Following back-to-back hyped fights and a major NFL upset, the STN Sports Books were soaring this past weekend.
“Getting the Seahawks to win outright against the 49ers was the biggest game of the day,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Race and Sports Book Director, noting that 80% of the tickets on that game favored San Francisco. “It was huge. It killed straight bets, parlays, teasers, moneyline bets. We usually need one of those to have a really good day on Sunday, and Seattle was that for our side of the counter.”
The Seattle win prevented the Book from crashing and burning like a Netflix feed. Of course, other games didn’t go that way: guests cashed on the Bills (and the over), Dolphins Lions and Rams.
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…
Cowboys
About two hours before the Dallas Cowboys were set to kick off the Monday Night Football game, a piece of their stadium’s roof fell. Ain’t that just the perfect metaphor for the Cowboys season: the sky is literally falling on this team. Dallas got manhandled like bread dough on Monday, losing 34-10 to the Texans.
“They are absolutely a clear bet against at this point,” Esposito said. “They are not very good. They don’t have a home win this season, and in every home game, they’ve trailed by more than 20 points. They’re one of the worst teams in the league.”
One particular bettor seemed to realize this already. On Monday night, this particular Station guest made a $50,000 parlay on the Texans second half to Gonzaga first half, which hit for a six-figure payday.
“[Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones] falls in love with his guys, and I can easily see him signing Micah Parsons, but you could realistically have over $100 million locked up in Parsons, CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott, and if that’s the case, I don’t care if Vince Lombardi comes down from heaven, they’re not winning,” Esposito said. “They’re not winning because they have no depth and have too much locked up in a few guys, and they overplayed their hand with Prescott.”
Cardinals
For those not paying attention — and from the looks of it, you haven’t — the Arizona Cardinals are tagging teams like a Downtown Las Vegas mural. Despite leading in the NFC West, they’re not getting the love of other squads, and yet they have a 7-3 record against the spread.
“The Cardinals were kind of the forgotten team a little bit. We’ve seen a little bit more future money come in on them over the last couple of weeks, but I still think there’s a lot of non-believers,” Esposito said. Thus far, they’ve notched road wins against San Francisco and Miami.
While two of their losses have been inexplicably bad, coming at the hands of the Commanders and Packers, two other losses were by one possession against the Bills and Lions, arguably the two best teams in the league (Have you seen what Detroit is doing to other teams?!?!)
Said Esposito, “They’ve become much better now defensively and they’re playing well. Kyler Murray is very quietly starting to play the way I thought he would play early in the season.” Murray, you could argue, is among the Top 5 for the MVP, but the Cardinals are still under a lot of guest’s radars.
Last Man Standing
During an NFL season that saw more twisting and turning than an under-construction Las Vegas roadway, we have a preliminary winner of the NFL’s Last Man Standing contest (more details to come after all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.) In the college contest, just three active entries remain, meaning this weekend could very well determine a winner.
“I don’t think the pro contest has ever ended before the college contest, at least not that I can remember, so I think it speaks volumes of how difficult the pro league has been this year,” Esposito said.
Tyson-Paul Fight
Even at 58 years old, Mike Tyson still draws a crowd — a big one! Last Friday night, Iron Mike stepped back into the ring to take on Jake Paul, and the STN Sports Books were PACKED. Standing room only.
“It was unbelievable,” Esposito said of the crowds, adding that it was the highest-grossing boxing handle in nearly two years. “We were clearly Jake Paul fans, but 85% of the tickets were on Tyson.” The fight itself — amid a myriad of Netflix streaming snafus — was lackluster. Still, that did little to rain on the parade inside the Books.
“I couldn’t believe the handle and the atmosphere. We took probably close to a dozen five-figure bets on both sides,” Esposito said. “Although it was a little bit of a sideshow and the hype didn’t live up to what actually happened in the ring, I think it was a positive shot in the arm for boxing. And the next night was UFC, so having those back-to-back was tremendous.”
Bets To Know
Things are getting revved up like an anxious Black Friday crowd. The Las Vegas Grand Prix Formula One Race returns to Vegas this weekend, much to the chagrin of The Strip’s manhole covers. The wagering on last year’s race set an F1 record for betting handle, and this year is likely to outpace that.
“This year’s race should be more competitive,” Esposito said. “We’re adding bets daily.” Guests can bet not just on the winner but also on the nationality of the winning driver, the fastest lap on Saturday, the fastest lap in qualifying, the constructor with the fastest lap, and so much more.
Weekly Winners
$2 to win $1,600? You love to see it. A great 1/2 point parlay card hits on Week 11:
-Rams -4.5
-Chargers -1.5
-Vikings -5.5
-49ers/Seahawks under 48.5
-Jets/Colts over 43.5
-Saints +1.5
-Cowboys/Texans over 41.5
-Bills/Chiefs over 46.5
-Broncos -1.5
-Bears/Packers under 41.5