When to arrive at Las Vegas sports books for the Super Bowl

By Jesse Granger

Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 | 2 a.m.

If you want to watch Sunday’s Super Bowl at one of Las Vegas’ many sports books, make sure to arrive early.

And we aren’t talking a few hours before the 3:30 p.m. kickoff between the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots. Seats are known to be occupied as early as 7 a.m.

“I always say the earlier the better,” said Chuck Esposito, Sunset Station’s race and sports book director. “I’ve seen people camp out for the good seats, with guys rotating sitting in the chair so they can get something to eat.”

It’s worth the wait.

From the easy access to make wagers, food and drink deals, and watching the game on theater-size screen television, it’s an experience many feel is hard to top.

Here are some pointers to get you ready:

Make your bets in advance

South Point oddsmaker Jimmy Vaccaro suggests making wagers well in advance of Sunday. The hundreds of prop bets can be overwhelming to even the most experienced handicapper, so Vaccaro suggests grabbing betting sheets during the week and finalizing wagers at your leisure.

If anything is unclear, ask one of the book’s tellers for clarification.

The other option is to avoid the lines all together by signing up with one of the multiple betting applications on your phone.

Have your wager ready

Bets will be booked right up until kickoff, meaning lines could be long. Bettors will wait upwards of 45 minutes in some lines, and every second counts.

This means when you get to the front, you must have every wager’s amount and call number ready to read to the teller. While they are more than happy to answer your questions during slow periods in the days leading up to the game, they will have no time on Sunday.

If your bets aren’t ready you can be sent to the back of the line as to not hold up other bettors.

Free drinks

Many sports books offer free drinks to those wagering on games. Some require the bet amount to be at least a few hundred dollars. Regardless, don’t forget to ask the teller for a drink ticket after making your wager.

The more drink tickets, the merrier, right?

If you sit at a bar with gaming, expect to play

The seats inside the book are hot commodities, so many will end up watching the game from one of the many bars inside the casino. The countertops are usually dotted with slot and video poker machines, which are usually reserved for players.

Each bar’s rules will largely depend on the person tending bar. Some will allow people to sit at the machine and watch the game with no gambling, but others may ask you to give up your seat to someone that wants to play.

If you are playing and leave the bar, use a napkin.

The Super Bowl is football’s longest game of the year, with a long halftime and as many commercial breaks as they can squeeze in. Chances are, you’ll need to get up from your seat sometime during the telecast. Remember, the universal signal for saving a seat at a bar in Las Vegas is to unfold a bar napkin and spread it across the screen of the machine in front of you.

To make sure the napkin doesn’t fly off, place a drink or tip glass on the napkin. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to mention to the bartender that you’ll be right back so they don’t accidentally clean up your glassware.

When not at the bar, have your neighbors save your seat.

Unfortunately for those in the sports book, there is no universal signal to save your seat. In this case, the best way to ensure you still have your spot that you worked so hard to get is to ask people sitting around you to save it for you. Others write reserved on a piece of paper.

Either, though, are foolproof options.

Enjoy the experience

With up to 500 prop bets at some properties around town, there is rarely a moment of the game in which someone around you isn’t winning or losing a wager.

“The whole atmosphere and the fun of being in the book is like nothing else,” Esposito said. “Every play means something to somebody in the room. The excitement is contagious throughout the casino.”