Las Vegas sports books do March Madness Prepatory

South Point sports book and casino will be hopping next week.

Las Vegas sports books get a nice dress rehearsal this week with the college basketball conference tournaments in preparation for next weekends NCAA Tournament, which might be the most stressful four consecutive days the book staff experiences during the entire year.

"It's certainly more challenging than the Super Bowl," said Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook VP Jay Kornegay. "It's the weekend where I tip my hat to all the ticket writers around town who feel the brunt of the pressure right up close, non-stop for 10 or 12 hours a day, four straight days."

Having dozens of games to work with each day through this weekend -- one after another just like next week -- gives the entire staff some practice so the onslaught of bettors next weekend isn't so overwhelming.

The pressure felt to get every wager taken in is felt from the ticket writer to the line supervisor to the bookmaker and then the director. It's a chain reaction and the books that do the best at this process are quite noticeable. The SuperBook is one of those.

"We have a veteran staff -- it's not their first time around, but it's still good to get acclimated a bit for the rush we'll see next week,' said Kornegay.

Communication with the staff and other departments is a big part of his process to be ready for next week.

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

2016 odds to win NFL Divisions posted in Las Vegas

CG Technology sports book at The Palms.

LAS VEGAS -- The betting public just can't get enough of the NFL.

It's no doubt the king of the jungle in the Las Vegas sports book world. We're only one month removed from the Super Bowl and people are already betting who will win in each of the eight divisions for the 2016 season at CG Technology books.

For goodness sake, MLB division odds were just posted last week as Spring Training was about to start. But that is the power of the NFL and CG Tech's VP of risk analysisJason Simbal is just giving the public what they want.

"We're not going to see too much change after the free-agency period, the NFL draft or when the schedule is released, and we're taking low limits ($500), so we're not going to get hurt too much. And plus, most of the smart money that can do some damage to us won't bet the numbers until others show up somewhere else. So from our vantage point, why not give bettors as much NFL as we can as early as possible."

CG Tech books are located at five major casinos on the Las Vegas strip -- Venetian,Palazzo, Tropicana, M Resort and Cosmopolitan (Cosmo's brand new book opened on first level prior to Super Bowl), as well as off the strip at the Palms and Silverton.

They get thousand of new people checking in every day between all their properties and a small portion of them like to take something home in regards to NFL future wagers. In years past at this juncture the only option was odds to win the Super Bowl or conference championship.

Since posting the division odds a week ago, only one team has seen a large chunk of action from those who saw perceived value.

"We took a few big bets on the Jaguars to win the AFC South at 6/1 and it forced a move down to 9/2, which was in line with large action we saw on the season win totals where Jacksonville was one of three teams we moved the actual number instead of the price," said Simbal.

Read More Here.......2016 Division odds posted on VegasInsider.com

2016 NFL season win totals posted in Las Vegas

CG Technology sports book at The Venetian.

LAS VEGAS -- CG Technology sports books posted 2016 NFL season win totals Thursday afternoon with no team higher than 10.5 wins and a low total of 4.5 on Cleveland. The NFL announced in early January all the home-and-away opponents all 32 teams will play, but when they play on the schedule won't be known until April.

From a scheduling standpoint, here is the breakdown of which divisions face each other in interconference action:
-- AFC East vs. NFC West
-- AFC North vs. NFC East
-- AFC South vs. NFC North
-- AFC West vs. NFC South

Here are the divisions that match up with each other for four games within their respective conferences:
-- AFC East vs. AFC North
-- AFC South vs. AFC West
-- NFC East vs. NFC North
-- NFC South vs. NFC West

The five teams set at 10.5 wins are Carolina (UN -130), Green Bay (-115), New England(OV-120), Pittsburgh (UN -125) and Seattle (-125).

The next highest total was set at 9.5 wins with Arizona (OV -120), Cincinnati (-115) andDenver (UN -120)

The Broncos still don't know who is going to quarterback the team. Peyton Manning and John Elway had a two-hour conversation earlier in the week to discuss the future, but it's still likely Manning won't take another snap for Denver. Brock Osweiler is a free-agent and could opt to leave for big money elsewhere which would leave the Super Bowl champs with a huge question mark at the most important position.

In addition to six games against AFC West opponents, Denver will have home games against Houston, Indianapolis, New England Atlanta and Carolina. They'll play road games at Jacksonville, Tennessee, Cincinnati, New Orleans and Tampa Bay. The Broncos have won 12 games or more in each of the past four seasons.

Read More here......all 32 totals on VegasInsider.com

Nevada sports books set record handle in Super Bowl

Caesars Palace book two hours before kickoff.

LAS VEGAS -- All indications across Nevada sports books suggest that Sunday’s 24-10 win by the Broncos will set a state record for Super Bowl handle surpassing the $119.4 million handled two years ago when the Seattle hammered Denver.

“We ended up squeaking out a win on the game and the futures win helped us overall,” saidMGM Resorts VP of race and sports Jay Rood. “It wasn’t as bad as last year, but I think a record handle (for Nevada) is probably going to be set.”

Rood's 10 MGM properties across the strip -- two others in Reno -- are a great barometer for the state because of the sheer volume they do with so many thousands of visitors lodging in their rooms and making wagers on the game at their books throughout the last two weeks. Unlike the last couple of years, Rood didn’t take a seven-figure wager on the game, which is very telling on how much volume they did if exceeding the past two seasons.

Last year's handle in Nevada, with New England beating Seattle, was $115.9 million with only a $3.2 million win, which comes out to a tiny 2.8 percent hold. Even though reactions were mixed around town on the results, it would appear that all the books could collectively have a higher win than that, but will come no where close to the record $19.6 million won (16.5%) in 2014 when almost everyone bet the Broncos No.1 ranked offense would beat Seattle.

Read More Here....VegasInsider.com

Super Bowl 50 Prop Selections from Las Vegas

CG Technology sports book inside Legasse's Stadium at Palazzo.

Most Las Vegas sports books are offering more than 300 props for Super Bowl 50, so we thought we‘d offer opinions on a few of them that have short prices. Some of the choices are based on the belief that Denver will win a close, low scoring game, but others could go either way no matter the outcome.

There is nothing quite like the betting intensity that comes with watching the Super Bowl while having multiple wagers on everything that happens throughout the game. Betting on just the outcome of who will win is almost boring and rather ordinary. Make it truly a super experience and get in on some of the additional fun. So let's take a look:

Cam Newton Rushing Yards: OVER 38.5 -115 (CG Technology)
He’s had 45 yards or more rushing in five of his last eight games and if the Broncos defense rattles him as much as we think they will, he’ll be more apt to try and do some things on his own to make something happen. In the 20-13 loss at Atlanta during Week 16, where he was kept on the sidelines for 35 minutes watching the Falcons ball control offense, he ran eight times for 45 yards. Even if we’re wrong with Denver being successful at ball control and the Panthers win, Newton is still likely to take off a few times to help solidify his MVP chances.

Cam Newton Rushing Attempts: OVER 8.5 -130 (CG Technology)
He went OVER 8.5 in 10 of his 18 games this season, including both playoff games. For much of the same reasons with the rushing yards, look for him to reach double figures here.

Will Cam Newton Score a Rushing Touchdown: YES +120 (Westgate SuperBook)
Even though we think Denver’s defense will give him fits, we do think he’ll find his way into the end zone, something he did 12 times on the ground during the regular season and playoffs. He‘s scored five rushing touchdowns in his past four games. Most of all, he loves the spotlight of scoring and an opportunity to do a Super Bowl dance of some kind, which he’s probably been choreographing for the last two weeks.

Read More Here....TheLinemakers.com

Super Bowl 50 Prop Trends in Las Vegas

London based William Hill has 104 sports books in Nevada

CURRENT ODDS AND TRENDS FOR PRO FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 50 MVP

Below is a chart showing the current trends at the 104 William Hill Nevada Sports Books and Mobile Sports app for the Pro Football Championship 50 game MVP as of February 4, 2016. This is the first year that Pro Football Championship 50 MVP wagering has been available in Nevada.

Top 10 Most Popular Pro Football Championship 50 MVP bets by total # of tickets to win the MVP award:

PLAYER NAME	Opening Odds (1/26/16)	Current Odds (2/4/16)	% of total # of tickets
CAM NEWTON	-120	-160	13%
LUKE KUECHLY	25/1	16/1	12%
VON MILLER	40/1	20/1	11%
PEYTON MANNING	11/2	3/1	8%
GREG OLSEN	20/1	22/1	5%
AQIB TALIB	75/1	30/1	5%
DEMARCUS WARE	75/1	30/1	5%
JONATHAN STEWART	15/1	22/1	4%
TED GINN JR	18/1	22/1	4%
JOSH NORMAN	50/1	28/1	4%

 Top 10 Most Popular Pro Football Championship 50 MVP bets by Total $’s Wagered to win the MVP award:

PLAYER NAME	Opening Odds (1/26/16)	Current Odds (2/4/16)	% of total Dollars wagered
CAM NEWTON	-120	-160	40%
PEYTON MANNING	11/2	3/1	8%
DEMARCUS WARE	75/1	30/1	6%
AQIB TALIB	75/1	30/1	6%
BRANDON MCMANUS	50/1	25/1	5%
OWEN DANIELS	40/1	15/1	5%
CHRIS HARRIS	100/1	50/1	4%
BRANDON MARSHALL	100/1	40/1	4%
VON MILLER	40/1	20/1	4%
LUKE KUECHLY	25/1	16/1	1%

MOST POPULAR PRO FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 50 PROP BETS-UPDATED AS OF 2/4/16

Below are two charts showing the top 20 most popular prop bets for Pro Football Championship 50 by number of total tickets and total dollars wagered. The most popular prop bet by total dollars wagered is on the alternate point spread proposition for the Panthers +7.5.

Top 20 most popular #SB50 Prop bets of the 834 ways to bet the game (pre-game) by total number of tickets:

Top 20 Most Popular #SB50 Prop bets (# of tickets) @WILLIAMHILLUS 2/4/16

Will there be a successful 2pt Conversion? YES

Will there be a Safety? YES

Result of Opening Coin Toss? HEADS

Alternate Point Spread: PANTHERS -17.5

Special Teams or Defensive Touchdown? YES

Will there be a miss Extra Point in Game? YES

Alternate Point Spread: PANTHERS -14.5

Panthers Total Points Scored in First Half: OVER 13

Result of Opening Coin Toss? TAILS

Will the Opening Kickoff be a Touchback? NO

First Score of Game? FIELD GOAL/SAFETY

Will there be Overtime? YES

Alternate Point Spread: PANTHERS -10.5

Will the Opening Kickoff be a Touchback? YES

Both Teams with a 33 yard or longer Field Goal? YES

Will Greg Olsen Score a Touchdown? YES

Will Cam Newton have a Rushing Touchdown? YES

First Offensive Play from Scrimmage? PASS PLAY

Score in First 6.5 minutes of Game? YES

Total Players to attempt a Pass? OVER 2.5

Top 20 most popular #SB50 Prop bets of the 834 ways to bet the game (pre-game) by total dollars wagered:

Top 20 Most Popular #SB50 Props (% of total $’s) @WILLIAMHILLUS 2/4/16

Alternate Point Spread: PANTHERS +7.5

Alternate Point Spread: PANTHERS +14.5

Alternate Point Spread: PANTHERS +3.5

Will there be a Safety? NO

Alternate Point Spread: PANTHERS +10.5

Adjusted Game Total: TOTAL POINTS SCORED OVER 29.5

Will Cam Newton have a Rushing Touchdown? NO

Alternate Point Spread: BRONCOS +10.5

Will Broncos Score in every Quarter? NO

Wil Mike Tolbert Score a Touchdown? NO

Alternate Point Spread: PANTHERS -17.5

Total Field Goals in Game? OVER 3.5

Broncos Player with 2 or more Touchdowns: NO

Total Interceptions in Game? OVER 1.5

Rushing Attempts for CJ Anderson: OVER 13.5

Successful 2pt Conversion? NO

Alternate Point Spread: BRONCOS +7.5

Rushing yards for Cam Newton: OVER 41.5

Will the Opening Kickoff be a Touchback? YES

Will Game be Tied after 0-0? NO

Super Bowl 50 Prediction from Las Vegas

Can a case be made for the Broncos to win? Let's try.....

If you like Carolina to cover six points against the Broncos, we certainly can't fault you. They're good. Real good. As in the type of good that might have us remembering some of the great Super Bowl champs of the past the week prior to their eventual crowning moments. They've beaten teams by an average of almost 13 points a game, which has helped bettors cash against the spread in 13 of their 18 games.

What's not to like? They've got a quarterback in Cam Newton who accounted for 50 touchdowns this season, beating all but one of the teams he faced with a combination of both his arm and legs. His running ability has helped the team rush for over 100 yards in 31 straight games.

MORE: NFL live odds page | Public betting percentages

Newton rarely turns the ball over and the Broncos defense forces them often, which helped Carolina to an NFL-leading plus-20 turnover ratio during the regular season, and then tacked on a impressive plus-8 in two playoff games. You can't predict turnovers, but that theory is tested strongly with Carolina because they win that battle almost every week — 13 of 18 games.

The Panthers led the NFL in scoring, and took it up a notch higher during the playoffs by hanging 80 points against two of the better defenses in the league — Seattle, then Arizona, teams considered by most oddsmakers to be the top two rated in football.

How in the world can Denver stay in this game?

Read how here......TheLinemakers.com

Great two-way Super Bowl action at minus-6

The South point sports book moved Carolina to -5.5 Wednesday night.

Update - 2.3.16 - 4:00 p.m. ET

South Point sports book director Bert Osborne is feeling good about his books’ position so far with just four more nights of Super Bowl betting action to go before Denver and Carolina finally kickoff. He moved the Panthers from -5.5 to -6 last Thursday and likes the two-way action he’s been seeing at the number.

“We’re pretty much even at -6 and they’re (sharp Broncos money) starting to take +6 now because they know this is likely to be the best number they’re going to get. We’re kind of in a comfort zone right now where we’re not buried to one outcome like it started out. I‘d be happy to just grind out a win and not extend ourselves too far any way.”

That worst case scenario for the first eight days of Super Bowl action at the South Point was Carolina to cover and go OVER the total, but it‘s shifted dramatically.

“The best case scenario for us when factoring in straight bets on the sides, with both the spread and money-line, totals, teasers and parlays is Denver to win and go OVER,” said Osborne. “The Denver to UNDER risk is almost the same right now as Carolina to OVER.”

Osborne dropped the total from 46 down to 45.5 on Wednesday morning and then down to 45 a few hours later.

“I dropped the total down to 45 just because we’ve been getting mostly UNDER action, but the final factor in moving was the parlay correlation of Denver to UNDER which has really climbed over the past two days. But I’m sure I’ll be back at 46 soon when all those flat $100 and $50 OVER bets start coming in with the weekend crowd Friday night, so I’m not too worried about the total. It‘ll balance itself out.”

Read More Here.....Daily SB50 betting updates on VegasInsider.com


Video: Micah Roberts and Kenny White give their Super Bowl selection for TheLinemakers.com

Super Bowl 50 Betting Updates from Las Vegas: Denver action showing

Sam's Town sports book is part of the Boyd Gaming group. Fun place!

Update - 2.1.16 - 5:00 p.m. ET

Things have settled in Las Vegas. There hasn't been much Super Bowl line movement the last couple of days with most sports books standing as they were on Friday. Six major sports books such as Caesars Palace, South Point, Station Casinos, Stratosphere and Golden Nugget have the Panthers at -6, with the others sitting at -5.5 -- some with added juice up to -120.

The only spread movement the last two days came Monday afternoon at Boyd Gaming properties who went back to -6 after being at -5.5 for about 45 minutes.

"We're starting to see more Denver action over the weekend to the point where we went back to -5.5, but then we immediately got Panthers money and went back to -6," said Boyd Gaming sports book director Bob Scucci. "We had a ticket count ratio of about 3-to-1 on Thursday, but the overall count has dropped down to 2-to-1."

People are definitely warming up to the idea of taking points with Denver.

Read More Here.........SB50 betting updates on VegasInsider.com