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Despite losing Super Bowl LII, the New England Patriots open as favorites to win the next Super Bowl.
New England sits atop the early odds, at 9-2 to win Super Bowl LIII at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. The Patriots were 5-1 to win Super Bowl LII after winning Super Bowl LI 34-28 over the Atlanta Falcons.
The Steelers, at 8-1, are the only other AFC team with single-digit odds at Westgate.
The Eagles have the best odds of any NFC team at 6-1. The Minnesota Vikings (12-1), Green Bay Packers (12-1), New Orleans Saints (16-1) and Atlanta Falcons (18-1) are among the next tier of contenders.
“We opened the Eagles at 10-1, but the move to 6-1 was just a reaction to the expected money coming in after they won [on Sunday],” said Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook manager Ed Salmons. “Public will think if they won the Super Bowl without Carson Wentz, when he comes back they should be even better.”
Nevada sportsbooks handled a record $158.58 million in bets on the Super Bowl.
The books won $1.1 million when the Philadelphia Eaglesupset the New England Patriots 41-33. It’s the smallest win for the books on the Super Bowl since 2011.
The $158.58 million wagered shattered the previous high set last year by more than $20 million.
DraftKings CEO Jason Robbins said his company would pursue sports betting if it were to become legal.
“We’re certainly going to go after it,” Robins said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think the Supreme Court — I’m hopeful — will rule that way. You can’t really predict what the government will do, but you have to be prepared.”
Supreme Court experts predict a decision on the sports betting case will come in March.
“We most likely will see a decision in early to mid-March,” said Adam Feldman, a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia Law School and creator of EmpiricalSCOTUS.com, a quantitative research site. “Since the Supreme Court term in the year 2000, the average number of days between oral argument and when an opinion was released was 93 days.”
Another expert agreed with the forecasted over/under.
“The Supreme Court is very efficient so cases are generally decided within approximately 90 days of oral argument,” said Christopher Kise, a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP who has argued four cases before the Supreme Court, including one this term. “So for this case, a decision can be expected as early as March.”