The state’s sports betting handle increased for the ninth straight year, climbing from $2.76 billion in 2010 to $4.23 billion in 2015 before eclipsing $5 billion for the first time in 2018.
Todd Dewey
Reporter: Sports betting
Email: tdewey@reviewjournal.com
X: @tdewey33
Todd Dewey covers sports betting for the Review-Journal. Prior to taking over that beat in January 2017, he covered UNLV football, 51s baseball and a wide range of other events that come to Las Vegas. A native of Cambridge, Mass., and a graduate of the University of Central Florida, Dewey joined the Review-Journal in 1999 and was the 2013 Nevada Sportswriter of the Year.
Westgate sportsbook manager Ed Salmons estimates that about 80 percent of the Super Bowl betting handle will pour into the books Thursday through Sunday.
Three different Las Vegas sportsbooks made the Patriots 3-point favorites over the Rams over the weekend in Super Bowl LIII. But on Monday, William Hill was the only book still at 3.
In-play wagering is expected to eclipse pregame betting in the United States in four or five years.
Most Las Vegas sportsbooks already have posted odds to win Super Bowl LIV and the Patriots are the most popular team among bettors so far at the Westgate sportsbook.
The Westgate offers 442 two-way props and more than 1,000 betting options on the game.
The Super Bowl total is down to 57 at several Las Vegas sports books after being as high as 59, and Caesars Entertainment sports book risk manager Jeff Davis said it looks like the sharp money has come into play.
The South Point was the first Las Vegas sports book to move to the key number of 3 for the Super Bowl on Tuesday, but it went back to 2½ after 17 minutes.
Will Nevada’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.
Westgate sports book vice president Jay Kornegay said Monday he’s never had a game-fixing issue involving a proposition bet and that safeguards such as lower betting limits are in place.
The drive sent New England to the Super Bowl for the third straight year and fourth time in five years and gave William Hill sports book director Nick Bogdanovich a case of Pats’ fatigue.
New England opened as a 1-point underdog to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII, but early action on the Patriots quickly made them 1½-point to 2½-point favorites Sunday night at Las Vegas sports books.
Whether it’s Rams-Chiefs, Chiefs-Saints, Saints-Patriots or Patriots-Rams, Las Vegas bookmakers are expecting plenty of points and Nevada’s fourth straight record Super Bowl betting handle.
Arctic blast or not, professional sports bettors Rufus Peabody and Ron Boyles lean to the over in the rematch of New England’s 43-40 regular-season win over Kansas City.
Derek Stevens, who owns the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate, placed a $100,000 bet to win $105,000 on an intriguing college basketball prop at the South Point sports book.