- The Las Vegas Raiders won their first home game in Allegiant Stadium beating the New Orleans Saints 34-24.
- It was a good result for local sportsbooks who were able to knock out moneyline parlays still open from Sunday.
- Books took even more New Orleans ‘public’ money late after the Raiders drew a strong ‘sharp’ move earlier in the day.
Interesting betting dynamics on the Las Vegas Raiders’ first home game at Allegiant Stadium. There definitely wasn’t a ‘homer element’ in effect as the ‘squares’ were soundly on the side of the visiting New Orleans Saints. Ultimately, Southern Nevada sportsbooks were able to root for the home team as the Saints money kept coming and negated a significant ‘sharp’ move on the Raiders earlier in the day on Monday.
For the record, the game closed with the New Orleans Saints a -4 point road favorite at most shops though the influential Westgate closed the game at -3.5. The line stood at -5.5 early on Monday morning before a significant move on the Raiders produced the downward movement. Circa Sports sportsbook manager Chris Bennett told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that it was clearly a ‘smart money’ move:
“There’s some group or person out there that likes the Raiders because everybody kind of got hit at the same time. The Raiders were +5½ and pretty much everywhere went to 4 pretty quickly. We respect the money coming in on the Raiders. We haven’t really seen any sharp money on the Saints.”
According to the LVRJ, Bennett’s shop took a $22,000 straight bet on Las Vegas +5.5 and a $5000 moneyline bet on the Raiders at 2-1 odds. The Westgate took a $22,000 straight bet on the Raiders +5½ and a $50,000 wager on Las Vegas +4. The influx of ‘sharp’ action left the bookmakers needing the Saints at that point according to the Westgate’s Jay Kornegay:
“Heading into the weekend, we needed the Raiders. But we need the Saints now. We had a lot of liability on the Saints because of all the parlays carrying over from Sunday to tonight’s game. However, now that we’ve taken some big plays on the Raiders this morning, it’s fairly balanced.”
This dynamic didn’t last long as the ‘public’ would come back and throw more money at the favorite. The Review-Journal reported that sportsbooks were seeing ‘an avalanche’ of late Saints money. BetMGM took a $180,000 straight bet on New Orleans -4 just before post time.
The Westgate’s Kornegay said that the book did well on live wagering and halftime betting which saw even more Saints’ money get flushed away:
“We had a tremendous amount of Saints’ support at -3 at halftime, and in in-progress during the second half, we saw a lot of support for the Saints as well. Overall, it ended up being a pretty decent night considering the home team won outright.”
The result also served to wipe out most of the open moneyline parlays and teasers left over from Sunday. NFL favorites won 13 of 14 games SU on Sunday giving sportsbooks a huge loss on moneyline parlays. The result could have been slightly better for the house according to Sunset Station sportsbook director Chuck Esposito:
“Having the Raiders win outright was the best case. But it would’ve been better if the game stayed under. The guests always seem to bet over in these isolated, prime-time games.”
The Raiders have won and covered their first two games since moving to the 702. Both results have gone ‘Over’ the total. Sunset Station’s Esposito was pleased with the way the team performed:
“I was impressed with their offense, the way Carr looked, Waller and Jacobs. They definitely have two young, talented guys at tight end and running back to build this team around. They were fun to watch.”
The closing numbers on the Don Best live odds feed showed 56% of the ‘public’ on the Saints based on ticket count. 65% of totals wagers were on the ‘Over’.
