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STN Sports Weekly Rundown
April 19, 2023
A Royally Great Beginning to NBA and NHL Playoffs For Station Sports Books
It’s April and we’re rolling into the postseason like dice on the felt — And we’re hoping for 7s…game 7’s! The NHL and NBA have kicked off their respective playoffs and there’s already been furious action. With just a few postseason days under the belt, the house has been royally pleased thanks to the Kings (in both sports) and the Golden Knights Game 1 failure.
With all that in mind, let’s quickly look back at the past week in sports and peek at what’s ahead on the STN Sports App and at the Station Casinos Race and Sports Books…
NBA Playoffs
Sacramento came into the NBA Playoffs as the No. 3 seed but was still an underdog against the defending champion Golden State Warriors. Prior to Game 1, bettors raced to the Books and STN Sports App to bet on the champs. Sacramento won. Prior to Game 2, bettors raced to the Books and STN Sports App to bet on the champs. Sacramento won again.
“We knew with the way the public bet the Warriors in Game 1 that they were gonna come back double-fisted in Game 2, and they did just that,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos’ Race, and Sports Book Director. “And again, in both cases, it worked out really well for us.” The Warriors have been horrific on the road all season, and they’re continuing that trend in the playoffs, crashing and burning like a cryptocurrency stock. In the early going, Kings-Warriors is the most-bet series in the NBA’s first round.
Although the Kings Game 1 and 2 wins were huge for the Book, they do create a little bit of liability. Sacramento had the fifth-longest odds to win the NBA Championship entering the season. Prior to this postseason, they had the dubious distinction of holding the longest playoff drought in the four major US sports (Congrats to the New York Jets, who are now the poster child of futility.)
In July, a Station guest placed a $50 bet on the Kings to win the title at 500-to-1 odds. Smaller bets with long odds also came in throughout the year. “Most people didn’t feel that they were going to make that run,” Esposito said of De’Aaron Fox’s team. Having said that, the Book would happily settle for a Kings championship as compared to a Lakers title. Los Angeles possesses the highest liability by far.
“We clearly don’t want the Lakers winning the NBA title,” Esposito said. “The Lakers are really the team that bettors have backed all along. When we weren’t sure if they were even going to make the playoffs, the price and value for the Lakers was great.” In November, when LeBron James and Anthony Davis were injured, the Lakers had 100-to-1 odds to win the title. Guests continued to bet them. Think about that: A LeBron James team with triple-digit odds. The only place you see value like that is on the T-Bones happy hour menu.
NHL Playoffs
The Golden Knights are a problem for Station Casinos. On one hand, we’re all rooting for our local team. On the other hand, the Knights create some serious liability. Nearly half of the tickets to win the Western Conference are on the Knights. Granted, VGK had low odds most the season, but a lot of bets at low odds can add up faster than strip casino service fees. Also, nearly a quarter of the Stanley Cup Finals tickets are on Mark Stone and Co.
“We know that we’re going to have huge liability on the Knights. That’s kind of the norm now,” Esposito said. It’s seems likely that guests will back the Knights in the West and the Boston Bruins in East. Both teams should have lines more inflated than the construction budget of MSG Sphere.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Kings in the NBA are doing the Book a solid, as did the NHL Kings in Game 1 of their series with heavily-favored Edmonton. Like a white Christmas tree, bettors flocked to the windows to wager on the Oilers.
“The fact that we were able to get that game with the Kings was kind of paramount,” Esposito said, adding that he expects a never-ending stream of Oilers money in Game 2. Why? It’s hard for bettors to jump ship on a big favorite. “Anytime you have a kind of a prohibitive favorite — like the Oilers who they bet in Game 1, or like the Warriors in the NBA who lost Game 1 — the bettors are going to come back and really back that team again in Game 2,” Esposito said.
“We saw that with the Warriors in the NBA and we’ll see it with the Oilers. My guess is we’re going to be huge Kings fans.” Also, considering Vegas lost Game 1 to the eighth-seeded Jets, expect a Linq parking garage-esque flood of money on VGK in Game 2.
Bets To Know
Even F1 drivers don’t draft like Station Casinos. We’re a week from the NFL Draft, but Station is already leading the charge. The STN Sports App has posted a laundry list of NFL Draft bets and was first-to-market to do so. Oddsmakers aren’t done adding to the wagering menu either. The draft is one of those things where guests seem to have an advantage. “Historically we haven’t done well on the NFL draft props,” Esposito said. “There’s just a lot of information out there, it’s extremely fluid and it changes almost minute to minute with what you hear out there. But it’s fun to put them up.”
Weekly Winners
What a win! A $90 8-team parlay was hit by an STN Sports bettor on April 18 across basketball and baseball, with the bettor scoring $3,496.45. The parlay:
– Celtics -525
– Cavs -210
– Suns -345
– Orioles -138 (Action)
– Rangers -120 (Action)
– Cubs -171 (Action)
– Pirates 105 (Action)
– Braves -133 (Action)