Super Bowl betting action could ‘break the record’ at sports books
About an hour before kickoff of the Super Bowl, no reports of $1 million bets surfaced but Las Vegas sports books were seeing potentially record-breaking wagering action.
“I’ve got to believe we’re going to break the record,” MGM Resorts sports book director Jay Rood said. “If we’re any indication, the state is going to go over $100 million.”
Nevada’s wagering handle of $98.9 million on last year’s game was the highest in Super Bowl history.
At the South Point book, 12 windows were open with at least 20 people waiting in each line.
“This is just incredible. It’s basically nonstop,” oddsmaker Jimmy Vaccaro said as he surveyed an overflow crowd that created a circus atmosphere. “I’ve never seen so many people in my life. I know one thing – it’s going to break the record for pedestrian traffic.”
Most of the bettors were putting their money on the Denver Broncos as 2½-point favorites over the Seattle Seahawks.
The South Point was the first Las Vegas book to move the line to 3. That was before noon, and sharp bettors immediately placed more than $100,000 in bets on the Seahawks at plus-3, driving the line back to 2½.
“We went to 3 for about 95 seconds,” Vaccaro said.
At around 2 p.m., the South Point went back to 3. “It’s just a one-way attack on the Broncos,” Vaccaro said.
Rood reported the biggest bet at MGM Resorts was on the Seahawks for $300,000.
“But more of the bigger bets ($50,000 and up) are on the Broncos,” Rood said. “We’ve got quite a few six-figure bets. Nothing gigantic.”
Vaccaro said the general public – not the wiseguys – were dominating the action. “Seventy percent of the people are betting between $50 and $300,” he said.
Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.