Last year fans placed bets that accumulated an unheard of $99 million dollars on the Super Bowl of 2013. While the Nevada gambling industry awaits the record breaking game of 2014, the odds truly lie with (or against) the gamblers.
So what and how are people betting this year? The sports books in Nevada collected record amounts of wagers when it came to football bets towards the end of 2013, and this year seems to be even more of the same. Prior to these last few years, casinos largely saw sports books as simply to humble of a profit margin to invest a lot of space and money to developing. It was never a major profit maker, but simply a perk to keep certain sports enthusiast gamblers from heading to the neighboring casino and potentially playing the other games.
According to Jay Kornegay who is the head of the LVH sports book, it seems to be bringing in crowds like never before. Football wagers this year are downright unprecedented, and with the increased volume, casinos are looking to profit.
The vast majority of professionals working in the gambling industry, along with old-time odd makers, are attributing this rise to the increase in games being televised and better sports analysis. This is affecting the masses down to even the amateurs given that they too are more likely to bet on a game that can be easily viewed with “inside knowledge”. With the ever increasing climate in sports podcasts along with blogs and websites, fans are now feeling more in tune with the players and the game than ever before.
While fans and industry pro’s are more educated and seemingly confident about their odds analysis, last week was spent making intense decisions from both sides. Kornegay said he stayed busy with four staffers in order to distinguish certain minute, yet crucial data, and get it up and ready to have money thrown at it. Examples such as the odds for bets on the number of receptions that Denver running back Moreno may end up having in Sunday’s game. These are proposition bets.
With proposition bets accounting for as much as sixty percent of the 2014 Super Bowl bets in the state of Nevada, it seems a new type of betting is also on the rise. Proposition wagers are basic bets on the elements of the game that fall to the wayside in comparison to the final score.
There are also gimmick bets available. This new trend are simple wagers on anything from who will mess up a dance in the in-field during half time, to how many high fives on the sideline after a touchdown, to the color of Gatorade that will be poured on the winning coach. Even the playing conditions can be bet on this year. I would never bet on the weather! It has been cold, very cold in New Jersey, and a big snow storm just passed through meaning absolutely nothing as a prediction. But some apparently do…
The stigma of sports betting is truly disappearing at last as average Joes seem to be getting in on the action this year. There are now TV commercials employing people to enjoy and bet safely which is absolutely unheard of in the US, until now. It is said that once the casinos learn just how to attract the fantasy sport players to the strip, the profits will soar that much further. It is just another market for them to tap and they are quite good at that. Though some growth in the industry was effectively hidden by the recession, people are apparently back on to sports gambling like never before. Here’s to the dawning of a new era with football on the mind and scorecard in hand!
Jared Bates
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