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Books earn small win in Week 4
September 29, 2014
LAS VEGAS – Sportsbooks in Las Vegas won again in Week 4, although you won’t hear Johnny Avello brag about it. The Wynn's Executive Director of Race & Sports Operations said he does not like to look at the weekly results, which show books beating bettors in three of the first four weeks of the NFL season.
“For me, I just can’t look at this stuff from a week-to-week basis,” Avello said. “And I refuse to look at it from a week-to-week basis because things just don’t go right sometimes. Sometimes they go very right. Week-to- week has probably got nothing to do with the favorites winning, it’s got nothing to do with who should win. It’s just in certain weeks, players are just on the right side. That’s all there is to it.”
Avello noted the San Francisco 49ers rallying back to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 26-21 as 3.5-point home favorites as one example. The 49ers had opened -4.5 at The Wynn, but the public pushed the line down in favor of the previously undefeated Eagles. San Francisco trailed 21-10 in the second quarter.
“I don’t think the 49ers had any business covering the game yesterday, but they did,” Avello said. “Football is a crazy game, you can handicap until you’re blue in the face. But when it’s all said and done, you cannot handicap things that happen on the football field. You just can’t.”
The biggest win for the books came in Minnesota, where the Vikings blew away the Atlanta Falcons 41-28 behind rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Atlanta opened as a 2.5-point road favorite and was bet up to -5.5 at The Wynn just prior to kickoff.
“I don’t think the Falcons are any good on the road,” Avello said. “Good home team, but they’re just no good on the road.”
The public’s biggest wins came with the Green Bay Packers and the Indianapolis Colts, both of whom ended up closing a half-point higher than the opening numbers but saw the lines higher in their favor earlier in the week.
The Packers closed as 1.5-point road favorites against the Chicago Bears and had been as high as -2.5 after opening at -1. The Colts opened as 7-point home favorites but were as high as -8.5 after reports surfaced that Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker would likely miss the game. Indy ended up winning 41-17 as Titans backup QB Charlie Whitehurst struggled immensely.
“I knew we were going to need the dog there, there’s just nothing we could do about it,” Avello said of the Bears, who lost to Green Bay 38-17. “The bettors look at games, and they say, the Packers are not going to lose again. They’re going to be in the hunt, and of course that’s exactly what happened. The Colts are a good team, and they’re going to continue to be a good team.”
The Detroit Lions also took care of business on the road against the New York Jets, winning 24-17 after closing as 1.5-point underdogs. The Lions had opened -1.5, but Avello said that game was split equally. “There was Lion money, and there was Jet money both at those numbers,” he said. “It actually was balanced out pretty good. We did ok. You’ve got money going one way, you move the line, you’ve got money going back the other way. That game was balanced out.”
Avello also said big money came in on the Dallas Cowboys for their Sunday Night Football game against the New Orleans Saints, who still opened and closed at -3. The Cowboys ended up blowing out the Saints 38-17 in one of Week 4’s more surprising results.
Regarding the Monday Night Football matchup with the New England Patriots visiting the Kansas City Chiefs, Avello said the public could post another win if the home team covers the 3-point spread as an underdog. That will likely make him a fan of the Patriots.
“This game’s all the way down to 3,” said Avello, who opened New England -4.5. “Yeah, I think (we need the Patriots). But again it’s a Monday night game, so you don’t know where your money’s going to come. Some comes during the day, some comes late. So you just never know what you’re going to need until kickoff.”
September 29, 2014
LAS VEGAS – Sportsbooks in Las Vegas won again in Week 4, although you won’t hear Johnny Avello brag about it. The Wynn's Executive Director of Race & Sports Operations said he does not like to look at the weekly results, which show books beating bettors in three of the first four weeks of the NFL season.
“For me, I just can’t look at this stuff from a week-to-week basis,” Avello said. “And I refuse to look at it from a week-to-week basis because things just don’t go right sometimes. Sometimes they go very right. Week-to- week has probably got nothing to do with the favorites winning, it’s got nothing to do with who should win. It’s just in certain weeks, players are just on the right side. That’s all there is to it.”
Avello noted the San Francisco 49ers rallying back to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 26-21 as 3.5-point home favorites as one example. The 49ers had opened -4.5 at The Wynn, but the public pushed the line down in favor of the previously undefeated Eagles. San Francisco trailed 21-10 in the second quarter.
“I don’t think the 49ers had any business covering the game yesterday, but they did,” Avello said. “Football is a crazy game, you can handicap until you’re blue in the face. But when it’s all said and done, you cannot handicap things that happen on the football field. You just can’t.”
The biggest win for the books came in Minnesota, where the Vikings blew away the Atlanta Falcons 41-28 behind rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Atlanta opened as a 2.5-point road favorite and was bet up to -5.5 at The Wynn just prior to kickoff.
“I don’t think the Falcons are any good on the road,” Avello said. “Good home team, but they’re just no good on the road.”
The public’s biggest wins came with the Green Bay Packers and the Indianapolis Colts, both of whom ended up closing a half-point higher than the opening numbers but saw the lines higher in their favor earlier in the week.
The Packers closed as 1.5-point road favorites against the Chicago Bears and had been as high as -2.5 after opening at -1. The Colts opened as 7-point home favorites but were as high as -8.5 after reports surfaced that Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker would likely miss the game. Indy ended up winning 41-17 as Titans backup QB Charlie Whitehurst struggled immensely.
“I knew we were going to need the dog there, there’s just nothing we could do about it,” Avello said of the Bears, who lost to Green Bay 38-17. “The bettors look at games, and they say, the Packers are not going to lose again. They’re going to be in the hunt, and of course that’s exactly what happened. The Colts are a good team, and they’re going to continue to be a good team.”
The Detroit Lions also took care of business on the road against the New York Jets, winning 24-17 after closing as 1.5-point underdogs. The Lions had opened -1.5, but Avello said that game was split equally. “There was Lion money, and there was Jet money both at those numbers,” he said. “It actually was balanced out pretty good. We did ok. You’ve got money going one way, you move the line, you’ve got money going back the other way. That game was balanced out.”
Avello also said big money came in on the Dallas Cowboys for their Sunday Night Football game against the New Orleans Saints, who still opened and closed at -3. The Cowboys ended up blowing out the Saints 38-17 in one of Week 4’s more surprising results.
Regarding the Monday Night Football matchup with the New England Patriots visiting the Kansas City Chiefs, Avello said the public could post another win if the home team covers the 3-point spread as an underdog. That will likely make him a fan of the Patriots.
“This game’s all the way down to 3,” said Avello, who opened New England -4.5. “Yeah, I think (we need the Patriots). But again it’s a Monday night game, so you don’t know where your money’s going to come. Some comes during the day, some comes late. So you just never know what you’re going to need until kickoff.”
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