Monday, Feb. 6, 2006 | 12:34 p.m.
By the time the Super Bowl was over Sunday, the biggest sports betting day of the year in Las Vegas, the state's casinos were expected to have taken nearly $100 million in wagers on the game.
Alberto Godoy and Kyle Green, in town from Los Angeles, spent part of the weekend contributing to that lofty figure - five bucks at a time. Or, in the NFL's rather self-important Super Bowl parlance, V bucks at a time.
Clutching a half-yard glass of a bright red tropical concoction in one hand and a stack of betting slips in the other, Godoy sweated out the Pittsburgh Steelers' 21-10 victory against the Seattle Seahawks as intensely as the highest rollers in the city.
"I'm a die-hard Pittsburgh fan, baby - die-hard," Godoy said while standing in the rear of the race and sports book area at the Palms. "I'm just so happy they're in the Super Bowl. (Coach Bill) Cowher deserves this. (Jerome) Bettis deserves this."
And fans like Godoy perhaps deserve to soak up the atmosphere of Super Bowl Sunday in Las Vegas - where the hype and raucous environment rival, and perhaps eclipse, that in the host city itself.
Thousands of Alberto Godoys and Kyle Greens are what make every Super Bowl Sunday what it is in Las Vegas.
Some began staking out prime viewing spots at casino sports books, bars and lounges in early morning, hours before kickoff. Long lines filled with bettors snaked through casinos, as at Caesars Palace, where several hundred people still were waiting in line to get a bet down only 10 minutes before the game began.
All game long, fans/bettors' cheers betrayed not only their team loyalties, but also where their money was. The coin toss (tails), the first play (a completed pass), who got the first first down (Seattle) - these and other developments, relatively inconsequential to the game's outcome but of great import to those drawn to the action created by sports books directors' maxim of "if you give it odds, they will bet," drew lusty cheers and groans on nearly every play.
That was the case with Godoy, the guy wearing a No. 7 Ben Roethlisberger jersey and shouting at the Palms' dozens of TV monitors as if the Steelers' star quarterback could hear him 2,015 miles away in Detroit.
When Seattle jumped out to an early lead, Godoy collapsed to the floor in a heap. When the Seahawks missed a field goal attempt late in the second quarter, you might have heard Godoy celebrating - whether or not you were at the Palms.
And when the real Roethlisberger lunged into the end zone for a Steelers touchdown, Godoy was mobbed by other bettors who were holding tickets on Big Ben to score the game's first TD at odds of 15-1.
Godoy and Green somehow missed that bet, but they had plenty of other wagers on the game, ranging from the Steelers covering the point spread (they did) to Troy Polamalu intercepting a pass (he didn't).
"I almost had to bribe him to come out here (to Las Vegas)," Green said of Godoy. "He wanted to stay at home and get a keg. But Vegas is the place to be for the Super Bowl, man."
Godoy, 24, and Green, 30, work at a home electronics store in Southern California and became fast friends in the past year thanks to a common interest in the NFL.
"All we do is talk about how our teams did each week," Green said.
Although he's a Denver Broncos fan, Green made a series of bets of various sizes - some as low as $5 - backing the Steelers, including separate wagers on Pittsburgh to score more points in each of the game's four quarters.
"Even though they beat us (the Broncos) in the playoffs, I'm behind them," said Green, wearing a No. 24 Champ Bailey Broncos jersey. "I think that shows you what kind of a sportsman I am."
Kris Bouchard of Las Vegas also was sweating out Super Bowl XL at the Palms after making his wager on the Steelers. Bouchard made only a "straight bet" on Pittsburgh, opting to stay away from the hundreds of "propositions" available in the city's sports books. Propositions, or props, are the myriad wagering opportunities that include head-to-head matchups, individual player statistics and other unique bets, such as which team will win the coin toss.
"I'm all over Pittsburgh," Bouchard said. "Just the Steelers to win and cover (the point spread)."
Joe Conway, visiting from Memphis, adopted an alternate strategy of trying to find value in some of the more arcane props on the Palms' betting board.
Before the game, Conway said he thought the Seahawks punting more than 4 1/2 times was a good bet - though he ultimately would not cash that ticket.
"That's the whole thing, you've got to go with the obscure ones to win," Conway said. "Pittsburgh has a good defense, they can shut 'em down, so they've got to punt."
Palms sports book director Rich Baccellieri, the man in charge of setting the casino's line on the Super Bowl and all of its props, said he was seeing "tremendous" betting action on the game, including some six-figure wagers.
He had to open separate betting windows for minimum Super Bowl bets of $1,000 and $2,000 Sunday.
"Yep, those are set up especially for the Super Bowl," Baccellieri said. "They're betting both sides of the game. They're betting all the props. It's a beautiful scene here."
In the hours leading to kickoff, betting was particularly heavy on the Seahawks, Baccellieri said. Seattle was an underdog of 4 1/2 points at most Las Vegas sports books for much of last week, but the line had been bet down to 3 1/2 points Sunday afternoon.
The over/under, or total, in the Super Bowl was bet down to 46 1/2 points Sunday at the Palms. It had opened two weeks ago as high as 49 points.
Professional gamblers - sometimes called "sharp" bettors, or "wise guys" - were betting the under, Baccellieri said.
"We're seeing a lot of sharp action on the under, and not as much money from the betting public on the over as I had hoped," Baccellieri said. "I'm glad I opened it 48 and not 49."
The props attracting the most money were those involving Bettis, the Steelers' popular running back. Bettors were wagering that Bettis would score a touchdown and that he would score the game's first touchdown. He did neither Sunday.
Although he went home disappointed, Dion Thrasher was cheering for his Seahawks at the Palms.
"I was born and raised in Seattle," said Thrasher, 33. "It's our first time here, our first time in the Super Bowl. It's our time."
Another Seattle native also was at the Palms for the Super Bowl - though 85-year-old Sam Angel said he left that city as an infant for San Francisco and then his adopted hometown of Las Vegas, where he has lived since 1950.
"I've been here for 55 years," said Angel, known to many Vegas old-timers as a 1970s-era poker champion and erstwhile independent Rolex salesman. "I do leave town - I've been going to Del Mar (racetrack in California) for 40 straight years - but I've never called anywhere else home."
Angel, who said he visits the Palms sports book several times a week, made a handful of small parlays, though some that were linked to the "over" 46 1/2 points went down in flames.
Even as his Steelers took control of the Super Bowl, L.A.'s Godoy was a nervous wreck. His girlfriend, Dionna Nueth, spent part of the second half trying to calm his nerves.
"Man, even during the regular season, when the Steelers lose, my whole day is shot," Godoy said, his voice quivering with emotion. "I became a fan 10 years ago, and I can still see that loss to Dallas (in Super Bowl XXX).
"It's been such a long time. They deserve it."
Jeff Haney can be reached at 259-4041 or at [email protected].
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