Big Weekend For Vegas Books
September 19, 2013 in Gambling News
When the New Orleans Saints defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon but failed to cover, a sigh of relief could be faintly heard in several of the big sports books in and around Las Vegas. Bettors went heavily for the Saints and the Over and who could blame them considering how the Saints defense faired last season.
Jimmy Vaccaro of South Point said, “Our entire day was resting on the Saints-Buccaneers. After everything had been posted, coupled with the Saints already being a very popular side with the betting public, we had a huge risk attached to the Saints and the Over”. Not only did the Saints fall one point shy of covering, the 30 accumulated points fell way under the posted 48.5, so… best possible scenario for the books.
All in all, the Saints victory capped off a terrific weekend for Nevada books which not only won their biggest games on Sunday, they had a hell of a day on Saturday as well. NFL favorites went only 6-8 ATS in Sunday action.
The real capper for the Vegas books however came when Floyd Mayweather whipped Canelo Alvarez in a 12-round decision in what MGM Resorts’ Jay Rood said was the highest-handled boxing match he had ever seen which means it was probably the highest handle ever.
After the early NFL action on Sunday pretty much evened out, the day’s tally came down to the final two contests of the day which were the Saints at Tampa Bay and San Francisco at the Seahawks. Had the betting public hit those two games, the day would have turned out very differently for the sports books in Nevada and elsewhere. However, most of the wagers went the other way and the books won big…again.
Colin Kaepernick seems to have a little problem with the Seahawks. He has been nothing less than sensational elsewhere, but, up in Seattle, he falters.
The team that handicappers will be keeping a very close eye on is the Philadelphia Eagles newly under the leadership of Chip Kelly. They ran all over the Redskins but were kicked back a notch when they met the Chargers who ran 79 plays to the Eagles’ 58 and outscored them as well.
Former Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid will be coming to Philly with the Kansas City Chiefs to play a little football next weekend. Opening line has the Eagles as 3.5 point favorites.