Bronco win has sports books paying

Tim Graham

Monday, Jan. 26, 1998 | 9:17 a.m.

The money line was the bottom line.

The underdog Denver Broncos, paying around 3-to-1 without the point spread, beat the Green Bay Packers 31-24 to win the Super Bowl Sunday. That result forced most sports books to pay more than expected.

"That was a big factor," said Michael Tomeny, a sports supervisor at Leroy's, which operates 41 Nevada sports books. "If Green Bay could have pulled it off straight out, it would have been a monster day for us.

"Most of the money was for Denver to win straight out. At the end we were rooting pretty hard for Green Bay."

The books were able to recover through halftime, parlay and proposition wagering. But the Broncos' unlikely victory left many bookies to wonder what could have been.

"The public was very perceptive," said Robert Walker, sports book director at The Mirage. "We inflated Green Bay, and it came back to haunt us. The last two weeks they did nothing but bet Denver."

The Packers opened two weeks ago as 12 1/2-point favorites to repeat as Super Bowl champions. The spread immediately shot to 14 points before the Bronco money rolled in.

The Broncos were 11 1/2-point underdogs at kickoff. The total was 49.

"The people who handled the money line probably did poorly," said Roger Sims of the Rio, one of the few properties that did not post money lines. "With a double-digit favorite, most of the money comes on the underdog.

"The unsophisticated players -- the ones who are naive or betting with their hearts -- always go for the underdog."

This year's game is expected to surpass the record $70.9 million wagered on last year's contest.

Although final figures have not been tabulated, both Tomeny and Bally's sports book director John Avello predicted the state's overall handle, which includes all Super Bowl futures bets, will be $75-80 million.

Much of that was on the Broncos, who were the sentimental choice with venerable quarterback John Elway gunning for his first Super Bowl ring after three previous NFL title game failures.

"We took a ton of Denver money-line bets, and the public teed off on us with Denver-and-over parlays," Walker said.

The Mirage was helped, however, by a bettor who ventured approximately $500,000 on a Green Bay-and-over parlay. It was believed to be the largest single wager on the game.

The Rio did not need such a break. According to Sims, the Rio increased its handle 60 percent over its record from last year.

Such heavy traffic became even more beneficial without the money-line risk.

"We did very well," Sims said. "We were a 10-percent winner and, historically, sports winners are successful at 3 1/2 to 4 percent. Any time I can reach 10 percent I don't have to write memos upstairs.

"The only point that was stressful was four or five days after we put up the (spread). We got a lot of Denver money early. But we got Green Bay money late and were almost perfectly balanced. Any time a bookie gets balance he can go to bed at night and have sweet dreams."

Sims must have thought his fortunes were too good to be true when Denver led Green Bay 17-14 at halftime. The close score led to a rush at the windows.

The Rio made the Packers a 6 1/2-point favorite for the final two quarters with a total of 25.

"It wasn't even close to a blowout," said Sims, who claimed to be a 30 percent winner on halftime wagering. "Both teams were running on adrenaline and talent and nobody clearly was a dominant team. When that happens you get opinions both ways."

But some fans were swayed by the possibility Denver running back Terrell Davis would not return for the second half. Davis, after scoring a touchdown to tie the game at 7 in the first quarter, sat out the second quarter with a migraine headache.

Davis returned to score two more touchdowns, becoming the first player to rush for three in a Super Bowl. He also ran for 157 yards and earned MVP honors.

Sports books also made up for their money-line misery with their proposition bets. The Imperial Palace, which has become synonymous with Super Bowl props, offered more than 120 of them.

"It was a wash to a slight win for us," said IP sports book director Jay Kornegay, a former Broncos season ticket holder. "There was a lot of Bronco support, and we lost a little bit on the game. But we broke even on the props."

Two of the IP's more popular props were Phil Mickelson's final-round score in the Phoenix Open (75) vs. Packers receiver Robert Brooks' receiving yardage (16), and Michael Jordan's point total (32) vs. the Packers total points (24), with the latter coming off as 4-point underdogs.

For next year's Super Bowl, both the IP and Leroy's make the Packers a 2-to-1 favorite. The IP gives the Broncos 7-to-1 odds to repeat, while Leroy's has them at 8-to-1.

And for those itching for action on next year's Super Bowl, Caesars Palace has posted the NFC as 8-point favorites.