Both Las Vegas and offshore sportsbooks had a profitable Saturday and Sunday with the shops catering mainly to a "public" audience reporting a "great" weekend. Once again Kansas State comes through for bettors as the public and many wiseguys continue to back this dog each week on the spread and also the moneyline. The one game that I heard "over and over" that hurt the books was the Bears who had tons of public money on them and easily over-powered the "sharp" action on the Chargers.The huge upsets made tons of money for the "square only" shops and the books closed out Sunday on a great note with the public pounding the Giants over the Vick-less Eagles. So let us get right into the recap direct from the bookmakers who took the action this weekend:
“Had a guy that hit a 4-team parlay; turning $150 into $11,257: Kansas St +225, Kansas St under, Baylor +550 and Baylor over 75.5.”
-Oddsmakers from BetOnline
"The Iowa State upset of Oklahoma State on Friday night was the best game of the weekend. We have money lines on every game, so while we do get some dog play, we get a lot of people who are looking to bet a lot to win a little on 'sure things'. We also have a large clientele who like to parlay the big favorites. Needless to say they had a rough night when Iowa State pulled out the overtime win."
-Chris Andrews from Cal Neva
"With the dogs continuing to bite we had another impressive weekend, the tide has definitely turned from the first half of the season. Any book with a square base is cleaning up right now."
-Phill Gray the Line Management Supervisor from Sports Interaction
"Saturday was pretty good and Sunday was good, but not great. The worst college game for us was Houston over SMU. The wiseguys were on the dog but the public over powered them with Houston money. The same thing happened with the Bears and Chargers. The wiseguys took 4.5 on the Chargers when it first showed, but we held the game at 4.5 almost all day Sunday and again, the public overpowered them. The best NFL game was the Eagles upset of the Giants on Sunday night. We left it on the parlay cards, so we had plenty of Giants action."
-Chris Andrews from Cal Neva
Checking in on early action including the Turkey Day games:
"Lots of play on the Thursday games already. The Packers opened -7 and have been bet down to -6. Some places had an early line on the Cowboys as high as -9, now it's down to -7 or even a bit lower. The Dolphins have been playing great the last 3 games after being surprisingly competitive during their losing streak. In the Harbaugh Bowl Thanksgiving night, some places had the Ravens as high as -5 over the 49ers. The game is now -3 or 3.5."
-Chris Andrews from Cal Neva
"The Cutler injury is a 4 pt swing in the line this weekGiants went 20 to 40-1 to win Super Bowl after the loss to the EaglesWe had people taking the Eagles at 50-1 after their win."
-Jimmy Vaccaro from Lucky's Race and Sports Book
On twitter I had someone ask what I felt the odds would be on Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao showdown and went to the experts to get their prediction:
"Mayweather -130."
-Jimmy Vaccaro from Lucky's Race and Sports Book
“After Manny's last fight, Floyd would probably be a -140 favorite.”
-Chris Andrews from Cal Neva
"Mayweather/Pacman - Floyd should open as the 2/1 dog, would expect that to get bet down heavily, and books will have a large liability on him. Will be no value betting Manny.”
-Phill Gray the Line Management Supervisor from Sports Interaction
“Mayweather -185 Pac Man +145”
-Oddsmakers from BetOnline
Interesting tidbits:
*Last 5 NFL seasons (2007 onward): Favorites have covered 589 games, and Underdogs covered 589 games (with 27 spread ties).
*$100.00 Moneyline parlay at BetCRIS on Baylor, USC and Iowa State would have paid $64868.75
*Miami Dolphins winning at a home versus the spread was rare event. Miami Dolphins at home last 5 years vs. the spread? 30%. The last 20+? 43%. Miami is so bad at home, most oddsmakers default is to give the home team 3-points, but many I spoke with give ZERO for the Dolphins.
*The San Francisco 49ers opened up 30-1 to win the Super Bowl in Las Vegas (went up to 40-1) and are now down to 6-1. Besides being 9-1 overall, the 49ers have covered the line EVERY single game this season (9-0-1).
*In early October, offshore bookmaker Olympic had Arkansas at +8000 ($100 bet would pay $8000) to win the National Championship.
Las Vegas Contributors:
Chris Andrews from Cal Neva: Las Vegas bookmaker at Cal Neva working directly with legendary oddsmaker Nick Bogdanovich. Cal Neva has 35 locations throughout Nevada, including the Las Vegas strip, Henderson, Mesquite, Reno, Sparks, Carson City, South Lake Tahoe, Jackpot, and Gardnerville. You can catch Chris on ESPN945.com and follow him on twitter at @andrewssports.
Jimmy Vaccaro from Lucky's Race and Sports Book: Legendary Las Vegas bookmaker and Director of Sports Operations and Public Relations. Lucky’s Race & Sports Book has 17 locations, including the Riviera Hotel & Casino, Fitzgeralds Casino & Hotel, Plaza Hotel & Casino and Terrible's Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino in Reno, John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks, Pioneer Hotel & Gambling Hall and River Palms Resort Casino in Laughlin. Follow Jimmy V and Lucky’s on twitter at @JimmyVaccaro and @betatluckys.
Offshore Contributors:
Oddsmakers from BetOnline: BetOnline operates out of Panama City, Panama, which has been referred to as "the banking capital of Latin America". Panama is a reliable and secure business environment, providing a solid infrastructure, cutting-edge Internet bandwidth and a government that strictly regulates and monitors offshore gaming activity. @DaveMasonBOL
Phill Gray the Line Management Supervisor from Sports Interaction: Sports Interaction, the first online sportsbook licensed and regulated in North America, has been the No 1 choice in the online gambling market for more than ten years. Sports Interaction is overseen and regulated by the Kanhawake Gaming Commission
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