For the 16th time in the last 17 years, Las Vegas sports books were able to post a profit for Super Bowl Sunday. Though the exact numbers have yet to be released, sports books have already begun reporting modest wins.
While all of those futures bets on the New York Giants didn’t break the Las Vegas sports books, they did eat up a sizable chunk of profit after the underdog managed to not only beat the three-point spread, but win the game as well.
However, the large number of proposition bets, or prop bets, was able to make up for slight imbalance on both sides of the action. The sports books allowed bettors to wager on a variety of stats, such as quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning’s total passing yards and the total number of catches for the game’s star receivers.
Gamblers were also able to predict how the scores would come, so those who bet on a safety being the game’s first points earned big paydays. According to the Las Vegas Sun, MGM Resorts International was down about $250,000 to start the game after Brady was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, thanks largely to this gambler.
However, the prop bets allowed the casinos to turn a small profit on the day, especially because most players fell under their projected game stats. It also helped that the sports books took a large number of bets on the New England Patriots leading up to the game, which was able to somewhat correct a big imbalance in the action.
