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Casinos cashed in on Super Bowl bets
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 2/7/2007

Nevada gamblers bet less, but lost more on this year's Super Bowl.

The hotel casinos won.

Bettors wagered $93.1 million on Sunday's game between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, down from the 2006 total of $94.5 million. The state's sports books won $12.9 million, the second most ever, compared to $8.8 million last year.

Figures were released Tuesday by state gambling officials.

Sports books increased their winning percentage to 13.9 this year from 9.3 last year.

One of Northern Nevada's biggest hotel casino sports books started Super Bowl Sunday by losing $90,000 on one play when Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears ran the opening kickoff back 92 yards for a touchdown.

"There was a good chunk of change (bet) on that," John Pinto, sports book director at downtown Reno's Silver Legacy Resort Casino, said as he counted wins and losses from the biggest gambling event of the year for Nevada sports books. "We were thinking to ourselves, 'This is going to be a long day.'"

A lot of gamblers had money on Hester at odds of 25 to 1.

"The player to score first was a big loser for the books," Pinto said. "We lost $90,000."

In a matter of seconds.

Four hours later, Pinto was a lot happier when the game finished with the Indianapolis Colts, a seven-point favorite, beating the Bears, the choice of many gamblers, 29-17.

"A majority of the (bets) were Chicago," Pinto said.

Gamblers bet $540,000 on the Super Bowl at the Legacy, the second highest total ever at the book, behind last year's $628,900.

"It was a great weekend overall," Pinto said. "The book did pretty good on it."

That's because the Silver Legacy won money from gamblers who made parlay bets on which team would win and the game's combined point total for both teams, which was set at 48.

"There was a lot of Chicago and 'under' money," Pinto said. "The 'over' was in a lot of parlays."

That made all of them losers for gamblers.

Anyone who had Chicago as part of their combination lost because the Bears lost by 12. Anyone who had 'over' as part of their combination lost because the point total was 46.

"We survived," said Terry Cox, sports book manager at Reno's Peppermill Hotel Casino. "It was extremely busy. The game came out OK."

Cox was operating a new expanded book with more room for gamblers.

"The business reflected it," Cox said. "Not necessarily the amount of dollars, but the number of bets. The number of tickets was way more than any other Super Bowl."

The betting pattern on this year's Super Bowl differed from previous games, Cox said.

Normally, sports books get a lot of early betting on the favorite, with money on the underdog coming in near or on Super Bowl Sunday. This year, gamblers bet the underdog Bears early and the favorite Colts late.

"They bet the Bears for 13 days, then at the last minute the Colt money came rolling in," Cox said. "It was pretty even. This year, the public was on both sides of this game."

Cox could tell by the sound in his book.

"The Colts would do something, and half the room would scream," Cox said. "The Bears would do something, and half the room would scream."

Cox reported increased betting on Super Bowl propositions, such as which player will score the first touchdown, that have become popular on Super Bowl Sunday.

"The wagering on the propositions is higher ever year," Cox said.

That helped the Silver Legacy where gamblers bet on individual players, such as Colts quarterback Peyton Manning to surpass certain scoring and yardage numbers.

"A lot of the player propositions didn't come in," said Pinto, explaining how the steady rain at the Super Bowl and the Colts' decision to run the football much of the second half kept numbers low.

One of the biggest plays of the day for Pinto was a miss by Colts place kicker Adam Vinatieri on a field goal try at the end of the first half.

"Vinatieri missing that field goal was huge for the books," Pinto said.

One of the Super Bowl bets was which team would "win" the first half. The Colts were a four-point favorite. When Vinatieri missed, they led by two, 16-14.

"That was a $400,000 miss for (gamblers)," Pinto said. "We were going to lose $100,000 if he made it. He missed it, so we picked up $300,000."