Las Vegas is still one week away before they'll see the bulk of all its Super Bowl action -- 80 percent expected from next Friday night through gameday, but the small sampling of wagers being made already is a great indicator of what those final few days of wagers will have in store.
Yes, it's all Panthers and will probably continue to be, but can it continue at a 94 percent clip? That's the cash ratio William Hill's 104 sports books across Nevada have seen on the game so far through Friday. That's a ratio like we'd see if the Patriots were laying only -2.5 at home against the Jaguars. The actual ticket count at William Hill is 85 percent on the Panthers.
In most Super Bowls, the favorite gets bet with the spread and the underdog is bet heavily on the money-line. So far, William Hill has seen 62 percent of the wagers on the Broncos at +190, but 97 percent of the actual cash has been on the Panthers (-220) with $623,142 coming on one Panthers bet at -190 on Monday.
With those type of slanted numbers, it's curious to see William Hill books so low from a comparative standpoint around Las Vegas, but it's a long way to go and they've only seen a fraction of what's about to come.
The consensus money-line price of Panthers -240 on Thursday was very comparable to a standard price we'd see at most spreads at -5.5 during the regular season, which is odd because the Super Bowl money-line price on the dog is always lower to protect against the masses who usually play the dog to win outright -- they've been correct the past few years.
Station Casinos, who sit at -6, have the Panthers -220/+180. MGM Resorts, who moved to -5.5 to -5.5 -120 on Thursday, have it -240/+200. The South Point is at -6 and have a money-line at -240/+215.
"We're even with action on the Denver money-line since going to +215," said South Point sports book director Bert Osborne who is dealing the best Broncos money-line price in town. "We're also a little high on the Panthers since we went to -6."
That's a lot different report we've been getting from the South Point and Osborne all week where it was all Panthers action similar to what William Hill has seen.
While it may seem hard to believe that the Panthers party train at the bet windows may slow everywhere throughout town, historically, it's not unusual to see momentum slowed during the second week before kickoff as sentiment for the other team begins to show.
People remember what they saw last, which was Carolina in a 49-15 wipe out of Arizona while Denver struggled 20-18 at home against the Patriots, but a week later they start to find any kind of small reason to support the underdog. The main reason is usually because the dog winning outright pays more than the favorite on the point-line or money-line.
We'll have the media with all its mega-coverage next week. The Broncos defense will be a major story, as will Peyton Manning possibly playing in his last game. For the 55-year old lady visiting Las Vegas from Iowa City, who never wagers, she's bound to throw $10 on a nice young man like Manning.
Update - 1.28.16 - 3:25 p.m. ET
The Atlantis Reno was the first Nevada sports book to move Carolina from a 5.5-point favorite to -6 on Thursday morning and two other prominent Las Vegas bet shops followed suit a few hours later.