Money ‘just keeps coming in on Chiefs,’ moving line on Super Bowl

The heavy action on Kansas City caused the line to drop Saturday at multiple books, including the South Point, which lowered the Eagles from 2-point favorites to pick’em after taking a $210,000 wager to win $200,000 on the Chiefs +2 (-105).

“It just keeps coming in on the Chiefs,” South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews said. “I kind of had a feeling it would. I tried to get ahead of it (Friday). We were at 2 and went down to 1½, and they bet it with a vengeance (on the Eagles).

“So we went back to 2 and took that $200,000 bet. Since then, it’s been all Chiefs.”

At other books as of Saturday evening, Caesars and BetMGM remained at 1½, Station Casinos went from 2 to 1½, Boyd Gaming went from 2 to 1, Circa Sports went from 1½ to 1, and the Westgate SuperBook went from 1½ to pick’em before moving back to 1.

“We’re seeing more tickets and more money come in on Kansas City (on Saturday), for sure,” SuperBook director John Murray said.

The consensus total stayed at 51, and at 50½ at BetMGM, though it shot up to 51½ at the South Point and to 52 at the Westgate, where 73 percent of the money is on the over.

“Our best-case scenario is the Eagles winning a low-scoring game,” Murray said. “But it’s not normally who wins the game. We do about 60 to 65 percent of our business on the game on the props. Were probably going to need Philadelphia, but if they win 41-38 and every prop goes over, we’ll have a terrible Super Bowl.

“The main thing for us is to have a relatively low-scoring, kind of quiet, boring game.”

Andrews said the best case for the South Point also will probably be Eagles and under, but Station Casinos expects to need the Chiefs and under.

“We’re starting to see a little bit of Chiefs money show, but we’re clearly still Chiefs fans,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “The action and ticket counts still favor the Eagles by a 75 percent clip.

“But a lot can change, as we’re going to see over 50 percent of the handle come in the 24 hours leading up to kickoff.”

With many bettors backing Kansas City on the money line (+105) and Philadelphia against the spread (-1½), Esposito said the perfect scenario for books is if the Eagles win by 1.

“That’s the best case because we’d win all the Eagles point spread money and all the Chiefs money-line money,” he said. “It’s only one number, but the number could definitely fall one in a game like this.”

Books hit the elusive Super Bowl trifecta last year when the Rams won but didn’t cover as 4½-point favorites and the game went under the total of 48½ in their 23-20 victory over the Bengals.

Nevada books shattered the state record for Super Bowl betting handle, or amount wagered, last year when it took $179.8 million in bets on the game.

Esposito said the numbers were trending fairly close to last year, and Murray said he expects his book to do more business than last year.

“There’s expected growth year over year, and we’ve got a few more betting options this year,” he said. “And I would argue that it’s a little bit better matchup this year with Kansas City and Philadelphia. I think those teams have bigger followings than the Bengals and Rams.”

Andrews didn’t make odds on breaking the record but said business is booming.

“It’s really picked up the last couple of days,” he said. “I was afraid that Arizona and Colorado would take a lot of money from us. But right now our business seems very strong.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.