With the major league baseball landscape changing and the NFL returning this week, things at the STN Sports Books are starting to get spicier than a dish at Master Kim’s Korean BBQ. While oddsmakers lick their chops over the return of the NFL, a local golfer took a bite out of their bottom line over the weekend.
On Sunday, Kurt Kitayama, a UNLV alum, won the 3M Open at 40-to-1 odds. Seeing that he once called Vegas home, several guests threw their support behind the 32-year-old and took him to win. “It was actually a good wager for our guests,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Sports Book Director. “There was some local backing for him.”
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…
NFL Returns
Our long national nightmare is almost over. The NFL is back. Sure, the Hall of Fame Game on Thursday is more of a pre-preseason game when the Lions play the Chargers, but it’s still the NFL, and make no mistake, it will bring in handle. In fact, it might bring in as much money as any of the three baseball games that day, despite it being a rather meaningless NFL game.
“It just speaks volumes to the power of football,” Esposito said. “It’s not going to generate as much handle as maybe some of the other preseason games, but it still generates.” Preseason games can have twists and turns more bizarre than Christian Wilkins’s Raiders release. But who cares! We’re more amped up than a guest at Durango’s Coffee Rave.
The spread for Tuesday’s game between the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Chargers hasn’t moved since the line was initially posted. However, money has been consistently coming in on the under, which is already incredibly low. “In the regular season, you would never see a total that low,” Esposito said.
In the preseason, offenses see more outages than a Venetian casino floor. Last year’s Hall of Fame game ended with 38 points being scored, which was tied for the highest total since 2013. Granted, the game ended in the 3rd Quarter due to the weather, but history shows that preseason offenses are more of a work in progress than the Tropicana site.
“You see way more under money in the preseason than you ever see during the regular season, which is such a flip of the script,” Esposito said.
Hot Teams
If you look at the NFL future book odds, five teams — Eagles, Ravens, Bills, Chiefs and Lions — appear to have the inside track for next season’s Lombardi Trophy. But, bettors are looking outside the scope of those heavy favorites and eyeing value. “The Broncos and Chargers are getting a lot of love, and guests think that gap has narrowed somewhat to the Chiefs,” Esposito said. The Chargers and Broncos, should they win, would offer large payouts, as Los Angeles sits with the 11th-lowest Super Bowl odds, and the Broncos have the 14th-lowest. The problem for both of them is the same: they play in the AFC West, where Patrick Mahomes resides.
“It’s still the Chiefs and they’ve got Mahomes and Andy Reed, but at some point the Pistons got past the Celtics, the Bulls got past the Pistons,” opined Esposito, using an NBA reference. “At some point, somebody else is going to supplant them, and I think both those two teams have tremendous coaches with Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh, and they’re building those teams in what they want. I think the gap has really narrowed, and I know the Chiefs are a prohibitive favorite in that division, but it wouldn’t stun me to see one of those two teams dethrone them.”
It wasn’t long ago that San Francisco was the team to beat, but their hype has disappeared faster than an Epstein list. Still, bettors are eyeing the 49ers, which comes into the NFL season with the easiest schedule on paper. Added Esposito, ”That Super Bowl window they have, although it hasn’t slammed shut yet, the wind is blowing it, and it could slam shut.”
Bets To Know
It’s the return of the Last Man Standing contest! Signups for the popular NFL and college football competition begin on Aug. 1.
The rules: Each entry costs $25, and guests must sign up in person at any Station Casinos Sports Book. Any contestant who purchases four entries will receive a fifth free. While still active in the competition, guests must turn in their weekly picks in person and select one game against the spread for each entry.
The winner of the Last Man Standing competition of the college variety will win a guaranteed minimum of $100,000 (with an aggregate payout), and the NFL’s Last Man Standing winner will take home a guaranteed minimum of $150,000 (with an aggregate payout). As far as bang for your buck, nothing beats STN’s Last Man Standing contest.
Weekly Winners
$500 parlay hits for $51,106.14! Take a look at this impressive baseball ticket from Tuesday night:
-Yankees ML over Rays 190
-Dodgers ML over Reds -153
-Royals ML over Braves -125
-Dodgers/Red over -110
-Yankees/Rays over 8.5 -120
-Astros ML over Nationals -138
-Royals/Braves over 9.5 -110
-Astros/National over 8.5 -105