March Madness delivers bracket busters, win for sportsbooks
Las Vegas sportsbooks welcomed back the NCAA Tournament on Friday after a one-year hiatus, and the biggest betting event of the year did not disappoint.
The first day of the tournament — which generated a betting handle of $346.6 million in Nevada in 2019, more than doubling the Super Bowl handle — delivered an array of bracket busters, buzzer-beaters and backdoor covers.
It also produced a winning day for the books and injected a much-needed sense of normalcy into the gambling capital of the world.
“It’s a good feeling seeing everybody out there having fun,” MGM Resorts director of trading Jeff Stoneback said. “The Super Bowl wasn’t as crowded as in other Super Bowl years. But for March Madness, the vaccines are here and people are traveling more.
“This week seems like the first time that we’re almost back to normal.”
12-5 upset
A No. 12 seed winning a first-round game has been a normal occurrence in the tournament and continued Friday when No. 12 Oregon State eliminated No. 5 Tennessee 70-56.
A BetMGM bettor lost a $220,000 straight bet on the Vols -7½. It was the largest wager placed on the tournament at BetMGM.
“We call it a beer-drinking, six-team parlay kind of event,” Stoneback said of the first four days. “Everybody is just here to have a good time.
“The big money usually comes in for the Sweet 16 and Final Four.”
Buckeyes stop here
William Hill took a six-figure wager from a gambler at Silver Sevens who placed a $100,000 bet to win $2 million on Ohio State to win the national title at 20-1 odds.
The bettor didn’t get much bang for his buck, as the No. 2-seeded Buckeyes suffered a 75-72 loss to No. 15 Oral Roberts, which closed as a 15-point underdog and +950 on the money line.
“A lot of people had Ohio State going to the Final Four in their bracket,” Sunset Station sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “There’s been a lot more parity in recent years, and on Day One, it hasn’t changed.”
North Texas, a No. 13 seed, upset No. 4 Purdue 78-69 in overtime as a 7½-point underdog in the biggest decision of the day for the Westgate.
Flaming out
No. 13 Liberty (+7) led No. 4 Oklahoma State by three at halftime before failing to cover in an ending that left its backers feeling so unsatisfied.
The Flames trailed 69-60 when they rebounded a miss by the Cowboys with nine seconds left and had one final chance to cover. But Liberty missed a 3 and putback layup as time expired, and many in the half-capacity crowd at the Westgate sportsbook let out a collective groan.
Backdoor cover
Las Vegas oddsmakers made a great line on the Baylor-Hartford game. The No. 1-seeded Bears closed at -25½ and led by 26 in the final minute when Briggs McClain made a layup for the Hawks to cut the deficit to 24. Baylor went back up by 26 on a layup by Mark Paterson with 30 seconds left before McClain answered with another layup to cut the gap to 79-55 with 22 seconds to go.
Baylor then dribbled out the clock as many in the crowd cheered and others could only shake their heads at a dreaded backdoor cover.
“That was a backdoor miracle,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich said. “The Baylor game was really good for us. We won the first half, and we won the game big.”
First-half unders
First-half unders cashed on the first nine games and finished 12-4. Two of the losers were by a half point, as Wisconsin-North Carolina barely went over 63½ with 64 and Villanova-Winthrop went over 66½ with 67.
At the buzzer
The loudest roar of the morning rang out when Virginia Tech guard Nahiem Alleyne hit a 3 to tie the score at 64 against Florida with 1.7 seconds left. But the Hokies, who closed at -1½ after opening at +1½, lost 75-70 in overtime in one of the best games of the day for the books.
“A lot of parlays went down with Ohio State, and the public was all over Virginia Tech,” Stoneback said.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.