Sports books eke out $724,000 win on Super Bowl

A tight Super Bowl went to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. And after further review, Nevada's sports books also won a close decision.

The state's wagering handle of $87.5 million represented a 5.5 percent increase from last year's game, and the books held slightly more than $724,000 for a win percentage of 0.83, according to figures released Tuesday by the Gaming Control Board.

After the Packers' 31-25 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, several Las Vegas sports book directors reported a loss on the game.

"Both figures were surprising to me," Las Vegas Hilton sports book director Jay Kornegay said. "I wasn't expecting that much of an increase after what we heard from around the town. But it was nice to see. It was a very positive number.

"It's also surprising because almost everybody I talked to was on the short end of it."

The Super Bowl handle includes NFL futures wagers, said Mike Lawton, a senior research analyst for the control board.

"I think we were really worried about it being a loss. It could have been worse," said Lawton, adding that no casinos "lost anything mind-blowing" on the Super Bowl.

The state's books showed a win for the 15th time in 16 years, but it was the smallest win since 1998.

The only recent Super Bowl loss for the state was in 2008, when the New York Giants upset New England, 17-14. The Giants closed as 12-point underdogs. That matchup drew $92 million in wagers, and the books lost $2.6 million (2.8 percent).

A total of $82.7 million in Super Bowl bets rolled in last year, when New Orleans defeated Indianapolis, 31-17. The economy took a downturn after a state-record $94.5 million was wagered on the game in 2006.

"We're finally coming out of the doldrums," said Jimmy Vaccaro, director of operations for Lucky's sports books. "I think that's good news.

"I thought it would be a small loser, but obviously somebody won more than I thought. We were one bet away from getting even on the game. It's really just a guess if you're a small winner or a small loser. It's hard to get that finite."

Mike Colbert, the M Resort sports book director for Cantor Gaming, reported a win on the game. Sources said the South Point was also a winner.

An overwhelming number of parlays linking Green Bay, which was a 2½-point favorite, and over the total of 45 did the most damage to the books' bottom lines.

"Our ticket count was outrageous. We had about 4,000 more tickets than last year, which is about 7 percent more," Kornegay said. "The tickets were about 50-50 on the Packers and Steelers.

"But most of the tickets on the Packers also had the over, and I think the same betting trend was clear everywhere."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.