Like those weeds in your front yard, betting options at the STN Sports Book are growing and out of control. NHL bets? We got em. NBA wagering? Got that, too. NFL Draft props? You can do that with us!
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 STN Sports Books…
NFL Draft
In the NFL, dollars are needed for a quarterback — that or a selection at the top of the NFL Draft. This week marks the return of the NFL Draft, an event about as popular as a Taylor Swift album release. At Station Casinos, guests can bet the first round of the draft via a myriad of ways, including the number of quarterbacks taken, the number of lineman taken, the draft position of several high-profile players or even the position that Mr. Irrelevant plays. You can even bet on the number of trades that happen on Thursday, and this draft is projected to have more moves than the Arizona Coyotes.
“I think it’s going to be an extremely trade-heavy draft. This is an extremely deep draft,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos’ Race and Sports Book Director. “If you look at the talent pool at wide receiver, offensive linemen, quarterback or edge, it is loaded, and I think you’re going to have teams that are going to move up and down the draft board trying to capitalize on that.” This draft could be wilder than the color visuals at a Phish concert. The Draft has never been financially beneficial for the Sports Books (which is why some don’t offer wagering on it) but STN offers the bets because guests like it.
“We know that it’s not going to be a substantial moneymaker for us and that there’s a chance that we lose to it, but it’s so popular and our guests kind of crave it,” Esposito said. “Other places maybe taking a different approach. We are more aggressive.” His advice on how to make money on the draft: pay attention to the information out there. He adds, “We’re in information era and more so than anything with props like this and the draft, it becomes about information.”
VGK
To slightly paraphrase Ric Flair said: To be the champs, you gotta beat the champs. On Monday night, the Vegas Golden Knights began their championship defense with a win against the No. 1 seeded Dallas Stars. The VGK went into the game and the series as slight underdogs, but odds were flipped like a middle finger after the Game 1 win.
“We were clearly Stars fans, and we probably will be every game in the series, at least from the business side of it,” Esposito said. “Unless Dallas takes one of the games in Vegas and gets home ice back, the Knights are going to be the favorite in the series pretty much the whole way.” Ironically, the STN Books have needed the underdogs in almost every series.
“The playoffs have been dominated by favorites, which is good for the bettors. And the one favorite that we really needed was the Stars, which we didn’t get in Game 1,” Esposito said. “VGK really has owned the Stars this year going into the postseason. I’m not so sure that this isn’t a good draw for them.”
Boxing Loss
The STN Sports Book suffered a historical loss on Saturday night after Ryan Garcia pulled off one of the biggest boxing upsets in recently memory, outclassing Devin Haney, who was regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. After some odd behavior in the months leading up to the fight, Ryan came into the bout three pounds overweight and he drank a faux beer on the scale. But, likely due to the price, bettors weren’t worried. Ryan opened at +650, which is about the equivalent to betting moneyline on a two-touchdown underdog in the NFL.
“It was probably one of the worst boxing losses that I can remember that we’ve had in quite some time, probably 10 years,” Esposito said. “Everybody just kind of took the price of what the dog was, and it was a very bad outcome from not only for us, but industrywide from what I’ve heard.” One STN bettor put $10,000 on Garcia to win. Cashed. Another guest bet $30,000 that the fight would go over 9.5 rounds, and that ticket cashed. “There was a lot of $500 to $1,000 bets on Garcia, so our loss was more an accumulation of everything,” Esposito said.
Bets To Know
Next Saturday marks the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby, one of the pinnacle events in all of sports. Station Books and STN will feature a $10,000 twin quinella promotion on Friday for Kentucky Oaks Day, and a $20,000 twin quinella promotion on Saturday (ie. bettors must pick the top two finishers of two predetermined races.) “
For a very small investment you can do really, really well,” Esposito said. As an added incentive, every $20 wager will receive a commemorative 150th anniversary official Derby Day T-shirt. Pony up!
Weekly Winners
$1 12-team parlay to win $2,416? Why not? This STN Sports bettor hit a huge long shot parlay on Monday across multiple sports:
-Stars/Golden Knights over 5.5 goals
-Carolina/Islanders over 5.5 goals
-Bruins/Leafs under 6 goals
-Nuggets/Lakers under 224 pts
-Orioles/Angels under 8.5 runs
-Cardinals/Dbacks under 8.5 runs
-Twins/White Sox under 8.5 runs
-Reds/Phillies under 8 runs
-Royals/Blue Jays under 9.5 runs
-Rockies/Padres under 10.5 runs
-Braves/Marlins under 9.5 runs
-Giants/Mets under 8.5 runs