Columnist Jeff Haney: For Stupak, 7-point push was 8 years late

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2000 | 10:03 a.m.

Jeff Haney's sports betting column appears Wednesday. Reach him at 259-4041 or haney@vegas.com

Before Sunday, it had been eight years since the line on a Super Bowl closed at 7 points.

In that 1992 game between the Redskins and Bills, Michael Gaughan, boss of the Barbary Coast and Gold Coast casinos, offered perhaps the most innovative proposition bet in Super Bowl history -- one that in the years since has been alternately praised as courageous and derided as foolhardy.

Bettors at the Coast sports books were permitted to lay 6 1/2 points with favored Washington, or get 7 1/2 with underdog Buffalo. In an effort to generate publicity and action at the betting windows, Gaughan was setting himself up for a catastrophe if the 'Skins won by exactly seven.

It turned out he had nothing to fear, as the Redskins won by 13 points, 37-24.

This year the line on the Super Bowl was again 7 throughout most of the week in Las Vegas, but no sports books offered a special two-way line this time around.

That was a wise decision, because the final score fell right on 7 when the Rams beat the Titans 23-16.

Although he did cash a winning ticket this year, Bob Stupak must have cringed just a little when the game landed right on the number.

From his perspective, Sunday's 7-point "push" arrived eight years too late.

You see, Stupak, former owner of the Stratosphere and a high-stakes sports bettor with a flair for the dramatic, took a position in that 1992 game. He bet $550,000 on both the Redskins minus 6 1/2 and the Bills plus 7 1/2, in effect risking $50,000 in "juice" to hit a $1 million "middle."

"The way I figured it, I was about a 17-1 underdog and they were giving me 20-1 odds, an overlay," Stupak said this week. "It was an interesting wager, although I don't know what I would do if they offered it again. I'm not sure if I'd do the same thing."

Stupak said he did plenty of homework before making the wager. An astute sports gambler, he surely was aware that approximately 7 percent of pro football games are decided by 7 points -- although some of those are won by the underdog.

"I looked at the numbers, and I looked back at all the Super Bowls played up to that time," Stupak said. "The way I look at it, I was getting 20-1 and I ended up with a push."

Ed Ricca, sports book supervisor at the Gold Coast, has not forgotten the two-way line of '92 or the hype surrounding it. He even remembers when Stupak came in to make his now-famous bet.

Unwinding in a nearly deserted sports book at the Gold Coast late Sunday night after the busiest day of the year, Ricca looked back on those events with a sense of humor.

"I try not to think about what would have happened if we had (the two-way line) this year," Ricca said. "We would have been crushed. We wouldn't be sitting here right now, I can tell you that. They would have to turn this sports book into a deli."

Told of the "deli" quip, Stupak didn't even crack a smile.

"Well, yeah, sure they would," Stupak said, deadpan. "They would have had to do it back then (in '92) too, if (the middle) came in."

Customers at the Gold Coast this week were still looking for "locks" rather than lox, though, as this year's Super Bowl push meant lots of refunds across the city rather than a devastating loss for sports books.

Stupak was one of the few bettors who cashed a winning ticket on the Super Bowl. He grabbed the Titans plus 7 1/2 as soon as the line was posted.

"It was not a huge bet," said Stupak, declining to reveal the amount. "It was what I call a 'sweat bet' -- just enough so I'm able to watch the game, to sweat it. I mean, if you don't have a bet to sweat, why spend all afternoon in front of the television?"

Sunday's game earned praise from many quarters as one of the more exciting Super Bowls.

But the most emphatic imprimatur came from Stupak -- a man who relished challenging bettors as a casino owner, enjoys taking on the house from the other side of the counter, and has been known to ante up in a poker game now and again.

"This was a game I could have watched without having any money on it," Stupak said.

He paused a beat before coming to his senses, or at least realizing he has a reputation to uphold.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't have watched it live, but I would have found a tape of it and watched the replay," Stupak said. "I think it probably was the best Super Bowl there ever was."

Stupak was particularly impressed by the play of Titans quarterback Steve McNair in the second half.

"You seldom find a quarterback with (guts) like that," Stupak said. "When the defense would come after him, he'd run backwards and still find an opening. It takes a special talent to do that."

While most bettors settled for a push on the game as the line settled in at 7, Stupak said that wasn't the case among his acquaintances.

"With the bettors I know, mostly large bettors, most got in early (at either Rams minus 6 1/2 or Titans plus 7 1/2) and won a lot," Stupak said. "Anyone who didn't, bought the half-point off of 7 (by laying 6-5 rather than 11-10) and they won, too. Seven's a lousy number; nobody wants a 7. ... Of course, the difference between 7 and 7 1/2 is huge."

As late as Super Bowl Sunday, bettors who shopped around or simply had lucky timing could find -- briefly -- a 6 1/2 or a 7 1/2 on the game. The Rio, for example, closed at 7 1/2 after taking the vast majority of its action at 7.

But will bettors ever get another shot at a two-way line like Gaughan's in 1992?

Most don't think so. Stupak isn't so sure.

"Who knows?" said Stupak, the proud father of "crapless craps" with 12-times odds. "I've seen stranger things happen."

* SUPER NOTES: Offshore sports book Intertops.com paid off the "over" on its ratings prop when the game registered a Nielsen figure of 43, above the posted "total" of 40. ... As usual, gamblers were among those glued to their sets until the end, as Tennessee's final drive had plenty of consequences for bettors. Had the Titans scored a TD and kicked the extra point, tying the game at 23 and forcing overtime, it would have clinched a win for Titans backers and over bettors. The total was 48 points. ... Of course, gamblers who bet the game would go to OT also would have cashed, to the tune of plus 900. ... Anyone who bet the "no touchdowns will be scored" prop at 150-1 was feeling good at the half. ... The Imperial Palace opened the Jaguars 9-2 favorites to win the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla. The Rams are a 5-1 second choice. ... Said Ray Kelly, sports book supervisor at the Rio: "Now, we all go back to living a normal life ... until March Madness."