Hot takes, bad beats and all things sports betting, a weekly newsletter by Steven Money.

STN Sports Weekly Rundown

April 27, 2022

Las Vegas, you are now on the clock. Hundreds of thousands of people will converge on the city this week for the Draft, and Station Casinos is ready to throw the party of the year. The event will no doubt bring some much-needed joy to a city whose sports kings took a major hit (looking at you, VGK). Let’s quickly look over the sports 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.

Summer Starting Early
The V in VGK doesn’t stand for victory. The Vegas Golden Knights had a miserable weekend which saw them lose to the horrifically bad Sharks. Meanwhile, the Kings, Predators and Stars all won over the weekends. Then, on Tuesday, the VGK fell in overtime to Dallas. “You could make a case that they’re the biggest disappointment in the NHL this year,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Sports Book Director. Vegas, having never missed the playoffs, was expected to coast into the postseason and contend for the Stanley Cup this season. “The betting public still backed them more than any other team, especially being one of the late games of the night — usually one of our bigger hockey decisions of the day or night was always tied to the Knights,” he said, adding that guests dropped heavy money on the VGK against the Sharks on Sunday. “Guests were backing them during their hot streaks this season and did not let up. They were backing the Knights up until the end.” Much like Jennifer Lopez, the end is all anyone will want to talk about.

Hardwood Hoopla
KD and KI got KO’d. Station Casinos Sports Books have experienced a fervor of activity since the NBA Playoffs began, and the most-bet series (so far) belonged to the Celtics and Nets clashes. Unfortunately for the guests, they were largely on the losing end of this one, as it ended in a sweep. “We were Celtics fans every single game,” Esposito said. “The public was all over Brooklyn every game.” Hell, they were all over Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving’s squad all year. Station Casinos had its biggest liability this season on the Nets, Lakers and Clippers coming into the playoffs, and all of them are out (in the Lakers’ case, they didn’t even opt-in). Fun fact, you’ll remember that Boston could have listened to the pundits and intentionally lost the final game of the regular season to avoid Brooklyn, but they didn’t. Like a cigar convention, Boston wanted all the smoke… and then they quickly extinguished KD and Co. They also caused far too many guests to light their tickets on fire.

If the NBA had a March Madness type of bracket, the Suns would have been a very popular pick to cut down the nets (not of the Brooklyn variety). A lot can change in a week. During the Suns’ dogfight with New Orleans, Devin Booker got injured, which drastically affected the odds. The Nets, also a popular pick, are out. The team with the best odds to win the whole enchilada now is the Golden State Warriors. “It’s looking more and more like the Warriors in the West,” Esposito said. The Eastern Conference, the Station oddsmakers said, is much more up for grabs with Boston, Milwaukee, Philly and Miami all being viable candidates.

Draft Day
Like a cold chill from an open winter window, there’s a draft coming! There’s also a lot of intrigue at the very top of the board of the NFL Draft, as the expected top pick has changed more times than Puff Daddy’s name. Right now the odds-on favorite to have his name called first is Travon Walker, the Defensive End out of Georgia. What makes the selection so intriguing is that the big fella is among the “field” candidates on the board, as he wasn’t anyone getting much buzz months ago. That’s no longer the case, and guests are dumping money into the “field” bet for the No. 1 overall pick (Aidan Hutchinson is sooo last week… he says in his best “Clueless” voice!). Significant money is also being placed on quarterbacks Malik Willis and Kenny Pickett, as guests are trying to predict where they will eventually land on Thursday night. In Esposito’s eyes, the draft is an area where the house doesn’t really have the upper hand.

“As far as wagering goes, I think the whole draft is an advantage for the bettors. It’s not something that’s decided on the field of play,” he said. “Many times it’s decided in the rumor mill, in mock drafts and on Twitter. There’s just a lot of information out there and I think there’s a huge advantage to the bettors.”

The pick is in: It’s the Red Rock Race and Sports Book! In addition to the never-ending amount of betting options tied to the big day, Red Rock will 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, social media activations and autograph signing opportunities, guests in attendance can enter to win draft caps from each team or even a staycation. Join us!

The Balls
It’s extremely unlikely that the Oakland Athletics will win the AL West division or even sniff the postseason, but they’re making a lot of bettors nervous already. Back when Station Casinos posted the win total odds for your maybe-hometown-A’s, bettors pounded the under, believing the team would go south of 69 wins. The Diamondbacks were another under play for bettors. The season is still early, but the A’s, at least so far, are mediocre and on pace for a .500 season, which means 81 wins. *Checks math* Yep, 81 is more than 69. “At this rate, it’s early, but they might go over,” Esposito said. “I don’t expect the Diamondbacks to go over.”

The Dodgers continue to be a thorn in the side of the Sports Book and the bettor’s holy grail. L.A. is winning game after game after game (the Giants aren’t that far off either, by the way). For those not looking to lay the -200 or -300 price for the Dodgers, take a peek at the baseball totals, particularly the Rangers and Guardians (they’re the Cleveland team, by the way.) Both teams tend to play games that go over the total. Thus far, though, the majority of teams — especially the good teams — are staying under the total. Teams in the NL West have combined to go under the total in about 66% of the games this season.

Bets To Know

STN Sports Weekly Winners

$3 to win $884.55? NICE hit! Check out this 8-teamer across basketball, hockey, and baseball on Monday:

– Raptors +310
– Blackhawks -130
– Flyers/Blackhawks UN 212 -110
– Dodgers/D’Backs UN 8.5 EV
– Guardians/Angels UN 8 -110
– Dodgers -192
– Angels -120