Move over, Kansas City. The bird is the word in the NFL. The Philadelphia Eagles dominated and decimated Kansas City in Super Bowl LIX, squashing Patrick Mahomes’ chances for a three-peat.
Philly’s win benefitted STN Books, as 56% of the tickets were on Kansas City. Then, more money dumped in on the Chiefs in the second half and in-play betting. “People just kept thinking Kansas City was getting the second half kickoff and would go down, score and maybe they flip the script,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Race and Sports Book Director. “It just never happened. In retrospect, there was no question that the Eagles were by far the better team in every category.”
With all that in mind (and another Super Bowl under our belts!), 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…
Over/Under
The Eagles and the over in Super Bowl. It’s basically a tale as old as time. With 76% of the tickets on the over, guests were hoping for a total higher than a SpaceX rocket over the Vegas sky, and they got it with a 40-22 final.
“Overall, a good game for our side of the counter and much better than last year’s Super Bowl and the last two Eagles’ Super Bowls, but it just could have clearly been a monster day had the total stayed under,” Esposito said. “We needed the Eagles to fly, but they flew a little too high.”
Props To You
Super Bowl prop betting has become a staple of the big game, some of which went the way of the public and others that went the way of the house. Guests cashed in tickets on the Cooper DeJean’s pick-six, the sack total over and the successful two-point conversion.
“A lot of the defensive props tied to the Eagles we didn’t do good on, but the Cooper DeJean touchdown was by far the worst,” Esposito said, having offered a prop on a DeJean interception (+900), a defensive touchdown (+220) and a pick-six (+550). However, Philly’s Dallas Goedert and Saquon Barkley and Kansas City’s Travis Kelce were all held in check, which favored the Books.
Look Ahead To Next Season
There’s brotherly love for Philly in 2026. The Eagles initially opened at 7-to-1 odds to win next year’s Super Bowl, and they’ve already been bet down. Ironically, people weren’t jumping on the Eagles bandwagon just a few months ago in the 2024/2025 season.
You’ll recall that Philadelphia started 2-2, and there were loud calls for the firing of Nick Sirianni — this, of course, also followed the team’s late collapse in the 2023 season. Heading into week 5 of the 2024 season, Philly had Super Bowl odds as high as 22-to-1.
“There wasn’t any love for them. Even though they’re a big market team, I think there were a lot of doubters,” Esposito said. “Fortunately for us, it put us in a great position with them on the future book. Detroit became the darling. Bettors liked Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota.
There were still a lot of believers in the 49ers, as bad as they were playing. Then you had a young Commanders team playing well. For whatever reason, the Eagles kind of became that forgotten entity, and by the time they heated up later and went on that big streak, we had adjusted. Of the four teams that played in the two conference championship games, the team that we sat the best with in the future book was the Eagles.”
NBA Update
With the NFL season now officially over, all eyes turn to other sports, particularly the NBA. On Monday night, Luka Doncic made his debut in a Lakers uniform, and the money was all on L.A as a 13-point favorite. “The fact that it was Luca and LeBron [James] both playing against an inferior opponent, the Lakers were clearly getting all the love,” Esposito said. L.A. prevailed and easily covered the line, besting the Utah Jazz 132-113.
“The whole NBA board was kind of favorite-heavy on Monday, so not a good way to follow the Super Bowl,” Esposito said. The Doncic-to-the Lakers and Jimmy Butler-to-the-Warriors trades altered things more than a seamstress. “There is some liability on the Lakers and the Warriors future book-wise,” Esposito said. “It was a huge shakeup. The trade deadline changed the entire landscape of the NBA.”
Bets To Know
With football season coming to a close, basketball and hockey have officially ramped up. Check the STN Sports App and be on the lookout for additional offerings as we focus on the second half of these two leagues.
Weekly Winners
Back on Feb 8, an STN Sports bettor had a MASSIVE day with this crazy parlay. $100 paid $24,934. The legs:
-Rangers ML
-Bruins/VGK over 5.5
-TWolves ML
-Warriors ML
-Hawks ML
-Magic ML
-Thunder ML
-Celtics ML
-Kings ML
-Lakers/Pacers over 231
-Nuggets ML
-Mavs ML