SAINTS
FALCONS -3

RAVENS
BENGALS -8.5

PATRIOTS -3.5
DOLPHINS

EAGLES
GIANTS -2.5

SEAHAWKS
CARDINALS PK

Bengals Super Bowl odds drop with loss of Dalton

Wildfire Lanes sports book on Sunset.

With Andy Dalton lost for at least the rest of the regular season to a thumb injury suffered in Sunday’s loss to the Steelers, the Bengals’ odds to win Super Bowl 50 have been fattened to 25-to-1 at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. The Steelers’ chances to win it all, conversely, have been boosted considerably, according to the oddsmakers.

The Steelers, who beat the Bengals 33-20 in Cincinnati on Sunday, had their Super Bowl odds shortened to 6-to-1 at the Westgate, which makes them the co-fourth favorites to win it all, behind only the Patriots, Panthers and Cardinals. Pittsburgh is now the 2-to-1 second choice to win the AFC, and the Bengals have been dropped to fourth at 12-to-1 odds.

Read More here on TheLinemakers.com.......updated Super Bowl odds

Despite Patriots win, Vegas books show small profit in Week 14

Saturday at MGM Grand sports book before UFC 194

LAS VEGAS -- Prior to the Patriots dropping its second straight game to temporarily put them in the No. 3 position, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook had them as the massive 5/2 favorites (Bet $100 to win $250) to win the Super Bowl. After the loss, they fell into a tie with the undefeated Panthers at 4/1 odds. On Monday, with New England back in the drivers seat for home field advantage and with tight end Rob Gronkowski back in action, the Westgate dropped them back down to 7/2 as the lone favorite.

Last week the Patriots were looking at being the AFC’s No. 3 seed in the playoffs as they stumbled through their first two losses of the season. However, following losses by both Cincinnati and Denver in Sunday‘s Week 14 action, coupled with the Patriots 24-9 win at Houston in the late game, it’s the Patriots once again in control their own destiny with the No. 1 seed with three more games to play before the playoffs start.

Bettors all had a feeling that the Patriots wouldn’t lose three straight games and they came strong on them laying -3 all the way up to -4.5. William Hill sports books had 85 percent of the tickets written on the game on them as well as 89 percent of the overall cash wagered, which was by far the most one sided action of the day and took a big chunk of the profit the sports books had tucked away after grinding out the first 13 games.

“We ended up being a small winner, but it wasn’t a great day,” said Boyd gaming sports book director Bob Scucci prior to the Patriots win. “We had a lot of great two-way handle on each of the games and the games we had big public action on (parlays) we seemed to have sharp action on the other side so they both kind of balanced each other out.“

Scucci wasn’t lucky enough to have sharps balance out the risk on the Houston side like they did with so many other popular public games. He said the Patriots covering would mean giving back about half of what they had won on the day, but the game staying UNDER 46 would help.

Read More Here......VegasInsider.com

Cubs favored to win 2016 World Series; Diamondbacks respected by Vegas

Sensational race and sports book design at Green Valley Ranch.

LAS VEGAS -- The four-day MLB Winter Meetings from Opryland in Nashville have come and gone. Thursday was the final day of the sessions, during which baseball executives mingle with each other, create relationships and try to improve their teams via trades. The agents for 134 free agents negotiated to get their clients the biggest payday, or in some cases, just put in the best situation.

Las Vegas sports books have been keeping their eyes on the happenings in order to adjust team ratings and futures odds. There aren’t any games posted for wagering yet, but betting on the World Series and pennants has been open at most books since the end of October.

“We’re just watching the wire and looking at each team on a case-by-case basis,” said Station Casinos sports book director Jason McCormick of his staff‘s routine during the meetings.

“David Price (Red Sox) and Zack Greinke (Diamondbacks) were the major players requiring adjustments to both the team they left for and arrived from.”

See all the updated World Series odds.....The Linemakers.com

Holiday,NFR, no college football slows Week 14 betting action

Bellagio Conservatory festive in Vegas

The Chiefs have won and covered six straight games which is normally a sign that bettors will be jumping all over whatever spread is offered on its next game, but that’s not necessarily the case this week as the Chiefs are 10.5-point home favorites over the Chargers.

South Point sports book director Bert Osborne says enthusiasm for the Chiefs has slowed at his books this week for a couple of reasons.

“No matter how good a team is doing, when you put double digits on the board, it scares people off the game, or at least with the favorite. Bettors just don’t want to include double-digit favorites on their eight-team parlays.

“We’re also seeing business slow as usual at this time of year because of the holiday season. Maybe if this same situation with Kansas City were to occur last month, it would be a different story, but the betting public is usually cautious about laying double-digits.

This is the first week with no big college football games which will make Friday night and Saturday morning sports book traffic come to a crawl compared to the last 15 weeks. Couple that with bettors readying themselves for holiday spending, they’re being a bit frugal at the bet windows.

“We’ve been so jammed with the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) in town that we’re not getting our regular betting crowd, and then we’ve only got one college game Saturday (Army-Navy), so I don’t expect to see too much action on any of these (NFL) games until Saturday night and Sunday morning.”

Read More Here........VegasInsider.com

Then and Now: CG Tech Week 14 NFL numbers from April

The CG Technology sports book inside The Palms is beautiful.

Take a look at these NFL Week 16 lines offered in April at CG Technology sports books. They posted them about two weeks after the NFL schedule was released. Quite a bit of change with teams like Kansas City and Seattle, but for the most part they were right around being a number that proved true.

Week 14 (April 26)
Vikings at Cardinals (-5.5)
Falcons at Panthers (-3.5)
Saints (-2.5) at Buccaneers
Lions at Rams (-1.5)
Patriots (-1.5) at Texans
Colts (-6) at Jaguars
Raiders at Broncos (-10.5)
Chargers at Chiefs (-2)
Titans at Jets (-4)
Seahawks (-1) at Ravens
Steelers at Bengals (-1)
49ers (-2.5) at Browns
Bills at Eagles (-3.5)
Redskins at Bears (-4)
Cowboys at Packers (-4.5)
Giants at Dolphins (-3)

See all 16 weeks here............TheLinemakers.com

Big Favorites losing helps books to Week 13 win

Teaser bettors burned by Patriots and Bears losing outright.

The sports books have all kinds of ways to make money on an NFL Sunday against the betting public, but the surest way of all is to get a couple of the big favorites to lose outright and in Week 13, two of the biggest numbers went down.

“The Patriots losing turned out to be our best game of the day,” said South Point sports book director Bert Osborne. “We had give back a lot on the Eagles money-line just to balance out some of the teaser money we had extended on the Patriots, but it still turned out to be our best decision.”

The Eagles actually looked like the team we all thought they were during the preseason with its impressive 35-28 win at New England, a score that really wasn’t that close. Tom Brady and the Patriots offense continue to show the effects of not having all their key starters.

On Sunday, both tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Julian Edelman were out. The Patriots have now failed to cover its past four games, which not so ironically started with the Giants game which is when Edelman got hurt. Coupled with their Week 12 loss at Denver, Sunday’s defeat was the Patriots first of the back-to-back nature since 2012.

“After that,” Osborne continued, “the next best game was in the morning with the 49ers beating the Bears, who were one of the most popular teams with parlays.“

The 49ers improbable 26-20 win at Chicago, led by Blaine Gabbert showing everyone he has all kinds of athletic skills and can lead a team to victory just like he did with such regularity in college. Gabbert had been labeled as the worst back-up in the league, but he came up with his best NFL performance that included a 44-yard TD run in the late fourth quarter to tie it up 20-20 and then in overtime he threw a beautiful deep ball down the left sideline to Torrey Smith that covered 71-yards for the game winning TD.

With two of the biggest underdogs cashing and killing off a large chunk of the parlay and teaser risk and then also getting the Saints to cover 6-points at home against new public favorite Carolina, you might think the books had one of their better weekends, but that wasn’t the case.

Read More Here....VegasInsider.com