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STN Sports Weekly Rundown

May 18, 2022

M-A-V-S is a four letter word in a lot of NBA circles, but not at the Station Casinos Sports Book. “Everyone bet on the Suns like they knew the final score,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Sports Book Director, referring the Game 7 of the Dallas/Phoenix series. The Mavericks were almost an afterthought against the Suns, just like shade canopies were at the Lovers and Friends Festival last weekend.

Phoenix, you’ll recall, had NBA’s best record in the regular season (by far) and had home court advantage in Game 7, so it’s no surprise the public backed them heavily against the Mavericks. But, in the win-or-go-home Game 7, the Suns faded quicker than a high-end barber, as Dallas blew them out. “The Mavs was one of the bigger decisions we’ve had so far both the NBA and NHL playoffs,” Esposito said. Having said all that, 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 links and on the STN Sports App and at the Station Casinos Race and Sports Book.

Feeling Mav-elous
Bettors are suddenly believing in Dallas. Although the Golden State Warriors are a somewhat significant favorite in the Western Conference Finals, the early money is going on the Mavericks. The series price has come down considerably, with the Warriors opening as -260 favorites. That price has since moved down. “It’s been kind of one sided,” Esposito said. “When we opened up the futures with these final four NBA teams, more tickets are on the favorites than the other three teams combined. We definitely have some liability on the Mavericks. We’re in pretty good shape with the other teams.” Dallas, by the way, have the highest odds of the final four. There hasn’t been this much interest in Dallas since J.R. Ewing was shot.

We “C” You
The Celtics are an interesting case. Even before it was announced that Al Horford and Marcus Smart were out for Game 1, Boston came into the game as an underdog (which they lost). The C’s could very well be an underdog in every game they play in Miami. But, it should be noted that they also came into the Eastern Conference Finals as the series favorite, which might be good news for Boston. Series favorites without home court advantage in the NBA conference finals — which would be Boston — have won 11 straight series. “The initial push was on the Celtics,” Esposito said. “The series price went up before it went back down.” Plus, the Heat have weather-specific name, which didn’t do well of the Suns or Thunder this year.

NHL Value
After a long first round that saw several series go to Game 7’s, the second round of NHL playoffs games have finally arrived. The Book, so far, has seen early action on the Panthers and Avalanche. Guests are clearly not shying away from laying big odds with both of those favorites. “At this stage, you can make a case that there’s value on all the underdogs,” Esposito said, as he warns bettors against reading too much into the first round struggles of the Panthers, Hurricanes and Rangers. “I think when you look at the two dogs in the Eastern Conference, the Lightning with [Andrei] Vasilevskiy and the Rangers with [Igor] Shestyorkin, I think from a goalie perspective, it wouldn’t stun me if either one of those two teams won the series because they have goalies that are capable of standing on their head,” Esposito said. In Game 1, Tampa showed why they’re such a live underdog. Station’s top oddsmaker also sees a bit of value in Edmonton. “I think that the price is too high on Calgary,” he said, adding that he gives St. Louis “a puncher’s chance” against the heavily-favored Avs. And, if you watched on Tuesday, you saw why.

VGK Odds
Welcome to the Vegas Golden Knights AD (After Deboer). On Monday, Pete DeBoer, VGK’s coach of the last three seasons, became the fall guy for the team missing the playoffs for the first time in history. From an odds standpoint, little changes. The biggest question for the team centers around who will actually been suiting up for VGK next season. Plus, how will Mark Stone react to having back surgery? Will the next coach support Robin Lehner like Deboer did? “I could see us maybe raising the odds before lowering them right now, even based on who the coach potentially could be,” Esposito said. The new coach will be VGK’s third in six seasons. There seems to be more commitment at Station Casinos’ wedding chapels than there is in VGK’s front office.

Release Fallout
Station Casinos was first to market in posting Raiders lines for the upcoming season, doing so before the schedule was even unveiled. After the schedule was officially released, a few lines changed, largely based on team travel. Similarly, the Book put up lines for all the Week 1 NFL games, as well as spreads for several marquee games throughout the season. “We already have seen movement on both Week 1 games and some of the Raiders games,” Esposito said. Raiders lines that already moved included games against the Broncos and Patriots. Of the very early line moves, he said, “Some of it was based on action, and some of it was based on where the games fell after the schedule release.” The bad news for the Raiders: They will be one of the most traveled teams in league this season, based on miles.

Lotsa Links
Bettors are hoping the greens provide the green this weekend. The PGA Championship begins on Thursday, and, to little surprise, guests are all over Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler. As of now, the highest ticket count is on Tiger, which is hardly a surprise (he’s also the Book’s biggest liability, based on his high odds to win). Guests are also throwing money behind Jordan Spieth and Vegas resident Collin Morikawa, who both had somewhat low odds. Tiger’s 40-to-1 number entering the PGA Championship is far lower than it was when he came into the Master’s last month (He was 150-to-1 at one point, and the line eventually moved to 45-to-1 after a crush of Tiger money.) “Now that he has the Masters under his belt and seeing how competitive he was at least for two and a half days, you can’t put him up at a price like that now,” Esposito said of a high line. “I mean, we would just be overwhelmed with Tiger money if we had to pre-Masters prices.”

Bets To Know

The STN App and Station Casinos posted an NBA/NHL exacta bet, where guests can try to predict the champs of both sports (The Warriors-Avalanche combo has the lowest odds). “I’m sure you can find a long shot on there,” Esposito said. “If it were me, I’d look at Edmonton and the Mavs.” Other new bets posted to the board include the NFL MVP and the MVP of the NBA Finals.

STN Sports Weekly Winners

This STN Sports bettor had their eyes on hockey and baseball and nailed this 8-teamer on May 15. They bet $100 and cashed their ticket for $15,540!

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• – Flames UN 5.5 -145
• – Rangers -125
• – Penguins OV 6 -120
• – Twins -145
• – Angels +1.5 +140
• – Tigers UN 7.5 EV
• – Astros -1.5 -125
• – Phillies OV 8.5 -110