Raiders Deliver Huge Win For Guests In One Of The Book’s ‘Worst Days’

It’s fitting that the clocks flipped back an hour on Sunday, because the STN Sports Book were stuck in reverse all day. The NFL did the Book no favors, as favorites went 8-5. However, the biggest decisions almost all went to the guests.

“It was not a particularly good pro football weekend for our side of the counter,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos’ Race and Sports Book Director. “It was one of our worst Sundays of the season. The Bears really kind of saved the morning a little bit by covering against the Saints, or else it really would’ve set up maybe our worst Sunday of the year.”

With all that in mind, let’s quickly look back at the past week in sports and peek at what’s ahead on the app and at the Station Casinos Race and Sports Books…

NFL

Just days after the Raiders fired their coach, offensive coordinator and general manager, guests were all in on the silver and black. “This was a week where the bettors really jumped back on the Raiders — new coach, new quarterback, new GM, a kind of a new atmosphere,” Esposito said. “Just seeing and hearing the buzz and the positive feedback from Allegiant you could tell that there was just a different aura in the air. In a week that the Raiders did more housecleaning than a Sunset Station maid, Las Vegas drubbed the Giants 30-6. “That was clearly our biggest decision of the day,” Esposito said.

The Book found itself in a rare no-win situation on Monday Night Football thanks to all the liability that carried over from Sunday. The Jets winning was bad. The Chargers winning was bad. The over was bad. The under was bad.

“We weren’t in an advantageous position. I think that’s the first time this year that there wasn’t some sort of a winning scenario,” Esposito said. “Even sometimes if they’re a little farfetched, we usually have some scenario every week that can get us out. That just wasn’t the case this week.”

There was some symmetry between Week 1 and Week 9 of the NFL. In the opening week of the 2023 season, it seemed like every guest was going against the rookie quarterbacks, and all of them lost in Week 1. This past weekend saw a few teams going with unproven youngsters, too. The Cardinals trotted out Clayton Tune; the Bears went with Tyson Bagent; the Giants were forced to go with Tommy DeVito after the Daniel Jones injury; the Rams sent Brett Rypien out against the Packers. All four struggled and missed targets, all but proving that the local Culinary Union throws better strikes than these guys. Once again, rookie Bryce Young struggled, too.

“It’s a quarterback driven league and there are guys right now that are extremely, extremely unproven and the bettors backed all the teams against those guys,” Esposito said. The only rookie QB turning heads is CJ Stroud, who threw for 470 yards and five touchdowns against the Bucs.

Last Man Standing

Someone’s life is about to change as result of STN’s Last Man Standing contests in the NFL and NCAA. Only 24 of the initial 6,324 entrees remain active after eight weeks of NFL games. Over in the college Last Man Standing competition, only six of the initial 3,223 entries are still active. Reminder: the winner of the college football Last Man Standing contest gets a winner-take-all prize of $100,000. The pro winner pockets $150,000.

College Ball

Two of college footballs early season darlings have lost their shine. In the early weeks, guests couldn’t get enough of Colorado or USC. Colorado is now 4-5 and the hype around them has cooled like a catering refrigerator. USC, meanwhile, is 7-3 and somehow looks more finished than a Katy Perry residency show. For the first time in the Lincoln Riley era, USC is not ranked. The Trojans go into Saturday at Oregon as two-touchdown underdogs.

“My guess is we’re going to be huge Trojan fans on Saturday night,” Esposito said. “Things have really kind of changed dramatically and gone south for the Trojans. I mean, they can’t stop anyone one defense so it’s really bad for them.” There’s also Caleb Williams, who hasn’t been lights out over the past few games, but he still projects to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft next year. Esposito opines, “He played some tougher defenses and he’s playing a really good defense here in Oregon, so I’m anxious to see kind of how he plays in this game because he’s going to see more of these defenses at the next level.”

Vegas is For Winners

It pays to bet local. Literally. After UNLV hammered New Mexico last week, they improved their against-the-spread record to 8-1. The Golden Knights, meanwhile, are off to a red hot start. Then there’s the Raiders, who have embraced the Antonio Pierce experiment like a follically-fortunate man welcomes Mo-vember. Oh yeah, the Aces are the WNBA champs, too.

“You think about UNLV and you think about the Knights and their schedules running parallel, the guests are definitely smiling,” Esposito said. “You can throw in the Raiders after Sunday, and throw the Aces in there, who won their back to back championships — our guests love to back our local teams, not only from the fan side of it but with their pocketbooks, and they have done really well on those four. We’re still recovering from the Knights winning the cup. They’ve had no cup hangover, but we sure have.”

Bets To Know

College Basketball has officially tipped off, and our menu of betting options is in a full-court press. Check the app for daily matchups.

Weekly Winners

It’s all OVER! Congrats to this guest who put down an 8-leg $100 parlay on all overs this past weekend. They took home $15,100!