South Point has best Super Bowl price, never moves juice
The consensus Super Bowl line at Las Vegas sportsbooks is Chiefs -3 (-120), meaning a bettor must wager $120 to win $100 on Kansas City over Tampa Bay in Sunday’s game.
The best price is at the South Point sportsbook, where the line also is Chiefs -3 but at -110, meaning bettors must wager $110 to win $100 on Kansas City.
Dealing a -110 price has been standard operating procedure at the South Point for every game since owner Michael Gaughan and longtime business partner Frank Toti opened it 15 years ago.
The South Point never moves the juice — aka vigorish or bookmaker’s commission — off -110. It only moves the point spread.
“That’s what Frank Toti and Michael Gaughan wanted to do, and I agree with them 100 percent,” South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews said. “Even when I was on my own at Cal Neva, that’s how I booked there, too. I never moved the juice. I always kept it at 11 (to make) 10.
“The math probably isn’t perfect the way that we do it, but it goes beyond that sometimes. We deal largely with locals, and it’s good for the local customer to know that he’s going to lay 11 (to make) 10.”
The line is Chiefs -3½ at BetMGM and Station Casinos, with the Bucs at +3½ (-120) at Station and +3½ (-115) at BetMGM. South Point twice went to 3½ (-110) and was inundated with sharp money on Tampa each time.
“As soon as I go to 3½, the sharps jump in like it’s the last 3½ they’ll ever see in their life,” Andrews said.
Barring heavy action on Kansas City, Andrews said he doesn’t expect to move the line back to 3½.
“Right now it would take quite a bit,” he said.
South Point also has the best price on Tampa on the money line at +147. The ticket count is on the Bucs by a 4-1 margin on the money line and on the Chiefs by a 2-1 margin ATS.
“We’ve seen this pattern for years and years on the Super Bowl,” Andrews said. “It’s not a surprise.”
The money count at BetMGM is tilted in favor of the Bucs because of a $2.3 million wager placed on them Jan. 28. But the ticket count, which is in the thousands, couldn’t be more balanced.
“This is an amazing stat,” MGM Resorts director of trading Jeff Stoneback said Thursday afternoon. “About an hour ago, the number of straight bets written on the Chiefs and Buccaneers was exactly the same. And it’s been up for 11 days.”
Treasure Island moved the line to Chiefs -3 (-110) on Thursday, and Circa moved it to Chiefs -3 (-115).
The total was at 56 at every Las Vegas book Thursday after BetMGM moved it from 56½ on Thursday afternoon.
“We had some sharp money coming in on the under,” Stoneback said. “We were one of the last ones to go to 56. That’s why we’ve taken sharp money.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
