‘No complaints’ from sports books after underdog Denver tops Carolina in Super Bowl

The dust is still settling on the biggest sports betting day of the year, and the early returns indicate the underdog Broncos’ 24-10 win over the Panthers yielded a modest win for the sportsbooks.

Carolina was the runaway pick among early bettors, accumulating up to 90 percent of the action through last Wednesday at some books. That was enough to push the point spread as much as two points for some, but late-arriving Broncos support brought the line back down and evened out most books’ positions.

Denver was a consensus five-point favorite at kickoff, while the over/under closed at 43.5 and was never truly threatened.

“Can’t complain,” said Jason Simbal of CG Technology, which operates numerous Las Vegas sports books. “Anything under was good for us so we didn’t really have a sweat.”

The refrain was similar at offshore books.

“No complaints,” said Dave Mason of BetOnline. “(We) got murdered on the money line, but overall a good night for the house.”

According to ESPN’s David Purdum, numerous Vegas shops are reporting record handles. At $119 million in legal bets, more money was wagered on the 2014 Super Bowl than any in history, and many are expecting this year to break that mark when the Nevada Gaming Control Board releases the official numbers later Monday.

AROUND THE WEB

  • Von Miller, Broncos defense rewarded risk-taking prop bettors handsomely.
  • Cam Newton walked out on his press conference after the Panthers’ loss Sunday night, bringing forth a slew of scolding tweets, including a gem from a guy who once spit on an opponent.
  • Marshawn Lynch announces retirement (we think) via tweet in fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.
  • More bad news for DFS broke Friday evening: Citigroup won’t process payments for New York customers and the New York Times makes it sound like MLB is looking for a way to get out of its partnership with DraftKings.
  • Cubs agree to one-year deal with ace Jake Arrieta. Arrieta won the NL Cy Young last year with a 22-6 record and a 1.77 ERA last year and led the Cubs to an NLCS appearance. The Cubs are currently 9-2 favorites to win the World Series at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.

LOOK WHO’S TALKING

“Carolina winning but not covering was our best scenari0, but this was the second-best scenario.” —Nick Bogdanovich, William Hill US sports book director on the Broncos’ win in Super Bowl 50.

TWEETS OF NOTE

Wonder what this was all about? Maybe everybody just needed to pay for their share of the buffalo wings all at once.

ODDS & ENDS

  • Pete Rose did a spot for William Hill’s sports betting app.
  • The decline in DFS ad spend, charted.
  • How to pay taxes on fantasy sports winnings.
  • Everything you ever wanted to know about Jason Robins, DraftKings CEO, “stat geek”, elementary chess club founder.

ODDSMAKER’S TAKE

“Overall action was great yesterday. Was the biggest bet game in the company’s history. A great example of how much action was coming in: There was more money on the National Anthem prop than the Clippers-Heat game on national TV.” —Dave Mason, brand manager at BetOnline.