Sports books won’t be cheering for Knights to win Stanley Cup
Want to make your favorite Las Vegas bookie squirm? Tell him you have seen the parade route for the Golden Knights after they win the Stanley Cup.
The celebration would start at the team’s practice facility in Summerlin, stay on surface streets through downtown Las Vegas, then climax with a triumphant march down the greatest boulevard in the world to T-Mobile Arena for a victory celebration that would last for days.
But there is another parade that would happen before that. The one that would feature armored trucks dropping off bundles of fresh cash to the sports books that thought they were just selling souvenirs last fall with those 200-1 tickets for the Knights to win the Cup.
I know there’s a long, icy journey before we see Marc-Andre Fleury’s name engraved on the Cup for the fourth time. But for all of us fortunate enough to have been there when the Golden Knights humiliated San Jose in Game 1 on Thursday at T-Mobile, we can testify that this is no fluke. This team is the real deal.
Game 2 on Saturday at T-Mobile was posted, with the Knights a minus 170 to minus 190 favorite to take a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference semifinal. This game is moving into prime time on the local NBC affiliate, KSNV-3.
The dreaded ‘push’
Nothing bothers a bookmaker more than a “push” on a bet in which the money is refunded on both sides.
South Point’s Chris Andrews was sitting with me at the Golden Knights’ game Thursday. That’s when we got word that the Philadelphia Eagles had traded the 32nd pick in the NFL draft to the Baltimore Ravens, who selected Lamar Jackson of Louisville. He was the fifth quarterback taken in the first round — the number that Andrews had set for over-under betting.
“Really?” he said. “I thought we had a win in that one.”
With a closing price of minus 210 to the over, Andrews and the book were clearly pulling for the under. Instead, it was money back to everyone, and the usual muttering by everyone about what might have been.
NFL draft prop bets
The Raiders helped bettors who took the offense in one first-round prop, giving them an outright win backing an underdog position.
They did it when they traded out of the 10th spot and selected UCLA offensive tackle Kolton Miller. We had expected the Raiders to join the defensive player rush, but we overlooked the fact that their Pro Bowl left tackle, Donald Penn, will be 35 this week.
By the end of the first round 17 offensive players were chosen compared with 15 on defense. At the Westgate sports book, the offense was catching 1½ players from the defensive side, paying off at a price of plus 125.
But it was the Raiders’ trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers that has Oakland coach Jon Gruden delighted about his offense. The Raiders traded a third-round pick for wide receiver Martavis Bryant. He joins Amari Cooper and Jordy Nelson as David Carr’s targets, so you should pay attention to the early over-under numbers on the Raiders. Bryant can take the top off a defense with speed that Gruden can exploit down the field.
Of course, there’s always a chance that Gruden receives a 3 a.m. phone call about something Bryant did off the field. This is his final chance to avoid trouble. Let’s hope he realizes the opportunity the Raiders have given him.
Brent Musburger’s betting column appears Saturday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His show on the Vegas Stats &Information Network can be heard on SiriusXM 204 and livestreamed at reviewjournal.com/vegas-stats-information-network.
