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STN Sports Weekly Rundown

June 5, 2024

Finding Value in the NBA Finals, And A Baseball Loser Means Bettors Win

Like a graveyard-shift janitor, things are picking up around here. Not only are two of the “big four” leagues closing in on new champions, there’s a tennis major happening, UFC just had a monster card (that nearly saw a monster loss for the STN Sports Books), and, of course, one baseball team continues to be a near-automatic win for guests.

You could say that things are more explosive than a Station Casinos 4th of July fireworks show!

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 STN Sports Books…

Stanley Cup Finals

Although the Las Vegas valley was certainly more interested in 2023’s Stanley Cup Finals, this year’s series should be a doozy. The Florida Panthers (who represented the East last year, too) head into the Finals as favorites over the Edmonton Oilers, and the money so far has come in on the team from the Sunshine State. Florida beat Edmonton handily twice this season, and both games saw totals go higher than a Vegas thermometer.

“In the Panthers case, you got a serious taste of what it was like last year to go home without the Cup. They’re physical defensively, they’re really good. They have the edge in net,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Race and Sports Book Director. “I know that Edmonton’s got Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but again, from the goaltending side of it, they’re going to need [Stuart] Skinner to really stand on his head in this series.” It’s been 31 years since a Canadian team hoisted the Stanley Cup, a drought so long that even Lake Mead can’t relate.

“In terms of McDavid, I think if you’re going to be elite, the expectation level is you at least get to the Finals and win some Cups, and I think he clearly elevated his game in the closeout of the Western Conference Finals,” Esposito said.

NBA Finals

The Boston Celtics enter the Finals as more than two-to-one favorites over the Dallas Mavericks, but Esposito thinks Boston might actually be undervalued. In fact, if this same series happened a month ago, the Celtics likely would have been close to four-to-one favorites.

“I think there’s a lot of value on the Celtics,” Station’s oddsmaker said. “They were the best team in the league pretty much the entire season, and the price isn’t justified by how good they were. I think it’s more a product of Dallas kind of being that IT team.” That said, money has dumped in on the Mavericks, as they are the vogue team. From the standpoint of the STN Sports Books, there is a little more liability on the Mavericks than the Celtics, particularly due to the fact that Dallas had 45-to-1 odds to win the title at the end of 2023. And yes, some tickets were printed at those odds.

No matter what happens, this will be the sixth different NBA champion in six years, meaning a new team will breach the upper echelon like a Ticketmaster hacker.

Fight Night

After being beat up by guests following two recent boxing losses, the STN Sports Book hit back hard last weekend with Islam Makhachev’s submission win against Dustin Poirier. Although Islam was a heavy favorite, the money was all on Poirier, including multiple five-figure wagers.

“Had Poirier won, it would’ve been probably one of the larger losses we ever would’ve experienced in UFC — maybe the largest loss we’d ever had,” Esposito said. “I think that just speaks volumes of his popularity.” Although Makhachev opened as a -700 favorite (equivalent to a double-digit NFL favorite,) his odds dropped as Poirier money came in. Clearly, Poirier is more popular than an iHeartRadio Music Festival lineup announcement.

‘Automatic’ Baseball Win

There’s one baseball team that has less wins than a Trump defense team. The Chicago White Sox are easily the worst team in baseball and, if it’s even possible, they appear to be getting worse than Jennifer Lopez’s tour ticket sales.

“The one constant now is to bet against the White Sox. Whoever’s playing the White Sox, you’re going to bet against,” Esposito said. “They’re really bad right now. Really, really bad. Guests are circling the team that plays the White Sox as that last team to every parlay because it looks automatic.” The White Sox are losing 75% of their games right now, so it IS about as automatic as a bet can be. STN Sports Book are trying to fade the White Sox nightly, but it’s not working.

“We are rooting for the White Sox every night, and that’s a tough team to cheer for,” Esposito said. The chances of White Sox winning right now seem slimmer than an Ozempic user.

Bets To Know
More like “Deposit To Know!” Want some Vegas Golden Knights merch? Look no further than your nearest STN Sports Book. Guests can receive a VGK 1/4-zip pullover by simply depositing $50 into their STN accounts for their next bet by June 9.

Weekly Winners
$3 to win $219: why not? This STN Sports bettor put down a few bucks on a 7-teamer across MLB and WNBA on June 4:

– NY Liberty -8.5 -110

– Seattle Storm -5-5 -110

– Conneticut Sun -13 -110

– NY Yankees. ML -180

– Braves -1.5 +100

– Astros -1.5 +125

– Diamondbacks +1.5 -200