U.S. soccer fans are in mourning, but things are very much alive at the STN Sports Books. Yes, the men’s team faltered at the wrong time on Monday night, losing 4-1 to a determined Belgium team that cooked the U.S. like a waffle. Of course, as over 80% of the betting was on the Red, White and Blue, the loss was a financial windfall for the Books.
“From a fan’s perspective and just from the crowd in the atmosphere, it’s with mixed emotions that the USA lost, but they were heavily bet on in every game. It was similar to what we see with the Knights in the Stanley Cup, where our decisions were magnified,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Race and Sports Book Director.
“The crowds and the atmosphere and guests requesting seats have been tremendous. It has been almost Super Bowl-esque or almost March Madness-esque on a daily basis now through the knockout round.”
With the World Cup still in full effect, as well as Wimbledon and MLB, there haven’t been balls flying around like this since the original Bingo Palace. 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…
World Cup
The STN Sports Books found itself $1 million richer on Sunday thanks to England. A STN guest placed two different massive bets on Mexico to defeat England, a $750,000 wager at -105 odds, and a $250,000 wager at -120 odds. Had Mexico won, the guest would have netted $922,000, but England managed to get a dramatic 3-2 win at Estadio Azteca, where El Tri hadn’t lost in 13 years.
“Because of the USA loss, and then getting Mexico to lose to England, we had our two best decisions of the tournament back-to-back,” Esposito said. And here you thought Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce had a momentous weekend.
Aces
The Las Vegas Aces have been missing their QB1 for several games, and the spreads have shown that. A’ja Wilson, regarded as the WNBA’s best player and four-time league MVP, has been sidelined with an ankle injury she suffered on June 28. So far, guests haven’t stopped betting the Aces, but they’re also getting much smaller spreads than normal.
“Without her, there’s about a five-and-a-half-to-six-point difference in the Aces lines,” Esposito said. Wilson’s presence on the court is louder than a July 4 mortar, so opposing teams are more than happy to face the Aces without her. “They’re still bet pretty heavily,” Esposito said of the Aces, but cautions against betting against them, citing one-year-old history.
“Anytime you lose arguably the best player in the league, it’s going to have an adverse effect on the line. They’ve actually got off to a much better start this year right now than they did last year, and they still won the championship.”
Summer League
Basketball’s freshest faces are headed to Vegas this week for the NBA Summer League. While STN will have all the individual games posted for betting, guests can now bet the Summer League future book, which has the Memphis Grizzlies and Utah Jazz — two teams with very high draft picks last month — coming in as favorites to win the tournament. Over the past several years, those two teams have had more losses than Wile E. Coyote. “Every year, we see an uptick in handle on Summer League, and I think it’s twofold,” Esposito said.
“One, that it’s an additional sport that you add to the wagering menu, but it also is going on during quite a slow time. The handle has probably increased 15% every year, if not more.” The league is similar to preseason football in that much of the information about lineups and minute restrictions, two things important to making money on the Summer League, is going to be out there. Experience could also be king.
“Really look at the rosters, look and see what teams have players that are maybe coming back who participated in the Summer League before. Find out if some of these young star players may not participate throughout,” Esposito said. “Do your homework to try to get that information that’s going to be out there.”
Bets To Know
Over in jolly old England, the men have largely held serve at Wimbledon, but the women’s draw has seen a few more upsets. “The women have really been unpredictable, but most of the men we thought would be there in the end are still there,” Esposito said.
With the finals this weekend, we’ll see how things net out with a large betting menu on STN Sports. “When it comes to the semifinals and the finals, we always see a huge uptick in handle.”
Weekly Winners
The World Cup continues to deliver action, and has certainly paid off for this STN Sports bettor. Just a $5 bet netted them $777 (+15456!) on these outright wins July 3-6:
- Colombia over Ghana
- Morocco over Canada
- Norway over Brazil
- France over Paraguay
- England over Mexico
- Belgium over USA
- Spain over Portugal