Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Q+A: JAY KORNEGAY:

Super Bowl Sunday springs of memories for dean of sports betting

Sports Betting Westgate

John Locher / AP

In this Feb. 3, 2019, file photo, prop bets for Super Bowl LIII are on display before the start of the game at the Westgate Superbook sports book in Las Vegas.

Click to enlarge photo

Jay Kornegay, the vice president of SuperBook Sports, is interviewed at the Westgate Friday, Feb. 2, 2018.

Veteran bookmaker Jay Kornegay has plenty of stories to tell about setting odds and taking wagers on the Super Bowl at Las Vegas casinos.

But one story immediately comes to mind, and it involves Bubby Brister, of all people.

Brister, who in the 1980s replaced Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw and eventually became a world champion as John Elway’s backup with the Denver Broncos, had one play at the end of Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999 that left a bettor at the old Imperial Palace so irate that security had to be called.

Kornegay, the vice president of SuperBook Sports, sat down to reminisce with the Sun on a busy afternoon last week at the Westgate in preparation for booking Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

We talked about Brister, the Carolina Panthers scoring exactly 29 points, the growth of prop bets under his leadership and more. Here are highlights of our conversation, which have been edited for brevity and clarity:

Let’s start with your thoughts on this year’s game. The odds indicate it will be a close contest. Does that help drive more business for sportsbooks, or are people going to bet simply because it’s the Super Bowl?

The Super Bowl is an event that sells itself, and it really doesn’t matter who’s in it. We’ve noticed over the years that, at times, we think we have some very popular teams participating and we expect a huge handle, a record handle. In some cases, it was. In other years, we had teams that really don’t have a huge fan base, but it still set betting records. With these two teams, obviously, they both have terrific fan bases. And what’s interesting about this game is that it’s almost a pick’em. We haven’t seen that in a long time. The early wagering has reflected that. It is really split. There doesn’t seem to be a public favorite at this time.

How many Super Bowls is this for you?

The first one I spent in Nevada was the Broncos-Washington back in 1987-88.

We could talk for hours about some of your memories booking this one event, but is there an individual wager or result that stands out? Like the first story you would tell at a party?

Bubby Brister

Bubby Brister

Well, there’s a number of them. The Broncos were facing the Falcons (in 1998-99), and were about an eight-point favorite in that game. And we thought that if the Broncos were leading at the end of the game, and this most likely being John Elway’s last game, that they would probably take him out early and bring in the backup. And we knew that a kneel-down was considered a rushing attempt. And so, the backup quarterback was Bubby Brister at that time. So, we put up a proposition (at the old Imperial Palace) with Bubby Brister having at least one rushing attempt. And we didn’t want to try to fool anybody. We labeled it and listed it as the disclaimer that a kneel-down is a rushing attempt. So sure enough, that’s exactly how it all played out. They brought Elway off to the sideline and kept the camera on him.

What happens is the TV broadcast never shows Bubby Brister kneeling down. It only shows Elway on the sidelines, celebrating with his teammates, getting his congratulations from everyone. But we were like looking at each other going, you know what’s going on right now?

Did that bring some confusion when it came to someone trying to cash a ticket they unknowingly thought was a winner?

There’s one (bettor) who was very upset with me. He said he knew that I was from Denver, and that I knew coach (Mike) Shanahan and that I called coach Shanahan to put in Bubby Brister. He was screaming; we had to get security in there. And this is a packed sportsbook. You know, this is after the game. Everybody’s cashing out. He’s just yelling at the top of his lungs. He was just relentless. He would not go away and said that I called Shanahan. Everybody’s like, are you serious?

And so, we had to get him out of there, and to this day, you know, I still have customers that were in the book at that time saying they remember that guy.

What about a story about a big win or unique win?

I remember we had one guy who drove in from LA and had $5,000 on him. He didn’t know what to bet. He was asking me. I didn’t know him personally, but he saw me through interviews or whatever, and he asked, and kept on asking what he should bet. This is the Panthers-Patriots Super Bowl.

He bets the Panthers to score exactly 29 points for $5,000. That’s 30-to-1. And I’m like, that’s what you want to bet? I’ve got of all these hundreds of bets, and you’re going to want the Panthers score exactly 29 points. And that’s exactly what they do (in a 32-29 loss to New England). Oh, my God, that guy was thrilled. He was such a novice. He had no idea. But obviously, that made his day.

You’re kind of like the godfather of prop bets from your days at Imperial Palace, right?

Well, I didn’t invent the proposition. That was already there. But our team enhanced the prop menu. When most books were putting up 20 or 30 different propositions, we had 50 or 60. When they had 50, we had 150. The initial thought was, the Super Bowls were so boring. They were blowouts in the early ’90s. Every game was a blowout. We were just trying to come up with propositions that wouldn’t be settled until the second half of the game, just to keep everybody engaged in the game.

We didn’t realize they were going to be that popular. They just grew until a point where we got to 1993 when the 49ers were playing the Chargers and they were a 19 1/2-point favorite. Well, we’re like, “Wow, there’s no doubt who’s going to win this game.” So that year, we really ramped up the proposition menu and probably offered 250 (prop bets), which at that time no one even came close to. And it was so wildly popular. I’m pretty sure that we violated fire codes in that sportsbook.

What’s the most popular prop bet? Is it something like the coin toss that doesn’t involve much thought?

The most popular ones are something a casual fan can understand. And with that said, the most popular prop almost every single year is the player to score the first touchdown. It’s very simple. They understand it, and they’re getting odds (on the bet).

Recreational bettors might be intimidated by the process. If you could give one piece of advice, what would it be?

First of all, I sound like a Little League coach, but just plan on winning some and losing some. You know, have patience because it’s a very, very busy weekend and most sportsbooks are not built to handle the crowds that we see on the Super Bowl Sunday. Certainly, have patience. My advice is to take your time, get there early, wager early and have fun with it.

You really want to avoid Saturday night and Sunday. If you can wager on Friday or Saturday morning, you’re going to save yourself a lot of time.

Are you a Broncos guy on Sundays? Or do you not have a favorite team because of the industry?

Oh yeah, I am a Broncos fan, but I know when I need to separate my fan hat from my business hat. My business hat comes first. Once the game goes off, I can still root for the Broncos. You know, it’s a little nerve-wracking when they’re in the Super Bowl, like when they played the Seahawks (in 2014). (Peyton) Manning had been the No. 1 offense in the league, and they were scoring a bunch of points. Everybody’s got the Broncos in that game and they were blown out. It’s like, “Well, my favorite team lost, but the book had a great day.” And against the Falcons (in 1999), everyone was betting the Broncos, and the book didn’t have a great day, but at least my favorite team won.