Super Bowl 50 kicks off at Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area on Sunday afternoon, but 500 miles to the southeast, the action around the big game is already picking up.
Since the matchup was made official a little over a week ago, the point spread has bounced from Carolina minus-4 to as high as minus-6 in some places, and some of the biggest bets haven’t been placed yet.
Sometime later this week a bettor will walk into a Las Vegas sportsbook and lay down $1 million on either the Denver Broncos or the Carolina Panthers. Or, more likely, he or she will place phone calls expressing interest in a seven-figure bet, get the go-ahead from a willing bookmaker, and then submit the bet via wire transfer.
It happens practically every year, according to one bookmaker, and at least one interested party has already made an inquiry this year.
“I’ve taken many million-dollar bets here at Wynn,” said Johnny Avello, Director of Race & Sports at Wynn Las Vegas. “As a matter of fact, we took one last year, probably the year before. I’d say in most cases we end up getting one.”
Taking that kind of bet can alter a sportsbook’s position significantly, so a variety of factors have to be considered. Who is the bettor? Does he have a pre-existing relationship with the casino or sportsbook? Is he an established winner? What is the book’s current position?
And perhaps as important as any other: how much time remains before kickoff?
“If somebody wants to make that bet at post time, two minutes before the game starts, then if we’re not in a desirable position we may not take it, because we have no way to continue to try to keep booking to try to get action on the other side to maybe offset some of it,” Avello said. “So we always like that kind of bet to come in at a reasonable time before the game starts. That would be one of the most crucial points before taking the wager.”
Avello said he’s sometimes taken larger amounts on moneyline bets, but a $1 million payout is typically as high as the book would like to go. For props, the limits are typically in the $5,000 range and Avello said special attention is paid to the bettor when determining the maximum bet limit.
“If you’re a sophisticated guy, there’s limits set for those guys,” Avello said. “And believe me, the sophisticated bettors key more on props than they do on the game. They may not have one bet on the game itself or the total or the moneyline, but they will concentrate on the props. Because if (a sports book) is putting up 250 props, you’re probably making a few mistakes, and that’s what they’re looking for—your errors.”
Late last week Avello said the big bets hadn’t started rolling in quite yet, but overall handle was “right where it should be,” with about 80 percent of overall tickets and money on the Carolina side.
“We’ve taken plenty of five-figure (bets), but not really a lot of large six-figures, because it’s so early,” Avello said Thursday. “The line’s kind of still moving around, it’s not settled; and the guests that are going to be here to watch the game and the guys who might make those kinds of wagers they’re a week away from coming in.
“Usually a big bet doesn’t come in this early, it’s more toward the latter part of the week, closer to game time.”