If it's about the game, you can bet on it
By John Keilman
Tribune staff reporter
Chicago is a seven-point underdog in the Super Bowl, but the city is an overwhelming favorite with bookmakers, who think Bears fans will help push betting on the big game to record levels.
Nevada casinos and Internet wagering sites are counting on a combination of a nationwide fan base, an intriguing matchup between the Bears' stout defense and the Colts' jet-powered offense, and the fervor that comes from a big city starved for a football championship.
Super Bowl betting, though, isn't just a matter of whether the Bears will win or lose. People can gamble on everything from how many rushing yards Thomas Jones will gain to how long it will take Billy Joel to sing the national anthem.
Still, most money goes toward the outcome of the game, and high rollers have already begun to put down six-figure bets.
Though most of the wagers won't come until the weekend, the heaviest cash so far is on the Bears' side of the ledger, said Robert Walker, sports book director for the MGM Mirage casinos.
"Chicago is a very popular team, a huge city, with a storied program," he said. "They're just one of those franchises that when they get to the big game, they're going to enhance it."
Though experts estimate that the NCAA men's basketball tournament has become the nation's biggest overall gambling event, the Super Bowl remains by far the largest single game for wagering.
Casinos in Nevada took in $94 million last Super Bowl and expect to top $100 million this year.
Frank Streshley, senior analyst for the Nevada Gaming Control Board, said the strengthening economy of the last few years has been chiefly responsible for the increase in wagering, but the teams playing also make a difference.
"The Colts and the Bears have a large base of fans, especially Chicago," he said.
Putting money where heart is
Chuck Esposito, a native of the northwest suburbs who helps to run the sports book at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, said Chicago fans seem more willing than others to put their money where their hearts are.
Before the football season begins each year, he said, more people pick the Bears to win the championship than any other team, regardless of how the squad is shaping up. The same is true with the Cubs. The Bears were at 12-1 odds for this season, so an optimistic fan who put down $100 a year ago would collect $1,200 with a victory Sunday.
Esposito said most of his colleagues rooted for the Bears and the Colts during the playoffs, figuring that matchup would spur the most action.
"You have offense against defense, two of the most popular players with [Colts quarterback] Peyton Manning and [Bears linebacker] Brian Urlacher," he said. "It's just a dream matchup for the viewing public; a dream matchup for the betting public too."
Some Internet-based casinos also foresee a big day. Calvin Ayre of Antigua-based Bodog.com, which takes wagers from all over the globe, said through a spokesman that betting on the Super Bowl probably would be second only to last year's World Cup soccer championship for the site.
Internet gambling is not legal in the United States--credit card companies and banks are prohibited from processing online wagering transactions--and Ayre said his company no longer markets to this country. But BetUS.com, a site based in Costa Rica, still accepts American wagers.
Spokesman Reed Richards wouldn't comment on how American gamblers are placing their bets. Richards did say, though, that bets coming from Chicago and Indianapolis are split almost 50-50, reflecting an enthusiasm that he believed would drive the 10-year-old site to a record day.
"You're seeing two teams that haven't made an appearance in quite some time," he said. "There's a little bit of classic Americana being played there."
The Chicago area's illegal bookies might be in for a windfall of their own, even though they tend to set firm limits on what their customers can bet, said FBI spokesman Ross Rice.
"They don't want them to get down too far [so they] won't be able to pay," he said. "A new player, someone who bets [only] for the Super Bowl, will have a small limit."
Organized crime fills niche
Jim Wagner, president of the Chicago Crime Commission, said gambling is still a big moneymaker for organized crime and most local bookmakers must pay a percentage to the Outfit. Unlike casinos and Internet sites, they're willing to take wagers on credit, but woe be to the gambler who can't make good on his bet.
"They'll have you sell whatever you have, your car, your house," he said. "If you don't have any property to sell, you are the collateral."
Sports betting is technically a misdemeanor in Illinois, punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and a year in jail.
But John Gorman, spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office, said he cannot recall a prosecution dealing with Super Bowl gambling in recent years.
Betting can still be trouble, though, and some local addiction counselors say they expect a surge in phone calls once the big game is over. Jim Mulcahy, clinical director of the Phase treatment center in Rockford, said it would be similar to people who get in trouble for drinking and driving.
"Now with the Bears playing, we would expect that to go up, and the same goes with gambling," he said. "A lot of people think they're magic when it comes to those things."
Experts say fewer than 5 percent of all adults are problem gamblers, and some casino pros say Super Bowl bettors seem to be in it mostly for fun.
Jay Kornegay, executive director of the race and sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton, said half of his business will come from proposition bets, side wagers on everything from the total number of punts in the game, to who wins the coin toss, to whether Rex Grossman will throw a touchdown or an interception first.
"Even though it might seem like a routine play, we know you can hear little groans or applause because some player just went over seven yards," he said.
Alan Palmer, who trades grains and metals at the Chicago Board of Trade, said some of his colleagues are going wild over the game, putting down as much as $10,000. And even though he rarely bets on sports, he said a small win on Sunday would be far sweeter than any big victory in the trading pits.