Columnist Dean Juipe: Local books turn backs on NFL prop

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.

It's the type of attractive bet that annually prompts a long-lost friend or relative to call from another state and ask you to place it for him in a Las Vegas sports book.

Football fans, from novices to astute observers, routinely love to play National Football League regular-season victory totals. And, until recently, Las Vegas sports books have habitually obliged.

But something has happened. Blame it on this city's ever-so-subtle change to a more corporate mentality, but bettors looking for action on NFL victory totals will find -- or already have discovered -- that the books don't want your money.

A long and winding search Tuesday uncovered only two spots where the totals are up: Caesars Palace and the Imperial Palace.

By the looks of things, everywhere else -- including such local staples as the Coast resorts, the Station casinos and the Hilton properties -- the books are rejecting bets on what was once the most common of propositions.

A professional gambler spotted along the trek couldn't explain it, but perhaps a teller in the book at the Barbary Coast did when he said "I heard we got hammered on them a couple of years ago."

To be perfectly clear what we're talking about, the bet in question requires the player to decide whether he or she believes a specific NFL team will win more or fewer games than the posted total. For instance, the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos are up at 11 1/2 at Caesars and at 11 at the I.P. Thus, those bettors who feel the Broncos will win at least 12 of their 16 regular-season games would take the over, while those bettors who feel the Broncos will win fewer than 11 (or fewer than 12, if placed at Caesars) would take the under.

Because all 31 NFL teams are assigned a total, the wager has a widespread appeal to tourists passing through town. A visitor from Kansas City or San Diego or Buffalo can make a single bet in Las Vegas and feel he has action on his favorite team throughout the NFL season.

In most cases, the bettor is attracted to the team nearest his residence and, depending on his mid-summer or early season impressions of that team, will place a bet on either the over or the under without examining such nuances as strength of schedule, roster additions or injuries. As a result, this type of proposition bet would seem to be a sure winner for the house in the long run for the simple reason that it appeals to so many casual bettors.

Adding to the perplexing nature of its disappearance from the vast majority of Las Vegas books is the fact the player typically has to lay a minus 130 whether he wants the over or the under. That, in essence, would seem to assure the house of consistently winning at this bet in the long run.

Nonetheless, this is a bet that is approaching endangered-species status and, realistically, there can be only one reason for its disappearance. Despite the fact every impression would indicate the bet favors the house, the bettors must have been winning more often than not and the bean counters in some back room have decided to cut their losses and take the prop down.

"You're not the first person to ask about it, that's for sure," said a ticket writer at Palace Station, confirming there is interest in NFL victory totals and inquiries as to why they're not up.

Shame on the books that aren't putting it up this season. It reeks of greed.

archive