Some Vegas Sportsbooks Saved by Last Minute Steelers Surge

Some Las Vegas sportsbooks like The M, The Venetian, Hard Rock and Tropicana made out well this Super Bowl. 

“We took a ton of Steeler moneyline bets,” Sportsbook Director Mike Colbert told the Las Vegas Sun. “I expected Steeler money to come in today and it did. It was a lot more than I expected. We really tried to balance the book, but it just so happened that the Packers were much better for us.”

Others like Lucky’s were not so lucky, although the losses were nominal.

“We were a modest loser,” Sportsbook Director Jimmy Vaccaro told the Sun. “It wasn’t even bad. It was like a loss on a normal Sunday afternoon in the regular season. It was a good football season and if you have to lose a little on the Super Bowl, then so be it.”

Some of the hundreds of props being offered managed to pay out pretty big, including whether there would be a two-point conversion.  There was. Pittsburgh’s Antwaan Randle El helped a few lucky gamblers win $500 on their $100 bets.

“That was our biggest loser,” Vaccaro said. “The rest of the props fell good for us. We were fortunate. That took some of the sting out.”

But at least one Vegas sportsbook took a serious hit and the same is likely for many online ventures.

“The combination of the 'over' and the Packers' victory was lethal," MGM Resorts Race and Sports Book director Jay Rood told the LA Times. "It's the worst Super Bowl I've seen since being here in 1993. There was no getting around it. Not a great scenario."

Sportsbook operators had hoped to hit $90 million wagered across the board.  While official numbers from the state are not anticipated until later in the week, expectations are that this year’s results should be an improvement over last year’s $82 million figure.

- Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher