The racing and Las Vegas communities lost a son last week with the untimely passing of the great Kyle Busch. Still, the show went on, and the (rain-shortened) Coca-Cola 600 was won by one of the most unlikely racers in Daniel Suarez, a 125-to-1 longshot. The STN Sports Books had tickets of $15 and $10 on him at those odds.
Meanwhile, a time zone away, the Indy 500 also paid homage to Busch. As with the NASCAR race, the Indy 500 result was good for the house, with Felix Rosenqvist, a 12-to-1 favorite, prevailing in the closest finish in race history, by a margin of just 0.0233 seconds.
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…
VGK
Honestly, what can you say about those Vegas Golden Knights that hasn’t already been said? On Tuesday, the VGK swept Colorado, a team that flopped like a World Series of Poker hand.
“Remember this Colorado Avalanche team was the President’s Trophy winner and expected to be a heavy favorite, and the Knights have made them look silly,” said Jason McCormick, Vice President of Station Casinos’ Race and Sports, adding that local bettors have been cleaning up, as the VGK are usually seeing over 80% of the ticket count her game. Yes, the Avs are getting rocked more than the stage at the American Music Awards.
“We’ll take a couple of the bigger wages on the Avalanche to balance the money, but the ticket count is definitely north of 80%,” McCormick said. “When we talk about the Knights winning a game 5-3, like Sunday, where they cover the puck line and the over, those are the worst-case scenarios.” On Tuesday, 82% of the tickets were for the Knights to close out the series, and once again, the guests were rewarded.
Over in the Eastern Conference, bookmakers are hoping for Carolina to prevail, as they lose to Montreal in the future book. Should that happen, the Knights would be small underdogs in the Stanley Cup; if it’s Montreal, Vegas would be favored.
NBA
For the first time since 1999, the New York Knicks will be in the NBA Finals. Jalen Brunson and Co. absolutely demolished the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, winning every game by double digits. In fact, they’ve won 10 games in a row, nine of them by double digits, meaning their opponents are left with bruises as colorful as the Gaudi Bar.
Still, they will be underdogs against either the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in the Finals, and in Game 1 of the series (The Thunder would be about a 6 1/2 point favorite in the opening salvo, whereas the Spurs would be a 4 1/2 point favorite; Game 3 and 4 in New York will be closer to a pick ‘em.)
“The way that this Knicks team is playing, we started to get a lot of bets on the Knicks before they closed out this series and even right now to take home the championship,” McCormick said. Given the Knicks’ involvement, the Finals’ handle is expected to be huge. “Adding a major market team to go along with the popularity of the players on the Thunder or the Spurs makes for a very, very marketable finals,” McCormick said.
“This could be a very, very good series.” As much as the public was betting on the Knights in hockey, they’re doing the same for the NBA’s Spurs, as San Antonio has gotten the majority of the money and ticket count in all five games thus far, which didn’t work out well for them on Tuesday. “The public is in love with [Victor Wembanyama],” McCormick said. “The worst-case NBA champion would be the Spurs.”
WNBA
Fresh off another title, the Las Vegas Aces stumbled out of the gates to open the season, getting shellacked by the Mercury. Since then, they’ve gotten back to business and motoring over teams like Travis Pastrana through the casino floor of Boulder Station.
And, like those Golden Knights, the public is buying in, thus making oddsmakers root for the opponent. “The Aces make for the bookmaker uncomfortable, so we find ourselves cheering against them,” McCormick said. However, the league is loaded with ways for guests to win.
“The WNBA seems to be having some pretty good ‘dog prices out there,” the bookmaker added. “You got some new teams in the Fire that have pulled some upsets, so maybe take some chances with the dogs in the WNBA.”
Bets To Know
The National League Central has been an early baseball surprise, with every team playing well and above .500. Conversely, the AL West is getting beat up like your wallet at the grocery store, with every team hovering at .500 or well below it.
The tip: “With games outside of their division, you might consider looking at the NL Central to win and the AL West to lose,” McCormick said. Whereas the division results are surprising, one could argue that Tampa Bay is the biggest stunner in the league, as they own the second-best record in MLB, behind only the Braves (and better than the Dodgers!)
Weekly Winners
This STN Sports bettor took advantage of Early Cash Out in the app in the middle of the ticket – and it turned out to be the correct decision, with the Padres losing to the Phillies! A still-impressive parlay for $10 cashed out for $2,152.07:
-Nationals moneyline over Guardians
-Orioles ML over Rays
-Angels ML over Tigers
-Braves ML over Red Sox
-Brewers ML over Cardinals
-Padres ML over Phillies (Lost)
-Twins ML over White Sox
-Pirates ML over Cubs
-Yankees ML over Royals
-Red ML over Mets