Heavy Golden Knights betting in opener of Western Final
Golden Knights bettors have backed them in a much bigger way at home than on the road. But there is heavy action on the Knights in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final on Saturday in Winnipeg.
“Looking at the money, it’s one of the biggest games that I’ve seen in hockey in many years,” veteran Boyd Gaming sports book director Bob Scucci said Saturday afternoon. “Some of the early money was on the Knights. We opened (the Jets) at (minus) 145, and it got bet down right away to (minus) 130. Then we got action on the other side. We’re getting pretty good two-way action now and are sitting at minus 135.
“We still need the Jets because of all the tickets and all the support on the Knights.”
As of 2 p.m. Saturday, the Knights were available at plus 130 at the Westgate and Stratosphere sports books, plus 129 at South Point and plus 125 at TI, the Golden Nugget and Caesars Palace sports books.
The total is 6 (Under minus 120) at every book.
“The total got pretty good two-way action,” Scucci said. “We’re slightly heavier on the over. We opened at 5½ (Over minus 130) and went up to 6.”
Scucci said the only other hockey team that rivaled the action on the Knights was the Detroit Red Wings during their run of three Stanley Cup titles in six years, from 1997 to 2002.
“There might’ve been a couple games during the Red Wings heyday when they were minus 300 favorites and we took some $30,000 bets to win $10,000. But, in terms of ticket count, I’ve never seen it this big,” he said. “They’re not the monster games that you see during football season, but they’re certainly the biggest hockey decisions I’ve ever seen.”
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Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.