Tuesday, March 2, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.
Wagering on NASCAR races is becoming increasingly popular with local race fans and the 100,000 or so who will flock to Las Vegas this weekend for the seventh annual UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
While the Las Vegas Nextel Cup race and the Daytona 500 remain the most heavily wagered auto races, the local sports books' handle on this weekend's race will pale in comparison to the $81.2 million that was wagered on this year's Super Bowl.
"It will be, easily, the No. 1 event of the day Sunday," Station Casinos Micah Roberts said. "I don't know what I could compare it to ... maybe a big pro football game -- and that's as one event, not the whole day."
Robert would not disclose what Station Casinos properties took in on last year's race but said, "I think people would be quite shocked with the amount (wagered)."
Interest in wagering on the local NASCAR race has grown steadily since the series debuted in Las Vegas in 1998, Roberts said, leading him and other oddsmakers to post various proposition bets in addition to odds to win the Nextel Cup and Busch Series races.
Roberts has made Las Vegas native Kurt Busch an 8-1 co-favorite (with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman) to win Sunday's Nextel Cup race. Nextel Cup regulars Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth are 3-1 co-favorites to win Saturday's Sam's Town 300 Busch Series race.
In addition to betting on a driver to win Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, Stations Casinos books have a number of unique prop bets on the board, including:
Station Casinos also is offering season-long prop bets, including head-to-head matchups between Nextel Cup drivers and drivers from other racing series and which Joe Gibbs team will have more victories this season: his two-car Nextel Cup team (Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte) or the Washington Redskins.
"As the people come into town, they get more familiar with (wagering) and understand the props and the odds to win," Roberts said. "Usually there's a big rush right after the Rockingham race, with people coming in, but it's a little strange having a week (off) in between races this year."
Nevertheless, Roberts said he expected betting interest in the races to increase as fans start getting into town later this week.
"This is a hugely popular (race) for everybody around the country," Roberts said. "If I was in another place, Vegas would probably be my first choice as a place to go ... because the fun you can have within the city and on the way there.
"The race is just kind of an excuse to get out, so why not make it Vegas?"
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