Wendover Casinos are gearing up what could be the heaviest betting Superbowl since the Steve Young era of the San Francisco 49er’s.
Superbowl betting is unlike regular sports betting that is usually dominated by professionals or at least serious amateurs. Come the big game people who would otherwise never place a bet on any team in any sport will make the minimum wager on “their” team just to show support. And for most Wendover gamblers the overwhelming and enthusiastic favorite is the Denver Bronco’s, Salt Lake City’s “home” team.
Located just an hour and a half by plane and under $100 for the ticket, Denver is closest city with an NFL franchise to Salt Lake. Even the seven or so hours driving puts the city comfortably close for die hard fans. With Wendover the closest place where fans can legally make a bet the math is simple: Denver already the favorite to win will attract even more fan bettors than the average Superbowl especially in Wendover.
That could be music to the ears of those running sports books. The heavy action on Denver gives sports books the luxury of adjusting the line to a very safe zone.
It is important to remember sports books usually do not make money on which team wins but on how much money is gambled. Usually luck is balance by the all important line, the point spread along with the estimate of how many total points will be scored in the upcoming match.
Most of the time for every big winner there is a big loser so the worst a sports book can do most of the time is to break even on the bets after taking their percentage.
But with a horde of heavily partisan fans one can throw the science of sports betting out the window and a savvy sports bettor can make a very tidy profit.
“Right now the Broncos are 2.5 over/under 47.5 at the Wendover Nugget.” said local sports betting maven Luciano “Lucky” Soriano. “Well you have a option you can bet either side but you can also bet if the team will score over 47 points or under 47 points. You see most people will bet Broncos and over 47.5 or Seattle and under 47.5 points. Its all what people think could happened. You see I’m thinking Denver will win because they have a QB that can throw the ball short up the middle and long and also a running game. On the other side you have a team that is real good in defense but they have a horrible offence all they have is a real good running back and a running QB. I’m thinking Broncos and under 28-17. My prediction is Broncos win 28-17. So if the line is Broncos -2.5 favorite and not go over the 47.5 point it will maybe Broncos 28 to 17 Seattle so 45 combine points.”
That explanation might be as well as in Greek to the fan bettors but for Lucky he would not have it any other way.
