Homer Bettors Screwed Las Vegas Sports Books in 2012
The worst part about playing poker with people who have no idea how to play poker? If they're not entirely sure what good and bad hands look like, it's pretty much impossible for them to show bluffs. I'm pretty sure my mom chased me out of a hand pre-flop holding a 2-7 offsuit at our last family get-together.
That's sort of what I think about when I hear that Las Vegas sports books are getting cleaned out this year because so many "popular" NFL teams are winning by wide margins. The first rule of sports betting is that you never bet with your heart, right? Well, apparently there are plenty of Americans who disobey that maxim. And because teams like the Peyton Manning-led Denver Broncos, the New England Patriots and the always-beloved Green Bay Packers are winning big and covering spreads this year, Vegas is getting killed.
From Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times:
The problem for Las Vegas sports books is that many popular NFL teams beat the point spread during the regular season. And with many bettors combining their picks in parlays, $20 wagers turned into payouts of up to more than $1,000, depending on how many winning bets they combined.
The result is what one Las Vegas sports bookmaker called a "staggering" financial hit from the NFL regular season, as bettors handed Nevada sports books their worst year in memory.
Pugmire says that after one particular "perfect storm" in Week 9, when the Broncos, Falcons, Packers and a slew of other favorites covered, MGM Resorts had to "summon emergency stashes of cash to pay off its losses."
Naturally, you'd assume that sports books could remedy this by simply pushing spreads higher when they favor teams that America loves. But therein lies the rub.
"We know people will bet the Packers regardless," Las Vegas Hotel & Casino sports book director Jay Kornegay told Pugmire, "but all it takes is one sharp to say, 'Here's $50,000 on the Vikings,' to counteract making a [quick] line simply for the public."
I'm not going to pretend to feel sorry for Vegas bookmakers, but you have to hate when herds of sheep somehow end up leading the rest of us down an unpredictable path. The fools are taking money from the intellectuals.
No one is more upset about this than the vermin that inhabit the Republican Party, who hate it when rich people get it stuck to them.
I had some friends hit this in what I think was week 9. http://via.me/-6njz86s
I'll always be envious.
"The fools are taking money from the intellectuals."
And...you have a problem with that? :-D
@SkinsHogHeaven The thing I have never understood is this; we will use the BCS playoffs last night as an example, A: I want to win money, B: I want to try not to loose money so what do I do, bet on both! Yes I may win half but I still win right. Either way I don't think anyone won much unless it was just straight team bets because the split in that BCS championship was ridiculous at 42-14 (I doubt many bet a 28 point spread even I figured ND's defensive line would be effective to some point). Either way I bet 10k on both as a straight win or loose with no spread I would win though not as big as if I bet both for 50%.
@atlmann10 @SkinsHogHeaven If you bet $10k on both Alabama and Notre Dame on the money line with no spread, You lost money. You didnt break even as money line payouts arent even money bets. You could only profit if the underdog won. Alabama was -320 on the moneyline. Meaning if you bet $320 on Alabama with no spread, you won $100. A $10,000 money line bet on Alabama would have netted $3,125. Notre Dame however was +260 on the money line with no spread. That would have paid $26,000 had Notre Dame won. However they didn't win, so the $10,000 wagered on them is gone. The Alabama win netted a $3,125 profit, So the after the original wager of $20,000 you are left with $13,125. A sizable loss.
