Rams’ win a push for Vegas gamblers

Ed Koch and Jeff Haney

Monday, Jan. 31, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

There is an old poker player's prayer that goes: "Lord, please let me break even tonight -- I sure can use the money."

Early today lines remained long at Las Vegas sports books as gamblers collected millions of dollars -- refunds on their Super Bowl wagers -- that they sure can use.

The St. Louis Rams' 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Atlanta Sunday fell on the 7-point line -- a "push" in bookie jargon.

This is the fourth time the game has landed on the Las Vegas line.

In 1997 the Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots 35-21 (the Packers were 14-point favorites); in 1980 the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the then-Los Angeles Rams 31-19 (the Steelers were favored by 12); and in 1979 the Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 (the Steelers were four-point favorites).

Nevada sports books took in $76 million on last year's Super Bowl and had about $3 million in profits. After the over-under bets, proposition bets and parlay cards are factored in for this year's game, the sports books expect to once again come out a little ahead of the players.

However, depending on how much "future book" action was taken earlier this year on the Rams winning the Super Bowl -- the odds were as high as 200-1 against -- some books might wind up breaking even or losing a little.

"We had a few smart players and visitors from the St. Louis area put down $10 to $20 (in future bets) early on, because the Rams had some young talent," said Jim Korona, shift manager at the Stardust race and sports book, where the lines were still long early today as gamblers got refunds.

"We were a small winner on Sunday, but that was offset by the future bets we had to pay off."

Sports books that offered an array of proposition bets -- bets on various details of the game -- came out ahead in that area even though they were beaten by the players on who would get the ball first. Last week the Titans said they would probably defer to the second half if they won the coin toss. The Rams won the toss and elected to receive the kickoff.

The Imperial Palace, which is one of the busiest for prop bets, said it lost on that bet but overall came out ahead.

"We still won for the day," Imperial Palace sports supervisor Jackson Meeker said this morning. "But I think the players were pretty happy that it was a good game and not a blowout. They seemed satisfied. The first half was slow, but the second half was fabulous."

Jeff Sherman, sports book supervisor at the Resort at Summerlin, said he expected steady traffic today from gamblers collecting their refunds.

"We offered a high volume of props giving players options and we won a little bit," Sherman said. "For all of the books, a lot depends on how much action they took on the futures. Some had large (future book) bets on the Rams."

Ed Ricca, sports book supervisor at the Gold Coast, said the game landing on 7 "wasn't what we were looking for. When it lands right on 7, we end up refunding tickets all day.

"The total stayed at a very solid 48, and the fact that it went under helped the cause from our perspective." Another common bet is the over-under, whether the total number of points scored goes over or under the set line. Sunday's total of 39 points was well under.

"We did OK on the prop bets," Ricca said. "Props are always good for the house."

Ray Kelly, sports book supervisor at the Rio, said: "It was just about the busiest we've ever been in here. Ending up right on the number basically means a lot of paperwork for us, with everyone lining up to get their money back. We would rather have had a decision for one side or the other."

D. Wayne Mauldin, sports book director at the Reserve, said the refund lines were long in Henderson as well.

"It's the worst-case scenario for many books," he said, noting that some places opened at 6 1/2 and 7 1/2 and lost some straight bet money on the game.

Sports books move the line up and down to encourage betting on both sides. The books hope to get as close to even on both sides. Bettors wager $11 to win $10, so when the action is even, the books win money by collecting the vigorish.

Mauldin said that when the final numbers come in statewide, the "handle" -- bookie jargon for the total amount wagered -- may be down because there was only one week between the final playoff games and the Super Bowl. This was the first year in recent memory when there wasn't a two-week gap between those games.

He also noted that Nevada now gets competition from offshore and Internet sports books.

Also, not having one of the so-called marquee teams (Packers, Cowboys, etc.) hurt the betting, industry experts said.