Steelers give sports books huge win

Akillies · Oct 27, 2014

[h=1]Steelers give sports books huge win[/h] [h=3]Weekend betting recap includes odds of London NFL team increasing[/h]
Originally Published: October 27, 2014
<cite class="source"> By David Purdum | ESPN.com</cite>

<cite>Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports</cite>Big Ben's record-setting day didn't just help the Steelers -- it helped the sports books too.
The betting public was on the wrong side of Ben Roethlisberger's career day in a big way.
Ten times more money was bet on the Indianapolis Colts than the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Westgate SuperBook. Eighty percent of the overall bets on the game were on the Colts, who were the most popular team on parlay cards teasers across Las Vegas. Whoops.

Roethlisberger passed for 522 yards and six touchdowns, leading the underdog Steelers to a 51-34 upset and producing one of the biggest wins of the NFL season for the SuperBook.
"The Colts right now are one of the three most popular teams for the public," Ed Salmons, head football oddsmaker at the SuperBook, said. "It was all public money, but the number was moving offshore as well. Someone was driving it up."
It was the second straight week the Steelers came through for Vegas sports books.
The Steelers' win and cover over the Houston Texans last Monday was one of the MGM's biggest wins of the season. On Sunday, they did it again, saving several books from a rare losing NFL week.
The William Hill sports book went 3-7 in the early NFL games Sunday but was still in the black heading into the prime-time game between the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints. "A lot of times it's not how many, but which games you win," William Hill director of trading Nick Bogdanovich said late Sunday afternoon. "We only won three, but the ones we won were big."
The Carolina Panthers, who covered as 6-point underdogs in a 13-9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and the Cincinnati Bengals, who won 24-20 over the favored Baltimore Ravens, also produced big wins for the books. But the Steelers' upset was the biggest key to another winning Sunday for Las Vegas sports books. Twice as much money was bet on Colts-Steelers than any other NFL game Sunday at the Stratosphere sports book.
"The Steelers, that was the monster game," Stratosphere supervisor Hugh Citron added. "There was so much on the Colts that it pretty much wiped out all the parlay cards."
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[h=3]London calling?[/h]
The NFL's popularity in the United Kingdom continues to grow, especially at the betting windows. Alex Donohue, a spokesperson for U.K. sports book giant Ladbrokes, said betting action on Sunday's Detroit Lions-Atlanta Falcons game in London was up about 400 percent compared to the Oakland Raiders-Miami Dolphins game played at Wembley Stadium in September. All three NFL games at Wembley this season have sold out, and buzz about an NFL franchise calling London home is intensifying.
William Hill, the U.K.'s largest sports book, slashed its odds of an NFL franchise coming to London by 2020 from 6-1 to 3-1 last week, after British treasury chief George Osborne told the media that the government wants an NFL team based in London and will do whatever it can "to make this happen."
Even as the NFL's popularity is growing overseas, it still doesn't compare to European soccer. Despite the increase in betting on Lions-Falcons, the game still generated only one-fourth of the betting handle spent on the Sunday match between Manchester United-Chelsea drew at Ladbrokes.

JustinCruise · Oct 27, 2014

I know hindsight is 20 20 but i'm very surprised the books cleaned up so much on the steelers. This was a terrible spot for the colts especially as 3 point favs

Akillies · Oct 27, 2014

[h=3]College football report[/h]
A pregame antic called "unsportsmanlike" by Michigan coach Brady Hoke ended up costing the MGM its biggest loss Saturday. Trailing by 25 points with 3:40 to play, the underdog Wolverines scored their only touchdown of the game and were successful on a two-point conversion to cut the Spartans' lead to 28-11.
A 17-point favorite, Michigan State recovered the ensuing onside kick and picked up two first downs on its way to the Michigan 10-yard line with a minute left. The Spartans could have taken a knee and run out the clock on a convincing win over their in-state rival. Instead, they ran three more plays, with Jeremy Langford scoring on a 5-yard run to give Michigan State a 24-point win -- and a cover.
After the game, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio pointed out that a Wolverines player stuck a stake in the Spartans' field before the game.
"It felt like we needed to put a stake in them at that point," Dantonio told reporters about the late touchdown during his postgame news conference. Jeff Stoneback, assistant sports book manager at the MGM Mirage, said he was watching and wondering why Michigan State didn't take a knee. "That was a big swing that went against us," Stoneback said. "If that game would have gone the other way, it would have been a pretty good day for us."
Several sports books said Saturday was a small winner, thanks to a rash of underdogs covering in the late games. Underdogs South Carolina, Tennessee and Penn State covered the spread in the night games and produced big wins for the books.
[h=4]Risers[/h]

Team	Last Week	Oct. 26
Oregon	7-1	6-1
TCU	15-1	12-1
Baylor	25-1	20-1
Notre Dame	30-1	20-1
Kansas State	25-1	20-1
Arizona State	75-1	30-1
Nebraska	50-1	40-1
Wisconsin	1000-1	500-1
Stanford	1000-1	500-1
Duke	500-1	300-1

[h=4]Fallers[/h]

Team	Last Week	Oct. 26
Mississippi	5-1	8-1
Michigan State	7-1	8-1
Ohio State	10-1	12-1
Baylor	20-1	25-1
Southern Cal	60-1	500-1

[h=3]Early Week 10 college football action[/h]
Florida State at Louisville, Thursday, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN): The Seminoles opened as high as 8.5-point favorites offshore, and we saw some early movement toward Louisville, before the line eventually settled at minus-7.

[h=4]Week 10 Early Line Moves[/h] (The Wynn opened its Week 9 college football lines at 3 p.m. PT Sunday.)

Matchup	Opening	Monday
Oklahoma at Iowa State	Oklahoma -17	Oklahoma -15.5
Georgia State at Appalachian State	App State -5	App State -7
South Alabama at Louisiana-Lafayette	ULL -4.5	ULL -6.5

[h=3]Odds and ends[/h]
• Mississippi State returned Kentucky's onside kick for a touchdown with two minutes to play in its 45-31 win. It was a bad blow for the CG Technology sports book, which opened the Bulldogs minus-11.5 and saw the line grow all the way to minus-14.5, before some Kentucky money finally showed up. "That was a bad one," Jason Simbal, vice president of race and sports for CG Technology, said. "We were in a bad spot. Because of line movement and at what numbers we took bets on, '14' was a really bad number for us. That was no fun."
• With Mississippi's loss to LSU, TCU is the only undefeated team against the spread (7-0).
• UConn covered the spread for the first time this season in a 31-21 loss to East Carolina. UConn was a 28-point dog. Every team has now covered the spread in at least one game this season. UCLA owns the worst ATS record at 1-7.
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</center> [h=3]NBA title betting[/h]
The NBA regular season tips off Tuesday. The Cleveland Cavaliers have attracted more overall bets and more money to win the championship than any other team at the Westgate SuperBook. The Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves had received the least betting support, as of Sunday.
Top five by number of bets to win NBA title at Westgate SuperBook
1. Cavaliers
2. Chicago Bulls
3. Los Angeles Lakers
4. San Antonio Spurs
5. Los Angeles Clippers
Top five by money wagered to win NBA title at Westgate SuperBook
1. Cavaliers
2. Spurs
3. Miami Heat
4. Bulls
5. Mavericks
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</center> [h=3]World Series betting[/h]
Sports book operators don't expect the World Series to attract anywhere close to the amount of betting handle an NFL game does. But the lack of interest for Game 3 on Friday night was pretty eye-opening for one Vegas book.
"We took more bets on the BYU-Boise State and Oregon-California games than we did on the World Series game," Simbal said. "As a baseball fan, it kind of bums you out a little bit."

William Hill's shop, however, has been pleased with its World Series handle.
"We've got a lot of books in [northern Nevada], near San Francisco, so we get a lot of Giants money," Bogdanovich said.

Akillies · Oct 27, 2014

British treasury chief George Osborne told the media that the government wants an NFL team based in London and will do whatever it can "to make this happen."
Even as the NFL's popularity is growing overseas, it still doesn't compare to European soccer. Despite the increase in betting on Lions-Falcons, the game still generated only one-fourth of the betting handle spent on the Sunday match between Manchester United-Chelsea drew at Ladbrokes.

HarryCaray · Oct 27, 2014

Yeah but I bet they got ass-raped on Houston.

The Guesser · Oct 27, 2014

Akillies said:
British treasury chief George Osborne told the media that the government wants an NFL team based in London and will do whatever it can "to make this happen."
Even as the NFL's popularity is growing overseas, it still doesn't compare to European soccer. Despite the increase in betting on Lions-Falcons, the game still generated only one-fourth of the betting handle spent on the Sunday match between Manchester United-Chelsea drew at Ladbrokes.

Won't a team in London increasing the NFL betting handle in England cause "irreparable harm" to those NFL hypocrites?