Betting Public Backs Clemson to Hurt Vegas Books
Clemson won the national championship on Monday night beating Alabama 35 to 31 on a last second passing touchdown to stun Alabama and hurt the Vegas books on the spread and money line. It was a major hit against the Vegas bookmakers as Clemson and the over 52 was the popular bet.
Just how bad was it for the Vegas books and throughout Nevada ?
“It was as bad as a result as humanly possible,” said William Hill director of trading Nick Bogdanovich, a veteran Las Vegas bookmaker told ESPN on Tuesday morning.
A spokeman for Caesars Entertainment said the Clemson upset victory in a high-scoring game was “the worst loss in any college football game I can remember.”
Bookmakers explained that most of the money that came in early was on Clemson after the Tigers opened as a 6.5-point to 7-point underdog in most books. Because of Clemson’s dominant victory over Ohio State in the semifinal and Alabama’s sloppy win over Washington, most bettors backed the Clemson Tigers.
MGM admitted that it lost ‘in the high six figures’ including a $55,000 bet on Clemson to win outright according to ESPN, and three six-figure bets on Clemson to cover the point spread, which closed at about six points.
Most sports books were exposed on Clemson throughout the week. The money started coming in on Clemson after they easily beat Ohio State 31 to 0 on New Year’s Eve. The Westgate SuperBook reported the first $11,020 that was wagered on the money line, $11,000 of it was on Clemson. The Clemson money never slowed down, leaving sportsbooks in a very vulnerable position.
Westgate Super Race and Sportsbook
The sportsbooks were exposed with too much money on Clemson and their worst-case scenario came true. Clemson and over the total of 51 was their big loss to bettors. “Alabama money finally showed up right before kickoff,” said Jeff Stoneback, assistant manager for MGM race and sportsbook. “But it was too late.”
Clemson closed as a six-point underdog to Alabama. Some books reported that the game attracted more than double the amount of money bet on the New York Giants-Green Bay Packers wild-card game. Betting handle was up eight percent this year compared to the 2016 championship game between the Tigers and Tide which the Tide won.
Johnny Avello, executive director at the Wynn race and sportsbook and legendary bookmaker said Clemson’s win was a low six-figure loss to his book operation. “The money wagered on the Clemson money line overwhelmed everything else,” Avello said.
The Las Vegas Strip bookmakers were all taking a big hit on the most-heavily bet college football game in recent memory. They look to recover on the division playoffs unless the favorites score big which the betting public usually bets.
Most bookmakers agreed that the Clemson coach Swinney caused them a lot of heart-burn with his winner take all approach with six seconds left with an easy field-goal to tie the game at 31 each. The safe play was kick the short range field-goal and extend game to overtime. But Clemson tried one more play to win with time running out. That decision cost the books millions and their prayers for possible overtime and Alabama win went unanswered.
