Las Vegas offers bettors odds without ends
by Patrick Everson, Special to FOXSports.com
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Oh, and apparently a lot of people are going to Phoenix, too.
Yes, the host city of Super Bowl XLII will certainly draw big crowds, but the NFL's season finale has become a huge event in Las Vegas. This year's contest is no exception, with the unbeaten New England Patriots — a 12.5-point favorite — aiming to make history against the underdog New York Giants.
More than 280,000 visitors are expected in Las Vegas this weekend. And many of them will be putting their money where their minds are — legally, of course, in the one state that allows betting on sports.
"People are coming out to Vegas, and they're coming out to bet," said Robert Walker, sports book director for MGM Mirage, which oversees 10 properties on the Strip. "This game is really an event, almost like a holiday. This being the last NFL game of the year, it's just a huge draw. And it's funny, it doesn't even matter who's in the game."
Las Vegas Hilton sports book director Jay Kornegay, who operates the city's largest betting venue, said the atmosphere might even be better than at the game, to be held in Glendale, Ariz.
"If you can't be at the game, Vegas is the place to be," Kornegay said.
But you better be there early on Super Bowl Sunday. Walker and Kornegay, both in the business for more than 20 years, continue to be stunned by the ever-growing crowds at their books and casinos all over the city.
"We open at 5:30 a.m., and I show up around 7 a.m.," said Walker, who works out of the sports book at the Mirage, which can seat well over 200 and has standing room for hundreds more. "By 8 or 9 a.m., there are hundreds of people. We're packed, because there's usually some good basketball that morning, plus people want to get their seats for the game."
Kornegay said he now tries to beat the early arrivers.
"I'll probably be in at 6 a.m.," he said. "Before the crack of dawn, there'll already be a couple dozen people mingling in the book. Some of them are early birds, some of them haven't gone to bed yet, and it's not that hard to tell them apart."
Kornegay's operation has 300 seats and standing room for another 400, plus the Hilton uses its 1,700-seat theater, with a 20-foot-by-25-foot high-definition screen, to accommodate more patrons. And even that's not enough.
"Probably by mid-morning in the sports book, say 10 a.m., you're not going to find a seat. People camp out to get a seat," Kornegay said. "The theater opens at 2 p.m., and I'm sure we'll have a few hundred people in line by then. By kickoff, both places will be standing room only. We just never seem to have enough space."
But it's a monster of the sports books' own making. The Super Bowl has always attracted its share of standard-issue betting, either against the point spread, on the money line (picking the straight-up winner) or the over/under on total points scored. But Kornegay was among the early innovators of proposition bets — wagers on much more specific aspects of the game.
"Prop" bets started out on a small scale, allowing bettors to place money on things such as who will receive the opening kickoff or who will score first. Now, it's a key reason that Super Bowl betting in Nevada has jumped from $40 million in 1991 to more than $90 million each of the past three years.
The Hilton alone offers 350 prop bets, from something as benign as an over/under on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's passing yards to something as exotic as this: What will be higher, Tiger Woods' total birdies in the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic, or Patriots wideout Randy Moss' total catches against the Giants?
"Every single play is deciding at least one prop bet, and sometimes several props," Kornegay said. "That makes the atmosphere unbelievable — it's so electric, with the roller-coaster of emotions people have, the ups and downs throughout the game."
What's helping prop bets this year, Walker said, is a much more intriguing matchup of Patriots star and league MVP Brady against Giants QB Eli Manning. Last year's matchup of Manning's older brother Peyton, with the Colts, against the Bears' unsteady Rex Grossman just didn't have the same allure.
"We've got great player props this year," said Walker, who has put together a 14-page packet of the unique bets. "We've got two pages of QB props alone. Having Brady and Manning, one great quarterback and one really good (one), that's a lot easier than doing Rex Grossman props."
The props have allowed fans who don't like either team, or even those who rarely take in football, to get in on the action in a tangible way.
"I think many people either love or hate these teams, but if none of that matters to you, you can bet the props," Walker said. "You don't have to worry about who covers the spread. Instead, bet on whether there'll be a safety or if there'll be overtime."
Said Kornegay: "If you don't have an opinion on the game, come over, look through the props, and we'll give you an opinion."
Between the prop bets and having two teams from major metropolitan markets — not to mention a bitter rivalry between the two cities whose teams are in Sunday's contest — this could be the first year that Super Bowl betting in Nevada tops $100 million.
And while numbers are important, Walker said the atmosphere is the key component of Super Bowl Sunday in Las Vegas.
"You're in a luxurious environment, you can eat, drink, have a good time, and unlike when you're at the game, you won't miss a quarter by going to the restroom," he said.
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