for those who haven't come across it.
NFL Mon, Feb 2, 2004
Super Bowl almost 'Apocalypse' for some books
Jon Campbell
For about a minute and forty-three seconds on Sunday, some offshore sportsbooks could see the four horsemen galloping on the horizon.
That was how long the New England Patriots held a 29-22 lead over the Carolina Panthers late in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXXIII. For those betting shops that moved the Patriots from 7 to 6 1/2-point favorites in the weeks leading up to the big game, a seven-point Pats win was nothing less than Armageddon.
"We were calling (a Patriots seven-point win) the Apocalypse all week," said Betcom Director of Wagering Jimmy Mason. "It was a make or break game for a lot of books out there."
If the Pats had won by the feared seven, all bets on the seven-point line would have pushed. However, when the line moved to 6 1/2, a flood of money came pouring in on New England. That meant all bets on the revised line would have cashed.
It's practically middling. And when it happens on the holiest day of the betting year, there's nothing "middle" about it - it's literally the end for those books unfortunate enough to get burned.
But thanks to a saviour wearing No. 17 in a Carolina Panthers uniform, the Grim Reaper didn't show his face.
Jake Delhomme led an improbable 63-yard drive that ended in a 12-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl to tie the game at 29 with just over a minute to play.
Then came the fairy-tale ending that everyone already knows about. New England place-kicker Adam Vinatieri hammered home the 41-yard field goal with four seconds left to give the Pats the victory on the moneyline.
Mason says the Super Bowl ended up being "a wash" at Betcom. A pile of bettors took the Panthers straight up, but many of those punters also lost their teasers and a chunk on prop bets.
The book "basically juiced everything out," which Mason said fits the mandate of the book's business strategy.
Other books like BoDog took a more aggressive approach. BoDog opened the line with the Patriots at minus-7 (-105) and didn't budge in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.
The result was a record day for the sportsbook for both net winnings and new sign-ups. About 1,200 new users placed a bet with BoDog for the first time and the book came out ahead by about 8 percent for the day. The target in the industry is 4 or 4 1/2 percent.
"We had triple the handle from last year and that was triple the handle from the year before," said BoDog President Rob Gillespie.
A victory against the spread meant peanuts for BoDog. The difference in side money was a meager $3,000. The real dough rushed in on the Panthers on the moneyline, who were paying a little better than 2-1.
"When it was 29-22, we were saying 'Uh-oh'," said Gillespie. "It wouldn't have been so bad for us because we would've pushed all that action. But it probably would've wiped out a few books and that would've been really bad for the industry."
NFL Mon, Feb 2, 2004
Super Bowl almost 'Apocalypse' for some books
Jon Campbell
For about a minute and forty-three seconds on Sunday, some offshore sportsbooks could see the four horsemen galloping on the horizon.
That was how long the New England Patriots held a 29-22 lead over the Carolina Panthers late in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXXIII. For those betting shops that moved the Patriots from 7 to 6 1/2-point favorites in the weeks leading up to the big game, a seven-point Pats win was nothing less than Armageddon.
"We were calling (a Patriots seven-point win) the Apocalypse all week," said Betcom Director of Wagering Jimmy Mason. "It was a make or break game for a lot of books out there."
If the Pats had won by the feared seven, all bets on the seven-point line would have pushed. However, when the line moved to 6 1/2, a flood of money came pouring in on New England. That meant all bets on the revised line would have cashed.
It's practically middling. And when it happens on the holiest day of the betting year, there's nothing "middle" about it - it's literally the end for those books unfortunate enough to get burned.
But thanks to a saviour wearing No. 17 in a Carolina Panthers uniform, the Grim Reaper didn't show his face.
Jake Delhomme led an improbable 63-yard drive that ended in a 12-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl to tie the game at 29 with just over a minute to play.
Then came the fairy-tale ending that everyone already knows about. New England place-kicker Adam Vinatieri hammered home the 41-yard field goal with four seconds left to give the Pats the victory on the moneyline.
Mason says the Super Bowl ended up being "a wash" at Betcom. A pile of bettors took the Panthers straight up, but many of those punters also lost their teasers and a chunk on prop bets.
The book "basically juiced everything out," which Mason said fits the mandate of the book's business strategy.
Other books like BoDog took a more aggressive approach. BoDog opened the line with the Patriots at minus-7 (-105) and didn't budge in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.
The result was a record day for the sportsbook for both net winnings and new sign-ups. About 1,200 new users placed a bet with BoDog for the first time and the book came out ahead by about 8 percent for the day. The target in the industry is 4 or 4 1/2 percent.
"We had triple the handle from last year and that was triple the handle from the year before," said BoDog President Rob Gillespie.
A victory against the spread meant peanuts for BoDog. The difference in side money was a meager $3,000. The real dough rushed in on the Panthers on the moneyline, who were paying a little better than 2-1.
"When it was 29-22, we were saying 'Uh-oh'," said Gillespie. "It wouldn't have been so bad for us because we would've pushed all that action. But it probably would've wiped out a few books and that would've been really bad for the industry."
