Nevada sports books had one of their worst beats in a long time for Super Bowl XLV. Since Green Bay covered the spread and the final score finisher above 45.5, Nevada raked in only $724,176. The state’s bookies made $6,678,044 in last year’s Super Bowl.
If you crunch the numbers, $87,491,098 was the total handle this year, an increase of almost $5 from last year. Since Nevada took in only $724,176, that’s a hold of 0.8%. Last year’s was 8.3%. This year’s old is the lowest in 12 years, aside from the negative hold of the Giants upset win over the Patriots in 2008. That’s the only time Nevada has been in the red in the last 16 years of the Super Bowl.
MGM Resorts Race and Sports Book director Jay Rood said this year was the worst Super Bowl he has ever seen after starting there in 1993. But the customers were happy. They were getting served cold cuts, salads and pizzas inside the book’s war room for gambling’s busiest day of the year, and enjoying a great game.
Rood’s boss called at halftime from an Aria hotel party and asked what the worse-case scenario is. Rood answered, “It’s happening.”
Rood made the move and set the second-half line with the Steelers favored by 2.5 points for the final two quarters. Since Pittsburgh started as a 2.5-point underdog when the game started, the value of a bet on Pittsburgh was now the equivalent of an 8.5-point underdog. Some people foolishly changed their bets, but they still won since the game went over the 45.5 point total for two of the NFL’s top defenses.
Steve Purcell felt as much of a winner at the Mirage as Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers did after the game. He placed a $200 future-book bet before the season on the then-14:1 Packers to win the Super Bowl. He also made some beneficial bets on the game. A $50 wager that Green Bay’s Nick Collins would intercept a pass paid out $750. Another longshot bet that paid big was Packers receiver Jordy Nelson scoring the game’s first touchdown.
Super Bowl XLV turned out to be the baddest beat for Las Vegas sports books in years, considering that $1-million bets and five-figure wagers were public payouts on Sunday.