Packers backers burned by hook in Bahamas in Super Bowl XXXI

There have been only two pushes against the spread in Super Bowl history: the Rams’ 7-point win over the Titans in 2000 and the Packers’ 14-point win over the Patriots in 1997. However, an unfortunate group of Green Bay backers lost their bets on the latter game at the Nassau Crystal Palace, TI owner Phil Ruffin’s first casino. TI sports book director Tony Nevill ran the book in the Bahamas at the time.

SUPER BOWL XXXI, Packers-Patriots, Jan. 26, 1997: “I was bookmaking for Mr. Ruffin down in the Bahamas, and that Thursday before the Super Bowl, I tore my Achilles tendon playing racquetball. We had Brett Favre and the Packers as 14-point favorites, and we moved it to minus-120 and then to minus-130. At about noon Sunday, bettors didn’t want to lay 130, but said they would bet it if I moved it to 14½.

“We still didn’t have any Patriots bettors down there. The majority of people staying there were Packers fans and, sure enough, they continued betting them at 14½. You never know who’s going to be at your location. When the game ended at 14, all of them that played the 14½ were kicking themselves in the tail end.

“We still had to refund tickets (that pushed) for about three hours, but a lot of the guys that were sitting there wished they would’ve bet the Packers at 14.”