Columnist Ron Kantowski: Propositional phase grabs the bettors

Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004 | 10:01 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Welcome to Las Vegas, where it's legal to end a sentence as well as a big football game with a proposition, provided "Super Bowl" is the subject and "betting" the verb.

To wit, a few years ago, the Imperial Palace posted a line on whether Packers quarterback Jim McMahon would have a rushing attempt against the Patriots. In that McMahon was little more than Brett Favre's caddy by then and his bum knees wouldn't allow him to run to the refrigerator for another beer, about the only way he could have gotten a rushing attempt was by taking a knee on the last play of the game with the Packers comfortably ahead.

Although the I.P.'s list of proposition bets for Super Bowl XXXVIII is roughly three pages longer than the Magna Carta, there's no mention of Damon Huard and Rodney Peete, this year's backup quarterbacks. But in case you don't like the Patriots at minus 7 or the over/under of 38, the I.P. has 235 other ways to get your money -- er, place a wager on the big game.

You can get odds on whether both teams make 33-yard or longer field goals (yes, minus 130; no, even); the over/under on the distance of Ricky Proehl's first reception (over 7 1/2 yards, plus 100; under 7 1/2, minus 140); who will score the game's first touchdown (you can get Rod "He Bet Me" Smart at 25-1); which team will be first to use the coach's challenge (both teams, minus 115); and who will have more: Patriots touchdowns (minus 1/2, even) or combined goals in the Arsenal-Manchester City English Premier League soccer game (plus 1/2, minus 130).

About the only thing you can't bet on at the I.P. is the over/under on the number of gold chains Deion Sanders will wear to the game. Then again, it's only Thursday.

"It's our little niche in the business," said I.P. sports book director Jay Kornegay of a large sign outside the venerable hotel-casino that boasts the "the most propositions on the planet."

Which is all the more impressive, when you consider the I.P. sports book might be the one Las Vegas establishment in which Paris Hilton has never set foot.

While Kornegay calls the proposition bets a "little niche," they have grown into big business, even bigger than the traditional action on the game. Kornegay said 1996 was the first year that more money was wagered on the propositions than on the game itself, and he predicts that 60 percent of the I.P.'s Super Bowl handle this year will be on the props.

In that most betting parlors around town now offer proposition bets and that roughly $80 million is wagered locally on the Super Bowl, that little niche to which Kornegay referred is now wider than a Canadian football field.

Proposition bets are a recent phenomenon, with the first ones having gone up on the big board in the late '80s, mostly to generate interest on slow nights at the window during basketball season.

Kornegay said the I.P.'s propositional phase grew out of the sports book guys making side bets among themselves.

"When Magic and Isiah (Thomas) or somebody like that would face each other, there would be friendly wagers among the co-workers about who would score more points," Kornegay said. "We'd bet each other and that eventually translated to the prop bets you see on the board."

If there's a pioneer in the proposition bet industry, Kornegay said I.P. sports book manager Ed Salmons is Lewis and Clark rolled into one. Salmons is credited with creating many of the exotic Super Bowl wagers that pique the casual bettor's interest, such as "Who Will Have More: Panthers first-half points (minus 1/2, minus 115) or Allan Iverson made free throws against the Timberwolves (plus 1/2, minus 115)?"

The whimsical nature of the props notwithstanding, it's not as if the I.P. just throws a bunch of wagers against the wall and see what sticks. Given the volume of betting on the props, there's a lot of homework that must be done before they make it onto the board.

Kornegay said the I.P. learned a lesson about exposing itself on a prop bet in 1996, when it offered a wager on whether the Steelers' Kordell Stewart would run, catch and throw the ball in Super Bowl XXX.

The "yes" line moved from minus 250 to minus 500 (prices Slashed?), and when Stewart, who already had caught a pass and rushed from scrimmage, took a snap late in the game and rolled out with his passing arm cocked, Kornegay and company were on the way to the vault to make a significant withdrawal.

Fortunately for the I.P., Stewart tucked the ball under his arm and decided to run.

"It was amazing, judging by the reaction at our party, how many people bet that prop," Kornegay said. "It was a terrible line. We were just fortunate to win that one."

Scott Norwood (wide right, minus 1000) should have been so lucky.