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STN Sports Weekly Rundown

April 20, 2022

It’s been raining money for the guests at Station Casinos over the past week. April showers, indeed! The Book had more beats beets than a salad bar after baseball, basketball and hockey favorites continued to win at a torrid rate. “We’re historically rooting for the underdogs in many cases, and over the last several days between basketball, hockey and baseball, the public has done really well,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Sports Book Director. Let’s quickly look over the sport’s landscape and take a peek at what’s ahead on the court, on the ice, on the field, on the STN Sports App and at the Station Casinos Sports Book.

Dodge-Ball
No different than every girlfriend in a serious relationship, we’re thinking about diamonds! While it’s still early in the season, bettors are basically married to the Dodgers, which is bad news for the Book. In general, guests love betting favorites, and Los Angeles has been a favorite in every game so far this season. They’re also winning, having begun the season 8-2. “With the Dodgers being the last game of the night every night, between the run line and the side, bettors are doing extremely well on them,” Esposito said. The fact that L.A. plays on the West Coast can’t be overlooked, as guests commonly eyeball late games for one last wager of the day.

“Everything is kind of funneling into that last game of the game of the evening, and everyone’s kind of dumping it on the Dodgers,” Esposito said. In a way, it’s similar to the Sunday Night or Monday Night game in the NFL in that bettors throw money at the last game of the slate. “In this particular case, everything is Dodgers. It just looks too easy right now with the way they’re playing,” Esposito added. “There’s no question that the Dodgers are the single team beating us the most.”

On the other side the coin, the public has been already zeroing in on the bad teams. Like a guy in a barbershop chair, guests have been looking for a fade… and they’ve found a few teams to root against. The Orioles, Royals, Rangers, Reds and Diamondbacks have all been teams the guests are watching… lose. “You usually don’t see this happen in baseball until June or around the All Star Break, but you are already starting to see that those teams just aren’t very good right now,” Esposito said. “It’s not even so much that people are betting the good teams, but they’re already fading the bad teams. It’s a combination.”

Ice Capades
The Station Casinos Sports Book and STN Sports App are not cool with the guys on ice right now. Similar to what’s happening in baseball, hockey favorites are putting guests in a different tax bracket. Over the weekend, hockey favorites went 22-0. On Saturday alone, 14 games were playing the favorites went undefeated. Fun fact for when you’re on Jeopardy!: 14 hockey games have been played on a single day 21 times over the past five years. Saturday was the first time all the favorites won. That is so unblemished that not even MAC makeup was needed.

The Vegas Golden Knights might be playing golf sooner than anyone wants them to. On Monday night, VGK was a prohibitive favorite against New Jersey, and they couldn’t put a pitchfork in the woeful Devils (which was a big win for the Book, by the way.) For a team that was expected to compete for a Stanley Cup this year, the VGK have disappointed more than a drunken one-night stand. In fact, since Jack Eichel made his Knights debut, the team has a record of 13-14-2. In that same stretch, Eichel’s former team, Buffalo, is 13-14-3. The Sabres were eliminated from the playoffs two weeks ago. “From our side of the counter, it’s a little bit of a catch 22 with Vegas,” Esposito said. “On the Book side, we’re consistently rooting against the Knights, but from a fan side, we want to see them in the postseason. There’s no question the hockey handle is bigger when the Knights are in the playoffs. There’s more liability than them on any other team, but nothing compared to what they did in their inaugural season.”

The Association
The NBA Playoffs are in full effect… and the favorites are getting the job done (sense a theme yet?). On Saturday, the Jazz, 76ers and Warriors all covered, helping the favorites go 3-1. Sunday was more of a 2-2 type of day, but Monday again saw favorites edging out the ‘dogs. Over the first four days of the playoffs, favorites went 9-5 against the spread. “The handle has been terrific on the NBA,” Esposito said. “You just haven’t seen very many of the big upsets yet.”

Draft Day
The NFL Draft is a week away and there’s still mystery at the very top. Although Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson is still expected to be the first name called, that is no sure thing. Since the Station Sports Book and the STN Sports App put up a prop bet surrounding the No. 1 overall pick, several names have topped the list. Travon Walker, the Defensive End out of Georgia, has been a very sexy name of late. Interestingly enough, he wasn’t really in the conversation for the top spot when Station and the STN App listed its odds, so he’s in the “field.”

The “field” currently has the second lowest odds to contain the No. 1 pick, and it’s really all tied to Walker. We’re only a few days from Easter, but this is the draft equivalent to putting all your eggs in one basket! “Having Walker in the field has seen the most action. It’s really a soap opera. I think there’s value in the field bet, but if it’s not Walker I don’t think that there’s anybody else in the field,” Esposito said. “And then we still have the rumblings on who’s going to take Kenny Pickett and Malik Willis.” The Book has also seen a fair amount of action tied to the number of offensive lineman or quarterbacks selected in the first round.

Speaking of the draft, Station Casinos is your Football Draft headquarters. In addition to the never-ending amount of betting options tied to the big day, Red Rock is set to host a complimentary in-person interactive fan event to coincide with the opening round of the draft. The April 28 event will be hosted by former NFL coach Mike Tice and 11-season pro football vet Corey Chavous, as well as Esposito and Jason McCormick, Station Casinos Sports Book Vice President. Not only will the event feature drink specials and autograph signing opportunities, guests in attendance can enter to win draft caps from each team or even a staycation. Trust us, even those wannabe race car drivers on I-15 can’t draft better than Station Casinos.

Bets To Know

STN Sports Weekly Winners

– 76ers -8
– Mavs +5
– Warriors +7
– Brewers -1
– Rockies +1
– Padres -1
– Dodgers -1
– Astros -1
– A’s -1
– Cubs +1

Congrats to this STN Sports bettor!