Tourists, locals taking shot at Super payday

One wore a yellow boa and another a spiked blue wig, and in most situations, they would have been gawked at for daring to appear like that in public.

But in a sports book on the Strip the day before the Super Bowl — or the big game, as many casinos refer to it (thanks, NFL) — barely anyone at The Mirage looked away from the enormous TV screens or from their proposition books.

Rusty Schackleford (yellow boa) and Mike Krogman (blue wig) fit right in as anticipation picked up for the Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, which begins at 3:30 p.m. today in Glendale, Ariz.

If the Super Bowl represents Las Vegas’ Christmas, then Saturday was the city’s Christmas Eve, and a buzz was in the air with about 200 fans and bettors milling around The Mirage Race &Sports Book roughly 24 hours before kickoff.

Schackleford — “that’s the name you’re going to get,” he said — and Krogman were near the front of the book, having made the trip from Iowa with 25 friends. This is an annual gathering for the group, a tradition that began about 15 years ago and has grown since then.

“We used to come for March Madness,” Krogman said. “Then one year, we did the Super Bowl instead, and we love coming here to watch the game.”

Krogman also found a bet he likes.

“It’s the over on field goals every year,” he said. “Every year, it wins — 2½ field goals, it always goes over.”

Now it’s 3½ at The Mirage, so that might be a riskier bet.

Wagering on the Super Bowl is as popular as one of the $4.5 million 30-second ads that will be shown today. Last year’s betting handle in Nevada came in at a record $119.4 million, about 20 percent higher than the previous high mark.

There are mixed opinions on whether that number will be topped this weekend, but Jay Rood, MGM Resorts vice president of race and sports, liked the chances.

“We’re pacing ahead,” Rood said while monitoring the numbers inside the sports-betting control room at The Mirage. “We’re looking strong in most of the props. … If everyone else is doing the same that we’re doing, we should match last year’s numbers easy.”

It was midafternoon, and Rood and his staff had the Patriots as 1-point favorites, but he figured by the evening the game would move to pick’em. More big-money bets had come in on the Patriots, but The Mirage was writing more tickets for the Seahawks.

“Seahawk people are starting to hit their stride,” Rood said.

Indeed, The Mirage moved the game to a pick by nightfall. Sunset Station moved it to that number earlier in the day.

“I thought it might settle around pick,” Sunset race and sports book director Chuck Esposito said. “You can make such a strong case for both teams.”

He said the action had picked up throughout the week at Sunset, which as a neighborhood casino obviously doesn’t draw the kind of action for this game as a book on the Strip. About 40 bettors hung out on the sports book side of the race and sports book, and the atmosphere was considerably calmer.

But Sunset will be bustling today, and the lines will be long at the betting windows. Sunset also has one advantage over a property such as The Mirage. Those who want to bet at Station Casinos without leaving the comfort of their home can use the app as long as the bet is made within the state.

The Mirage doesn’t use a mobile app because tourists make up 90 to 95 percent of its action.

Like other books, Sunset put out a lengthy list of proposition bets that have helped draw the casual gambler. A mother and daughter who live in Henderson were among those who pored over Sunset’s 16-page prop book Saturday afternoon.

“We want to go for something that pays big,” said the mother, Erin Mautin. “Maybe one safe bet and one not-so-safe bet. We want to win a lot of money.”

At The Mirage, bets of all kinds were being made and lots of them.

Many in the book had planned this trip for a long time, and like the Iowans, coming to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl has become an annual event.

Three friends from Dallas have been coming here for 20 years for the big game.

“Back then, the Cowboys used to be good,” said Jeff Reynolds, one of those Dallas visitors. “We thought they might have a chance to be in it.”

The three friends first stayed in various hotels and then rented residential properties before the recession in 2008. Then they returned to the Strip to take advantage of what then were lower room rates and kept returning as the economy improved.

Even though this weekend in one big party for Las Vegas, the Texans also remember a more fun time before the NFL threw water on the various Super Bowl parties around the valley.

And that’s why casinos have to call the Super Bowl by another name, though if the league had hoped to create a dent in the betting numbers, that didn’t happen.

“Leading up to kick (today),” Esposito said, “it’s going to be a phenomenal atmosphere in our books.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.