Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Super Bowl gambling cleans out Las Vegas bookies

The Super Bowl ended up being a losing bet for Las Vegas. Vegas bookmakers took a bath when the favored Green Bay Packers won by a decisive margin. It is anticipated to be the worst loss for Las Vegas bookies on the Super Bowl since 1993. People lost and won money from the short term cash they took out for their betting needs.

Super Bowl was bad news for gambling establishments in Vegas

The books for Las Vegas ended up losing with the Super Bowl wagering. As 2 1/2-point favorites, the Packers delivered for the gambling public in its 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Nevada gaming officials won’t release the official numbers until Tues, however several factors converged that are expected to result in big net loss for gambling establishments. Most favored the Packers to win. The 3 point spread that was needed was received also. When it came to the Packers, there were at least two bets which were at $1 million. The over/under for the Super Bowl had been set at 45.5 points. With the 56 point game, most voted the Packers would win. At halftime, the Pittsburgh Steelers seemed to be coming back while down by 11. Still, the Steelers were favored by 2 ½ points by Vegas.

Vegas book hit by double whammy

The Las Vegas sports book lost on the Super bowl because amateur gamblers tend to bet on the favorite and think the over/under is too low. The favorite will hopefully win, if the sports books get what they want. They just want a low-scoring game to happen instead. The favorites have to cover in the win though. If this does not happen, there is a lost bet on them. Green Bay gamblers won some money since the Packers were favored by 2 ½ and won by six. To make matters worse for the Las Vegas sports book, it favored the Steelers by 2 1/2 in the second half. Pittsburgh started the second half down by 11. As the 2 ½ point losers, many realized they could bet on the Steelers. This was because in the second half they were 8 ½ point underdogs. Losing by just six, Pittsburgh delivered for those bettors as well.

Gambling means losing can take place for the house as well

Every year, Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest gambling day of the year. The Vegas Casinos are filled. Each teams in the Super Bowl XLV got lots of bets put in to the Vegas sports book. There was $82.7 million bet in Vegas sports book in 2010. The Casinos collected $6.8 million. Between $95 and $100 million is anticipated to be what was bet on the Super bowl 2011. This would just be in Vegas too. After the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots in 2008, Las Vegas lost $2.6 million. In the other nine Super Bowls since 2000, the gambling establishments have averaged a stake of $9.07 million.

Articles cited

Los Angeles Times

latimes.com/sports/la-sp-super-bowl-vegas-20110207,0,2227070.story

Business Insider

businessinsider.com/super-bowl-vegas-sports-books-lost-money-2011-2

Las Vegas Review Journal

lvrj.com/sports/packers-and-over-makes-it-big-day-for-betting-public-115485929.html



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