Super Bowl LIII handle in Nevada may set another record

Nevada sports books set record Super Bowl betting handles in each of the past three years, climbing from $132.5 million in 2016 to $138.5 million in 2017 to $158.6 million last year.

Will the state’s Super Bowl LIII betting handle go over or under $165.5 million? That’s one of several Nevada-related wagers among 64 Super Bowl prop bets that were posted Monday by BetDSI, an offshore sports book based in Costa Rica.

The over is a minus 130 favorite.

“From Super Bowl 51 to 52, it went up $20 million on the handle. We think this is going to go up and set a record as well, but we wonder if Vegas might lose a little bit of the action because there are more options and different places to wager now,” BetDSI spokesperson Scott Cooley said.

Westgate sports book vice president Jay Kornegay doesn’t expect the spread of legal sports betting to hinder Nevada’s handle on the Feb. 3 game between the Rams and Patriots, who were consensus 2½-point favorites at Las Vegas books Monday after opening as 1-point underdogs Sunday night.

“I don’t see that affecting the handle at all,” he said. “Because the line’s so low, it could reduce the number of large money-line wagers we’ve seen in the past. But I still expect Nevada to surpass last year’s record.

“Some people are really tired of the Patriots. But the game really sells itself.”

Nevada is a 50-1 favorite to be the state with the largest Super Bowl LIII betting handle. New Jersey is even money and the field (any other state) is an 80-1 long shot.

“We wanted to list everybody but Nevada’s going to have the largest handle,” Cooley said. “Next year, the prop could look completely different.”

There were five $1 million wagers reported at Las Vegas books on the Eagles’ 41-33 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. The total of seven-figure wagers on Super Bowl LIII is set at 6½ offshore.

Player to score first TD

The Westgate will post its full menu of more than 400 props at 7 p.m. Thursday.

On Monday, the Westgate posted the player to score the first touchdown and Super Bowl MVP index props, as well as a dozen parlay-possible props.

Patriots running back Sony Michel is the 6-1 favorite to score the first TD and Rams running back Todd Gurley is the 7-1 second choice. Tom Brady is a 60-1 shot.

“That’s one of the more popular props that’s been around for a long time,” Kornegay said. “It’s a simple prop that includes a low risk, high reward scenario.”

Trump props

BetDSI also has a plethora of pregame props, broadcasting props, halftime show props, commercial props and President Donald Trump props.

“The fun ones are mostly for publicity but they are available for wagering,” Cooley said. “We want everyone to have a fun Super Sunday.”

Here are some Trump-related props: Total tweets during game (over-under 1); will he congratulate winning team via Twitter on Feb. 3 (Yes, -150); will the U.S. government shutdown end before Super Bowl LIII (Yes, -180); and which will be higher on Feb. 4, his approval rating (plus 110) or yardage of longest made field goal (-140).

More Betting: Follow at reviewjournal.com/betting and @RJ_Sports on Twitter.

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