Vikings help Books win Week 2
By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com
Bettors had the Las Vegas sports books on the ropes in Week 2 NFL action, but let them off the hook in a few of the late games and then really gave away their entire wad of cash won on the day by jumping on board the Packers party wagon with everyone else.
However, the "Sharps" liked the Vikings and were correct again in Minnesota's 17-14 win as a two-point home underdog in its brand new $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium.
"The Packers-Vikings game was all or nothing for us," said Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook VP Jay Kornegay.
"The total in the game (43) was a minimal decision, but we were dead even on the day going into the Sunday night game."
Bettors were cashing three and four-team parlays often in the morning games as some their favorite teams performed extremely well.
The Patriots (-5.5) rolled to 31-24 home win over the Dolphins and the total went 'over' (45) to help get the fun started for many. Yep, they're the same Patriots with or without quarterback Tom Brady as long as head coach Bill Belichick is running the show. And he'll have to really be on point this week as Jimmy Garoppolo injured his shoulder and will be 'out' for their Thursday night home game against the Texans.
Houston is also a team bettors are starting to trust and they did well in the 19-12 win over the Chiefs, a team Houston lost twice to last season, including a 30-0 playoff loss. Between the steady defense and Brock Osweiler running the offense, Houston is now 2-0 against the spread with both its games staying 'under' the total.
The Steelers were laying -3.5 at home against the Bengals, a number higher than all three meetings last season. The value appeared to be with Cincinnati, but most of the parlays wagered laid the points and they cashed in the Steelers 24-16 win.
The biggest parlay differential of the morning was with Dallas who were getting +3.5 at Washington. More straight bets were on Washington, but the parlay wagers with Dallas was off the charts and they cashed in a 27-23 outright win that also paid +165 on the money-line. It was the sixth straight time the road team has won in this rivalry.
Parlay bettors also went with Cam Newton and the Panthers to bounce back after a Week 1 loss at Denver, and they didn't care that they had to lay -14, and they were right in Carolina's 46-27 win. They had to sweat a little bit in the fourth quarter as the 49ers pulled within 34-27, but then the Panthers went for the kill and covered.
The early games had the sports books looking at some massive risk heading in to the five afternoon games. The most popular plays were Seattle, Arizona, Denver and Oakland and the books managed to split those getting two outright underdog wins by the Rams and Falcons.
The biggest help of all was Seattle losing 9-3 as 6-point favorites at Los Angeles. The Rams didn't score a point last week at San Francisco, and they didn't score a touchdown Sunday, but fans attending the first Los Angeles home football game since 1994 got a treat.
Man, do those Eric Dickerson uniforms look sweet, and I don't think I've ever seen the LA Coliseum that packed before. Jeff Fisher has now beaten the Seahawks in four of the last five meetings between the pair, including a sweep last season. He's got their number for sure, but bettors sided with Seattle because they believe in what they saw last and the Rams looked real bad on Monday at San Francisco.
"The Raiders not covering helped us," said Kornegay. After Oakland's gutsy win last week at New Orleans, bettors trusted them as five-point home favorites against the Falcons, but Atlanta won 35-28 and paid +180 on the money-line.
So after sweating out decisions for most of the first 13 games, the bookmakers around Las Vegas basically got a push and had to rely on the final game to try and make some money for the day, and it was a whopper too.
Between parlay risk carrying over on the day and bettors pressing their winnings, the Packers were looking as a high six-figure loss for every sports book. Minnesota's defense looked outstanding and new QB Sam Bradford was sharp in their 17-14 win, one of two games that landed on 3 for the day, which deserves a mention just because no Week 1 games landed on 3, the most key number in the NFL.
So yes, in the end, the books come out a winner again, but the bookmakers lost some weight from sweating so much and hair from pulling it throughout the day. Favorites went 8-6 ATS with four underdogs winning outright and the totals went 7-7.
Now it's back to the drawing for everyone for week 3.