On a weekend that saw the Sports Books getting more kicked repeatedly, guests were cashing over and over again, particularly on the money line.
“This is one of the best weeks I can ever remember for the guests on the parlay cards,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Race and Sports Book Director. “Guests can be extremely thankful the Browns, Raiders, Bears, Patriots, Panthers and Cardinals were all the better teams in their games but could not finish and win the game.” The Eagles and Steelers, meanwhile, were both underdogs who won outright. The problem for the house: guest ticket counts favored both teams from the Keystone State, so they were actually rooting for the favorites there.
“So when you look at kind of the money line side this past week, the guests were kind of 14-0 on the money line side,” Esposito said. Guests were cashing tickets longer than a Black Friday Best Buy line.
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…
Elite Ravens?
The Baltimore Ravens have the fifth lowest odds to win the Super Bowl, sitting behind the Lions, Eagles, Bills and Chiefs, but are the 8-5 Ravens as elite as those teams appear to be? “I don’t know,” Esposito said.
Going into their bye week, Baltimore isn’t even leading its division, and they aren’t the odds-on favorites to win the Pittsburgh-leading AFC North, but Lamar Jackson’s squad is still a much higher favorite than the Steelers to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. This makes less sense than a Matt Eberflus play call, right? “They’re still really explosive and good, but they just seem to find ways to lose. They’ve lost some games that you thought they shouldn’t have lost, so I’m not sure if they’re elite or not,” Esposito said.
The Chiefs, you could argue, are the opposite, as they’ve won games they probably should’ve lost. “That’s usually the telltale sign of the team that’s good and a team that maybe is a little bit of a fraud,” the oddsmaker said.
Weather-Tested Bills
If all roads in the AFC go through Buffalo, we’re gonna need a snow plow. The Sunday Night Football game in Orchard Park, New York, featured a blizzard that would make Dairy Queen proud, and it’s very possible that future Sunday games could get even snowier as the winter wears on in the Northeast.
The Bills, though, are very comfortable playing in conditions whiter than an old man’s hair color, as evidenced by that 35-10 win against San Francisco.
“If the Chiefs stub their toe at all, everything would go through Buffalo. On Sunday night with those conditions, the Niners had trouble with their footing and holding out of the ball. The bills didn’t,” Esposito said. “Nobody wants to play in Orchard Park in late January.”
UNLV Rebels
It all comes down to this for the UNLV Rebels. With a win against Boise State in Friday’s Mountain West Championship, the Rebels could find themselves in the 12-team playoff. Of course, let’s not put the cart before the horse. The Rebs will enter the game at Boise State on the Surf Turf as an underdog of more than a field goal, but that number was in flux throughout the city.
“Industry-wide, there was a wide array of what people thought the line should be, anywhere from four to eight,” Esposito said. People didn’t know how to approach it… sorta like the I-15/215 merge. When these teams played at Allegiant Stadium in October, the Broncos eeked out a five-point win. Boise, for what it’s worth, has lost one game all season, and it was to Oregon, the undefeated No. 1 team in the country.
“Do the locals really come out and back the Rebels, or is there a lot more sharp and big money that comes in on Boise? I expect a huge handle on that game even though it’s not here, but the fact that it involves Rebel football on Friday night means the handle will be arguably one of the bigger college handles this weekend,” Esposito said.
“The early push was clearly on UNLV. You’re starting to see some Boise money, and I think it’s going to kick up. If you want UNLV in this game, I think you can wait and get a better price.”
Last Man Standing
The Last Man Standing competitions are over! In the NFL, one guest outlasted five others to claim his $150,000 check, officially winning the contest on Nov. 17 when the Saints hammered the Browns. In the college football contest, two guests separated themselves from the herd but couldn’t settle it in the regular season. They will now split the $100,000 prize.
Bets To Know
It’s a huge slate of college football championship matchups this weekend, and the STN Sports menu of bets has stepped up. Be on the lookout for a huge menu of props as we head into implications for the college football playoff.
Weekly Winners
-Texans +1
-Bills -1
-Sun Devils -3