In past reports we brought up the that sportsbooks were getting rolled in prime time games, but with the Ravens miracle win and cover on Sunday and the Bears beating the Eagles outright on Monday Night Football, the books are smiling Tuesday morning. On the college front (forgetting LSU-Alabama for a second) once again Stanford covers and goes into the showdown this Saturday with Oregon as -3.5 favorites at home. It seems the offshore books tended to get really one-sided on LSU action while many of the Las Vegas shops took a good mixture of betting to balance out the action. On Saturday I checked in with Chris Andrews over at the Cal Neva family of sportsbooks and they had more LSU tickets but it was getting offset by bigger bets on Alabama, especially by the sharper bettors. So how did the bookies do on the LSU-Alabama showdown considering many sportsbooks were reporting action that rivaled Bowl Games and equaled or eclipsed any of the games on the Sunday NFL card?

"LSU-Alabama was biggest handle for college game since we opened Lucky’s in 2008. The result was a small winner because of juice. Alabama would have been better. The volume was so high we were in position to win a little or win a lot. As it turned out, we won a little on the game."
-Jimmy Vaccaro from Lucky's Race and Sports Book

"As expected we ended up doing more action on LSU-Bama than last year’s BCS Championship game. Despite getting throttled in the LSU game we still had a profitable day on Saturday."
-Oddsmakers from Bet Online

"Not good, we got smoked."
-Oddsmakers from Sports Interaction

Even though ESPN and the sports media made it seem LSU at Alabama was the lone game being played on Saturday, from the remaining games on the card the sportsbooks reported a great Saturday (even ones who were sided with LSU money):

"Best game of the day was Northwestern beating Nebraska outright. We opened Nebraska -14.5 and it closed -17.5. It was an absolute parlay killer."
-Jimmy Vaccaro from Lucky's Race and Sports Book

"We had another banner week in college football with so many key dog covers and outright wins."
-Offshore bookmaker

"The worst college game for us was Stanford.  I think I say that every week.  The usual, wiseguys taking the plus but being overpowered by the public laying the points."
-Chris Andrews from Cal Neva

Where is the early college action for this Saturday moving?

"By far the biggest bet game for next weeks college schedule is Nebraska-Penn State. Twice as much action on that game than any other game (all public money on Nebraska)."
-Dave Mason from BetOnline

"Interesting big mover in college football this week. Number two Oklahoma State opened -19 over Texas Tech and have been bet down to -17.  Boise St, another team in championship hunt opened -14 over TCU and has been bet up to -15.  Nevada opened -11.5 over Hawaii and are now as high as -13.5."
-Las Vegas oddsmaker

Sunday Night Football went from Pittsburgh and the under to Baltimore and the over in one single play and gave the books a much needed win over the players to end the day. So overall how did NFL Sunday treat the books?

"That touchdown (Ravens) turned our day around. We would have gone into tonight’s game with a lot of liability into the Eagles. It was a good way to end Sunday’s card if you were booking."
-Jimmy Vaccaro from Lucky's Race and Sports Book

"Ravens covering also ensured a winning day yesterday. They don’t cover, we lose. They cover, we win."
-Dave Mason from BetOnline

"The way the numbers fell this past week, I saw more teaser play out of wiseguys than I can ever remember.  They played favorites (Falcons, Saints, Raiders, Pats) and dogs (Jets, Bengals, Ravens).  We won a few games, so we held our own.  The worst pro game was the 49ers over the Skins.Wiseguys and public were all over the Niners. Very little takeback on the dog."
-Chris Andrews from Cal Neva

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.

Oddsmakers 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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