The only thing more excessive than the heat index is the menu options at STN Sports Books. With Major League Baseball, UFC, the Women’s World Cup and the biggest tennis tournament in the world either currently happening or on the verge of beginning, the sports world is still humming along like a kid with a church hymn. With all that in mind, let’s quickly look back at the past week in sports and peek at what’s ahead on the STN Sports App and at the Station Casinos Race and Sports Books…
All-Star Game
The line for baseball’s midsummer classic moved like a naked guy on a poker table at Harrah’s. Bettors loaded up on the National League in the “midsummer classic” on Tuesday night, and they were rewarded when the NL won 3-2. “Guests were betting the National League both in number of tickets and number of dollars,” said Jason Simbal, Director of STN Sports. “And, believe it or not, there was more money on the under, which is 7.5 runs, which is generally not the case, but in All-Star games you can understand why that would be.”
In other words, pitching is king, and it cashed. The American League opened as a small favorite in the game but the National League (who hadn’t won since 2012) ended as the favorite by the time the first pitch rolled around, all because of the amount of money coming through on Ronald Acuña Jr.’s squad.
The Home Run Derby was a booming success thanks to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., one of the odds-on favorites, taking home the trophy. “The action was solid in terms of interest and volume,” Simbal said. “In things like the derby guests try to bet a little bit on the long shots, so that ended up being good for us that Guerrero won.” The Blue Jays slugger hit 25 dingers in the final round, and some of those balls were moonshots and gone like a Northwestern football head coach. The STN saw nonstop action on the Derby since wagering options were updated in real-time. “You could bet who’s going to win the Derby, but you could also bet each individual matchup, and we were refreshing and putting the new matchups up, so you could continually bet it throughout,” Simbal said.
UFC 290
UFC 290 was rife with underdogs wins, which can generally be a great thing for bettors. But then came the final match of the night, which saw Alexander Volkanovsk beating Yair Rodríguez in the third round. All those straight-underdog parlay tickets quickly became more useless than a parka in July.
“If all the favorites win, we don’t do well because a lot of people put favorites in the parlays. On the contrary, we also do badly if too many underdogs win because a lot of people like betting the underdogs at 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 odds,” Simbal said. “We were able to kind of thread the needle in a good way where the underdogs all won, and then the favorite came through in the end. We kind of zigged and zagged the right way.” One bettor even took home a good chunk of change after betting $15,000 on Volkanovsk, who was a heavy favorite. The liability on the underdogs was so heavy that the STN Books were actually rooting for that guest to win! Had all the ‘dogs won, the Books would have gotten more lit up than the lettering atop Durango Casino.
Tennis is Tops
Like us after a few too many, things have been getting fuzzy at the STN Sports Books. Wimbledon is in full swing across the pond, but the time difference isn’t stopping the action. In fact, there’s been an increase in the action due to the timing and the morning matches.
“The handle’s been really, really good this year. Better than usual,” Simbal said. “The timing is perfect. There have been matches on every morning during the baseball All-Star break when nothing else is on. So people are betting on it that probably normally wouldn’t be.” While most of the top players on the men’s and women’s sides are still in the tournament, nobody still playing will really cost the house if the yellow fuzzy ball bounces their way.
“Really all the people that have big liability have been knocked out, so there’s nothing to really worry about there,” Simbal said. “I think the theme is that the interest and handle has been really good day in and day out.”
Bets To Know
Two sports. Two potentially generational talents. The hype surrounding the NBA’s Victor Wembanyama and NHL’s Connor Bedard is more intense than a SWAT standoff at Caesars Palace. STN Sports Books have noticed and have prop bets tied to each of the players available. In Bedard’s case, will he have more or less than 74.5 points in the regular season? In regard to Wemy, will he average more or less than 22.5 points per game in the regular season?
Weekly Winners
Small bet, big win. This $5 8-teamer from NBA over the weekend hit for $750:
-HEAT -2 -110
-THUNDER -4.5 -110
-76ERS -1.5 -110
-PISTONS -4.5 -110
-GRIZZLIES -5 -110
-PACERS -5.5 -110
-BUCKS -3 -110
-JAZZ -4.5 -110