Sportsbook Report - Las Vegas Sports Book Losses $500K on Two Pick-Sixes
By: Micah Roberts
Sportingnews.com
LAS VEGAS -- Anyone around a Las Vegas sports book Sunday afternoon might have thought the city was having another earthquake because of the eruption at the closing seconds of the Broncos-Jets game when Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib intercepted an errant Geno Smith pass and returned it for a 22-yard touchdown.
It wasn't just an average pick-6. No, this one was a doozy as the Broncos, favored by 10 points, were only up 24-17 before the interception. The touchdown not only gave Broncos bettors the cover with the 31-17 score, but it also sent the total OVER 47.5, which together was the most popular side-to-total parlay combination of the afternoon.
"When the Jets had the ball down at their 1-yard line with a safety possibility, we were all going through how bad a 9-point Broncos win would be for us," said Westgate LV SuperBook executive director Jay Kornegay. "And then Geno threw the interception and when Talib started running it back, you could feel the energy in the room getting ready to explode. When he scored, it was like 6.2 on the Richter scale.
"It was our biggest decision of the morning, and for a while there with the way most of the early games were going for us, I felt like I was on the sinking Titanic and I could hear the violins playing in the background."
As unique as that pick-6 covering late for the favorite side to OVER sounds, Sunday made it seem ordinary because there were two of them. In one of the four late afternoon games, Arizona was favored by 5.5-points and leading 23-20 over Washington with 29 seconds remaining. The Redskins had the ball on their own 14-yard line and Kirk Cousins was intercepted by Rashad Johnson, who returned it 28 yards for a score to make it 30-20, which also sent the total OVER 47 points.
"That was a terrible swing for us," said MGM Resorts VP of race and sports Jay Rood. "Both of them were bad. The swing with the Broncos covering and going OVER cost us about $300,000 and the Arizona TD cost us another $200,000. Two plays, in almost identical situations cost us half a million….unbelievable.
"The crowd went berserk," Rood said of the Broncos touchdown, "and you could almost see it coming too. That experiment with Geno Smith appears to be over. If Michael Vick isn't the answer then give the third stringer a shot."
The Broncos game stung every sports book in the city and made the favorites 5-3 ATS in the early games, which included the Packers (-1.5) winning 27-24 in the last second at Miami and the Patriots (PK) turning a tight game at Buffalo into a 37-22 route.
"We got stuck on the early games where it looked like it was going to be one of those monstrous losing days," said Rood. "We only won two of the games, Panthers (+7) and Browns (-2), and all the parlays were cashing in, and then the Broncos pick-6 was our toughest blow."
But things would get better quick in the afternoon where the public favorites only went 1-3 ATS, including one unlikely source that was playing the Chargers, who had been 5-0 ATS so far this season.
"We needed the Raiders for our lungs today," said Rood who closed the Chargers as -7.5-point road favorites. "Everything from the morning was piling into that game, so it worked out well that we got a good showing from Oakland, and then when Seattle lost, we won big because of killing all the teasers and large money-line parlays."
The Raiders actually had a 28-21 lead in the fourth quarter, and were up 28-24 with just under six minutes left following a Nick Novak field goal. However, Oakland couldn't put together a string of first downs to run the clock out, and San Diego got the ball back and scored with 1:56 left to make it 31-28. The outright Raiders win would have been even bigger for the books to knock off teasers and money-line parlays. With the way San Diego has played this season, just about every teaser play on the day had the Chargers. They may be 5-1 ATS now, but they're still 6-0 on the teaser.
The Dallas Cowboys proved that their potent rushing attack that had averaged 160 yards per game through the first five games was just as good against the vaunted Seattle defense that allowed 62 YPG. Dallas rolled out 162 yards on the ground and outgained them in total yards 401 to 206, leading to a 30-23 win on Seattle's home field. It was quite an impressive win and while the betting was split on the game, outside of massive teaser plays on Seattle, we can expect Dallas to become America's team once again at the bet windows in Las Vegas.
"We rallied with the late games and got back what we lost in the morning games," said Rood, "but it would have been a lot better had Washington covered instead of another pick-6 going against us."
The Cardinals are also becoming one of those popular public teams and they don't even seem to care who is quarterbacking.
"We got news about Carson Palmer starting at 11:30 am, and we moved the number from -4.5 to -5.5, but people were already betting Arizona whether it was Drew Stanton or Logan Thomas. It didn't seem to matter what the number was, they loved Arizona."
The Sunday night game where the Eagles were home 1.5-point favorites over the Giants had a split opinion with bettors, with the exception of the total.
"All we needed Sunday night was the UNDER (51), but the decision isn't too big either way. Eagles and OVER would've been our worst decision."
In the end, the books came out ahead and found they can count on the Raiders and Jaguars, the two worst rated teams, to not lie down. As for the bettors, they got a couple gift covers in thrilling fashion from two of their favorite teams and they also have regained faith in the Patriots, Packers and now the Cowboys. It was almost a win-win for everyone involved which sets up next week's slate for big action in the books.