Super Bowl bettors laugh last
Two dynasties ended and two records were left untouched Sunday when New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick rushed off the field in disgust as a Super Bowl loser.
The Patriots’ perfect run was stopped as they finished the season 18-1 and failed to make NFL history. A streak of 12 consecutive profitable Super Bowls for Nevada sports books also ended, and the state failed to set a record wagering handle on the game.
"It’s just a stunner all the way around," MGM Mirage sports book director Robert Walker said.
The New York Giants upset New England 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII at Glendale, Ariz. The Giants closed as 12-point underdogs.
A total of $92.1 million was wagered on the game, and the state’s 174 sports books lost $2.6 million, according to figures released Tuesday by the Gaming Control Board.
It’s only the second time in 18 years that Nevada sports books lost on the Super Bowl.
There was speculation the game would draw a handle approaching $100 million. A Super Bowl-record $94.5 million was wagered in 2006.
Las Vegas Hilton sports book director Jay Kornegay said the amount bet at his book "easily surpassed last year’s handle."
"That number is shocking to me," Kornegay said of the handle of $92,055,833. "With all the hype, I thought we would at least break the record and get $95 million to $97 million."
A total of $93.1 million was wagered last year on the Super Bowl. Walker and Wynn Las Vegas sports book director John Avello said the handle was up slightly this year at their books.
Walker said there were fewer six-figure wagers at MGM Mirage books. The largest bet he took, he said, was $250,000 on the Giants plus-12.
New England was about a minus-420 favorite to win straight up on the money line, and the books took a beating mostly because the betting public piled on New York to win at about plus-350.
"When you’re giving out 3-1 (odds) or more on the money line, you just can’t overcome that," Walker said. "I would take that scenario every time where we just need the Patriots to win outright to win money.
"I expected the Patriots money-line bets to come in, and they never did. I was really surprised. We just didn’t take any large wagers."
Kornegay said proposition bets turned a profit at the Hilton, but the result as a whole was a lost cause.
"We got crushed on the game," Kornegay said. "By the time we got to the Super Bowl, a lot of people were tired of the Patriots, and they didn’t want to root for Goliath."
The public did the most damage to the books by betting the Giants plus the points and the Giants on the money line. Many bettors played those bets on parlays with the score to go under the total of 55.
Eli Manning’s touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds remaining helped New York finish off one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. New England had taken a 14-10 lead with 2:42 left.
"The perfect scenario for us was New England scoring that last touchdown and the game just running out," Avello said. "That last drive for the Giants was the worst thing that could have happened.
"We didn’t get crushed. It wasn’t that bad. We won on the game."
Since the Gaming Control Board began keeping records in 1991, the only previous Super Bowl loss for Nevada’s sports books was in 1995, when San Francisco was a heavy favorite in a 49-26 victory over San Diego. The books lost $396,674 on that game, and the handle was $69.6 million.
The books celebrated a Super Bowl win of $12.9 million last year, so it was payback time for the bettors.
Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2907.
