Vegas Golden Knights’ 2-0 start proves golden for sports books

The Golden Knights’ surprising 2-0 start also has been golden for Las Vegas sports books.

“Locals are betting on them, but the sharps are betting against them. They got their ass kicked,” Golden Nugget sports book director Tony Miller said. “We won on the first two games, thank God.”

The Knights cashed as plus-200 underdogs in Friday’s season-opening 2-1 win at Dallas and cashed as plus-160 underdogs in Saturday’s 2-1 triumph at Arizona.

“You had an expansion team against a Dallas team most people think will be among the top teams in the league and having to travel back-to-back nights,” Sunset Station sports book director Chuck Esposito said. “Anytime you can get an expansion team to win back-to-back games on the road, you have to be impressed. But it’s a long season and you can’t get overly optimistic yet.”

Esposito said the action on the Knights’ first two games was about four times as much as the rest of the hockey games on the card.

Knight moves

The Knights opened as minus-115 favorites over the Coyotes in Tuesday’s home opener at T-Mobile Arena. The total is 5½ goals (Under minus-130).

“We expect to see some backing (for the Knights) in the home opener,” Esposito said.

Station Casinos plans to post prop bets on each Knights game that will be available mid-afternoon on game days. Props will include player to score the first goal, total goals scored by each team, score in the first 10 minutes of the game, margin of victory and more.

“Anything that will create 60 minutes of hockey fun for bettors,” Esposito said. “We’ll expand the menu, too.”

SuperContest update

The entry Cali Cappers leads the Westgate SuperContest standings with a 20-5 record after going 5-0 in Week 5.

The entry BKSF leads the inaugural $5,000 entry, winner-take-all Westgate SuperContest Gold standings with a 20-5 mark after going 3-2.

The top five SuperContest consensus plays went 1-4 in Week 5, winning on the Cincinnati Bengals and losing on the Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills. The top five consensus plays are 10-15 on the season.

The top five consensus plays in the Gold are 12-13 this season.

Playoff favorites, overs off to fast start

Baseball favorites were 10-2 in the playoffs entering Monday’s games and overs were 9-3, with home teams 11-1.

“Baseball’s been good for the guests, no question,” Esposito said. “Bettors are backing those favorites, and it’s not only favorites and over but they’ve covered the run line.”

Favorites entered Monday with an impressive 8-2 mark on the run line.

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