Bettors win Week 8
By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com
After sweating out Sunday's first 10 NFL games where the favorites went 9-1 straight up, every Las Vegas sports book had their day's fate decided by the Sunday night game where everyone seemed to either have the Steelers, the 'over' and both hooked up in a parlay or teaser.
"It all boils down to the late game," said William Hill's top bookmaker Nick Bogdanovich prior to kickoff.
Same story all over town as the Steelers came in as three-point road favorites riding a two-game win streak while the Lions had lost two straight but we're coming off a bye week.
"If it comes Detroit and Under, it makes the day a wash," said MGM Resorts sports book manager Jeff Stoneback. "Pittsburgh and Over will make it double our loss. The game Under is our main rooting interest."
The good news for the books is that the game stayed 'under' the total, but the Steelers covered in a 20-15 win over the Lions giving mixed around the state. If it weren't for a silly fourth down decision by Lions head coach Jim Caldwell to go for it near goal line instead of taking the lead with a field goal, the winner may have been the Lions. William Hill's 107 sports books had 72 percent of the cash taken on the game siding with Pittsburgh.
Before the Steelers game, the Dallas Cowboys gave the books their most indigestion in a 33-19 win at Washington.
"We were a small loser on the day," said Stoneback. "We were wiped out by the Cowboys in a combination of parlay bettors, casino players and sharp bettors. We had a large six-figure wager from a house player and then got lots of late sharp action which we closed high at -3 -125."
Bettors that had the total 'over' (46.5) were aided in the Redskins final desperate seconds when quarterback Kirk Cousins threw an interception that Dallas returned for a touchdown. That combination helped lots of bettors cash side-to-total parlays at 13/5 odds (Bet $100 to win $260).
Usually when the Chicago Bears cover, like they have been for most of the season, it's good for the books, but that wasn't the case everywhere this week in the New Orleans Saints' 20-12 win.
"We got middled on the Bears game," Stoneback said. "We had quite a bit of sharp action early in the week taking +9, +8.5 and then by game day with so much risk we dropped it down to -7.5 with the Saints and found plenty of takers."
But there was some good news on the day for the house.
"Our best game was the Falcons not covering," said Stoneback of Atlanta's 25-20 win at a rainy Metlife Stadium against the New York Jets. "We opened the Falcons -4.5, but moved quickly during the week to -5.5 before taking much action on it. Most of the action, over 50 percent, was taken today at -6.5."
Other books around town had different outcomes from the first 10 games, which the favorites went 5-5 ATS, but still needed the Lions to cover.
"We're up a little and will have a loser with a Pittsburgh cover," said CG Technology VP of risk management Jason Simbal. "We lost our three biggest games. We started in a big hole. Browns and 49ers were our biggest games and we crawled back a little.
After seeing the Browns up 13-12 against the Vikings in the early London game, the thought of the Browns (+11) having to go across the pond to finally win was amusing. But the Browns did Browns things in the second-half and lost 33-16.
The 49ers (+12.5) lost 33-10 at Philadelphia to give the Eagles an NFL-best 7-1 record. The Westgate SuperBook has the Eagles at 7/1 odds to win Philly's first Super Bowl.
"Bills win allowed us to escape a total disaster," said Station Casinos sports book director Jason McCormick. "Jets helped us out, but we opened Falcons -4.5. Steelers covering equals a losing day."
Buffalo looked good in a 34-14 home win over the Raiders to take them to 5-2, only one game behind the Patriots in the AFC East. Could we be witnessing the Bills finally get over the hump and make the playoffs for the first time since 1999? They've won all four games at home and they won't the Patriots until December when they play twice.