It’s a busy sports weekend, and I’m wanting to take full advantage. So, as an encore to one of the better stretches in the history of the column, let’s bet more than ever before with 11 bets on 11 sports ...
For the second straight year, Las Vegas won’t play its home opener at Allegiant Stadium until Week 3. The Raiders begin the season on Sunday Sept. 8 at the Los Angeles Chargers before traveling cross-country for a game at the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Sept. 15. ...
I’m going to keep it simple for the 150th version of America’s biggest horse race — one horse to win from the local fixed-odds market and one head-to-head matchup offered by sports books. ...
The Golden Knights’ season isn’t over yet. Vegas staved off elimination Friday night at T-Mobile Arena, beating the Dallas Stars 2-0 to tie the teams' first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series at 3-3. ...
Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy described top-pair defenseman Alex Pietrangelo as a steadying influence Wednesday morning at American Airlines Center. Pietrangelo was then ...
The Golden Knights are one loss away from their Stanley Cup defense ending early in stunning fashion. Vegas lost its third straight to Dallas in the teams’ first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series Wednesday night at American Airlines Center, falling 3-2 to slip into a 3-2 series hole. ...
The Golden Knights improved significantly from Game 3 Saturday night to Game 4 Monday night against the Stars at T-Mobile Arena. It just wasn’t enough. ...
When the Pac-10 extended hastily accepted invitations to Utah and Colorado for the 2011 college football season, many hailed it as the dawning of the age of “super conferences.”
The never-ending footrace between Boise State and bookmakers may feature a new leader for the first time in nearly two decades. The popular narrative of non-BCS conference Boise State baffling the country with its run of sustained success once rang truest in Las Vegas.
The Miami Heat’s championship parade drew to a close Monday in a fashion typical for these types of celebrations — with talk of next season. The back-to-back NBA champions fielded questions about potentially pulling off the first three-peat in more than a decade next season. Las Vegas has answers, or at least valuable insight into the likelihood of it happening.
The dramatic finish in Game 6 of the NBA Finals caused at least three different groups of people spread throughout the country in separate time zones to look foolish. There were, of course, the much-ridiculed Miami fans who fled the American Airlines Arena exits early before their Heat sparked to win 103-100 in overtime. San Antonio supporters who flooded the Riverwalk anticipating a celebration before their Spurs dulled took their barbs, too.
Tonight marks the closest equivalent to Groundhog Day for local sports books. If the Miami Heat win to extend the NBA Finals to a Game 7, brightness in the form of money gets one last hurrah. Dim the lights around betting windows, though, if they lose.
Sports book directors may have flopped to the floor harder than Chris Bosh as game four of the NBA Finals wound down. Unlike the minor contact Tim Duncan made with Bosh, the Miami Heat actually inflicted pain on bookmakers. They cost Las Vegas books far more than the $5,000 the NBA fined Bosh for his embellishment, too.
Don’t make the same mistake some analysts made Tuesday night. Don’t pen the Miami Heat’s eulogy yet. Despite an embarrassing 113-77 loss to San Antonio in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Miami is a victory Thursday night away from regaining its status as the favorite in the series, according to Las Vegas odds.
LeBron James has experienced both the supposed greatest benefit and biggest drawback to the NBA Finals’ 2-3-2 home court format over the past couple of years. The Heat are now minus-175 (risking $1.75 to win $1) to win the series with the Spurs coming back at plus-155 (risking $1 to win $1.55).
Fans in San Antonio might as well crank Rihanna’s breakthrough single “Umbrella” and dust off those black and silver Robert Horry jerseys. They should party like it’s June 2007, and not just because their Spurs are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since suppressing this very King (James) six years ago.
According solely to future odds in Las Vegas sports books, Miami was 13 percent more likely to win the title before the just-concluded series with the Indiana Pacers ever began. The LVH Superbook had the Heat at minus-400 (risking $4 to win $1) to win the NBA title on May 20. Now they’re just minus-220. San Antonio’s numbers swayed the opposite direction, as it was plus-450 to end the season with a championship before a near pick’em Western Conference Finals series against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Case Keefer has spent more than a decade covering his passions at Greenspun Media Group. He's written about and supervised coverage of everything relating to the local sports scene, with an emphasis on betting and football, for the Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Weekly. He's also an avid music fan, constantly listening to new records and attending concerts, and writing about them whenever he can for Las Vegas Weekly.
