While guests continue to cash ticket after ticket on baseball — all you have to do is bet against the White Sox, Angels, Rockies, A’s and Marlins — STN Sports Books continue to get the best of bettors in the NFL.
In both Week 1 and Week 2, the biggest underdogs of the week, New England and Las Vegas, respectively, won outright, effectively crushing parlay tickets.
“It’s been a really long baseball season, one very profitable for the guests, so we’re really happy that football is back,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Race and Sports Book Director.
With all that in mind, let’s quickly review the past week in sports and peek at what’s ahead on the STN Sports app and the STN Sports Books…
Raiders/Ravens
The Raiders came into Sunday as the biggest underdog of the weekend, closing at +8.5. All the factors were going against them: the Ravens are in AFC’s upper echelon, the Ravens were more rested, the Raiders had to travel 2,400 miles after a road loss last week. Over 82% of tickets were on the Ravens, too. So, of course, Las Vegas pulled off a 26-23 upset!
“I really didn’t see this one coming,” Esposito said. “We saw some sharp action on the Raiders, but I didn’t believe it. It just shows you there is so much parity in that league, and anything can happen week to week.” In the morning session, the three most significant decisions were the Raiders/Ravens, Chargers/Panthers and Saints/Dallas games.
The guests trounced the Book by hammering the Chargers, but underdog Raiders and Saints both won outright on the road. And, Las Vegas could very well see its win total expand like the Fantastic Indoor Swap Meet since Carolina is coming to town. Carolina opted to bench last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick Bryce Young for veteran Andy Dalton, a man whose hair is redder than a 99 Cents Store’s bank account.
The Raiders opened as favorites of over a touchdown, but the number moved down, showing that guests have more faith in Dalton than Young.
“We’ve already seen a pretty big move there, and it’s based on the quarterback change,” Esposito said. “Dalton’s a veteran quarterback. He’s not really mobile. Regarding Bryce Young, it speaks volumes of how difficult it is for a young quarterback to succeed early in that league.”
Rams Big Bet
The Los Angeles Rams had high hopes entering the season, and many thought they had a shot at a deep run in the playoffs. They still might, but on Sunday, they crashed and burned.
The Arizona Cardinals were one-point favorites just before kickoff, but the line moved to a pick ‘em after a guest made a six-figure wager on the Rams. Plus, 65% of the tickets were for the Rams, who trailed the entire game before losing 41-10.
Giants Bad Beat
How did the New York Giants lose on Sunday? Honestly, how? The G-men scored three touchdowns and somehow lost to a team that didn’t score a single touchdown!
The Commanders were teeny-tiny favorites (82% of tickets were on them,) so the public won, but talk about a bad beat for the Book. Granted, the Giants were without their kicker, making extra points and field goals trickier than a Strip magician, but still!
“The Giants are just an example of bad teams finding ways to lose,” Esposito said.
Last Man Standing
The Last Man Standing competitions in both the college football and NFL contests are whittling down at a dramatic rate. Going into the weekend, 3,438 entries remained active in the NFL contest, but over half were knocked out like a Canelo Alvarez opponent (thanks for nothing, Ravens!)
There are now just 1,345 active entries. In college, over half the tickets were also knocked out, with only 750 remaining active entries.
UNLV
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Last year, UNLV Football was an against-the-spread darling, going 10-3 against the number. So far this year, they’re 3-0, and bettors have more love for them than the iHeartRadio Music Festival. The Rebels are ranked in the Top 25 for the first time in program history, a distinction that comes after defeating Kansas 23-20 on the road. “UNLV is just really good. I mean, they play well on both sides of the ball, and they’re coached really well,” Esposito said. “The bettors back them heavily, which hasn’t been a good outcome for our side of the counter.” The UNLV turnaround has been stunning, to say the least. “UNLV football games were pretty much ignored prior to the last two years. People never asked for the games on the TVs. We saw minimal handle on them compared to what we see now,” Esposito said. “When they played last Friday, the crowd was loud in the Book. It was loud every time UNLV did something. It’s fun to have a resurgence and to be in the USA Coaches Poll. From the business side of it, we’re losing on them, but it’s fun to have the UNLV team playing so well right now.”
UFC
UFC 306, also known as Noche UFC, looked great on TV, and it looked even better on STN’s financial spreadsheets. Slight favorite Sean O’Malley got all the love from guests and was tied to parlays of $50,000 and $25,000. Alexa Grasso, the favorite who went down to Valentina Shevchenko, was also the apple of the guest’s eyes. With both champs struggling from the onset, it was clear early on that both fights would be a “rap” like the BET awards.
“We did really well on UFC,” Esposito said. “It doesn’t work out all the time that we need the underdogs in UFC, but in the cases of both Grasso and O’Malley, we did, and we won in both cases.”
Bets To Know
Baseball’s race to the postseason couldn’t be hotter, and just in time, the STN Sports App has exploded the live wagering menu. Take a look for many more options while you’re watching your favorite team.
Weekly Winners
One particular guest bet a mere $10 and pocketed $20,000 after hitting a seven-team reverse teaser, meaning the bettor took lines with less value for larger payouts. (For example, the Raiders were 8.5-point underdogs.
A typical 7-point teaser would have put them as 15.5-point underdogs, but this gutsy guy went the opposite way. The teaser that hit:
-Browns -3.5
Saints -.5
-Packers -4.5
-Bucs +.5
-Raiders +1.5
-Vikings -1.5
– Chargers -12.5