Las Vegas bettor wins $1.4M on NFL conference champion

The Westgate SuperBook and Station Casinos were big Seattle Seahawks fans on Sunday. So was a high-stakes bettor who made major futures wagers on the Seahawks before the season started.

The unidentified gambler wagered $50,000 to win $1.4 million at BetMGM sportsbook on Seattle to win the NFC at 28-1 odds. They cashed that ticket when the Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in Sunday’s NFC championship game at Seattle. Circa sportsbook also took similar bets from who is believed to be the same gambler.

The bettor also has $50,000 riding at BetMGM to win $3 million on the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl at 60-1 odds, and similar action at Circa, which offered Seattle at 75-1 in the preseason to win it all.

Seattle covered as a 2½-point favorite over the Rams, who went for it on fourth-and-4 at the Seahawks 6 with 4:59 remaining down four. Matthew Stafford’s pass was broken up in the end zone by Devon Witherspoon and Los Angeles didn’t get the ball back until there were 25 seconds left, and Puka Nacua was tackled inbounds near midfield on the final play as time expired. The game flew over the total of 46 in the third quarter.

“In back-to-back weeks now, we were huge Seahawks fans against the 49ers (in Seattle’s 41-6 win in the divisional round) and we were huge Seahawks fans against the Rams,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “They backed the other team in those games, although the Seahawks were the well-rested team, the No. 1 seed and they’ve got the top defense.

“The entire day was predicated on the Seahawks winning by more than a field goal.”

The Rams were the biggest Super Bowl liability at the Westgate.

“We got the results we wanted. We got the Rams out of there,” Westgate vice president of race and sports John Murray said.

Patriots’ day

Only seven years after New England beat the Rams for the sixth and final Super Bowl title of the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick era, the Patriots are back in the NFL championship game for the 12th time.

They beat the Broncos and their backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham 10-7 in an ugly game in snowy Denver. But New England didn’t cover as a 3½-point favorite and the game stayed way under the total of 43 in a bad game for the betting public.

“The low-scoring nature of the game, combined with New England failing to cover the spread, helped solidify a positive position,” Caesars Sportsbook head of football Joey Feazel said. “Denver also represented our largest single payout tied to the Super Bowl, as we saw significant additional Broncos money following the market move from our opening line of -5½ to a closing number of -3½.

“Sharp bettors were quick to take the points, clearly identifying value and signaling that Bo Nix was not worth the full 7-point adjustment implied by our original line.”

Stidham, making his first start in more than two years in place of Nix, fired a 52-yard pass to Marvin Mims Jr. to set up Courtland Sutton’s 6-yard touchdown catch as Denver took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The Patriots tied it in the second quarter after recovering Stidham’s backward pass at the Broncos 12, setting up Drake Maye’s 6-yard touchdown run.

In a game featuring two missed field goals by each team, Andy Borregales kicked a go-ahead 23-yard field goal late in the third quarter for the only points of the second half. Maye picked up a first down on fourth-and-1 at the Denver 8. The Broncos challenged the ruling, but the play was upheld.

“New England could’ve scored zero points in that game,” Murray said. “If you look at the turnover that set up their touchdown, and I thought they got stopped on the fourth down where they kicked a field goal. That was a very close game.”

Just teasing

South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews said his book lost a little bit Sunday, mostly because all four teams covered teasers.

“We took a lot of teaser action,” he said. “That’s what hurt us today.”

Murray said the Westgate also took a hit on teasers.

“The one big negative this weekend was teasers. We got beat up pretty bad,” he said. “But overall, we’re pretty happy with (Sunday) and happy with the Super Bowl.”

The Westgate will release their Super Bowl props at 7 p.m. Wednesday, instead of the traditional Thursday night release.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.