The way things are shaping up, the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino SuperBook will be financially invested in the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. Meanwhile, the book’s vice president will be strutting around, calm and confident, in a Peyton Manning jersey.
“I don’t really consider myself superstitious, but I’ve been wearing Manning jerseys during the playoffs,” said Jay Kornegay, Vice President of Race & Sports at the LVH and a lifelong Broncos fan. “They’re wearing orange, but I’ll probably go with a blue Manning jersey on Super Bowl Sunday. I’ll wear the orange one on Saturday.”
Like the majority of sports books in Nevada and offshore, Kornegay made his Broncos underdogs in the LVH’s opening Super Bowl line. Money poured in from all types of bettors, both sharp and square, transforming Denver into the favorite. Heading into the middle of the week, the LVH was one of 15 Nevada sports books that had the Broncos favored by 2.5 points over Seattle.
Early in the week, there had been five times more money bet on Denver than Seattle at the LVH. But Kornegay said Wednesday that the action on Denver had slowed and “we’re expecting some bigger money on Seattle soon.”
With $100 million expected to be bet on the Super Bowl in Nevada, it’s not hard for books to adjust the numbers to even out the action.
“The public money rules in terms of money bet on the Super Bowl,” Kornegay said. “But there will be plenty of support from the sharps, who will scoop up any value on the Seahawks, if the line runs.
“We’re in a pretty good position, and I know it’s not going to be a major decision, even though most likely the book is going to need the Seahawks,” he added. “Eventually my fan side will take over, and I’ll be rooting for the Broncos, no doubt.”
Kornegay’s late mother was a huge Broncos fan, and his family had season tickets when he was in middle school in the mid and late 1970s. Family friends would drive him to games, and while they tailgated, Kornegay would go into Mile High Stadium early by himself to “harass (Lyle) Alzado.”
One of his favorite Mile High memories came from the 1977 AFC Championship Game. He went with a cousin and some family friends. The only tickets they could find were seven rows apart. The Broncos knocked off the rival Oakland Raiders, 20-17, to reach the Super Bowl. Kornegay was living in Cheyenne, Wyo., at the time, and remembers a strange sight on his post-game ride home.
“There was this little Volkswagon bug on northbound I-25 that had about half of the goal post strapped over the car,” Kornegay recalled with a chuckle. “The thing was gigantic. It was probably 10 feet in front of it and 10 feet behind it. And there was like four people crammed into that little bug.”
This will be Kornegay’s third Broncos Super Bowl as a Vegas bookmaker. He was running the sports book at the Imperial Palace when John Elway led the Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl victories in 1998 and 1999. This will be the first time, however, he’ll be forced to root against the house’s best interest.
“I was in a much more comfortable position those years than I am this year,” Kornegay said.