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STN Sports Weekly Rundown
August 31, 2022
WNBA Likely Sets Record & College Football Spreads Are Sky High
Don’t tell Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman this, but the varsity blues are over! College football is back! While last week gave us a taste of NCAAF, this week officially marks the full return of Saturday football, and there are some big games on deck for opening weekend.
And the pigskin isn’t the only game in town either. The WNBA handle is bigger than ever (like, ever) and a tennis major has begun. With all that in mind, let’s quickly look back over the sport’s landscape and dish out some insight on what’s ahead on the field, on the court, on the STN Sports App and at the Station Casinos Race and Sports Books.
College Football Preview
Week 1 of NCAA football hasn’t started yet, but some of these lines have moves like Jagger. Bettors think they found an early soft line, believing the Horned Frogs are mightier than the Buffaloes, as TCU is nearly a two-touchdown favorite against Colorado. That line opened as a single touchdown game. Similarly, the Michigan State spread is climbing faster than your cholesterol after a stop at the Heart Attack Grill.
“Early on, you’re going to see some dramatic movement on some of these games, just because it is early in the season,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Race and Sports Book Director. “For the most part, we’re going to be moving the lines a lot quicker in the early weeks.”
It’s Week 1 and even Playboy might tell us to calm down with some of these spreads. Several teams are laying at least four touchdowns in their games, including Southern California, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota and Alabama, who is a six touchdown favorite. Six! There’s no shortage of spreads in the 20s, either.
“It’s not really a true test for some of these big schools,” Esposito said. Even some of the most-hyped games of the weekend might lack competitiveness. Georgia vs. Oregon is a sexy game by namesake, but the Bulldogs are three-possession favorites. Ditto for Ohio State against Notre Dame. Still, after two years of COVID, this figures to be the first normal season since 2019.
“It does have much more of that traditional feel, and you can just kind of tell there was a different vibe in the book this past weekend with Week 0,” Esposito said. “If last weekend was any indication, it’s going to be a fun Labor Day weekend.”
There’s an old adage that says defenses are always ahead of the offenses in the first week or two of college football, and there might be some truth there. “I think when you’ve got some of these bigger conferences playing against smaller schools it’s not necessarily the case,” Esposito surmised, “but yeah, I think defenses are a little bit ahead at this point.” For those of you who can’t read between the lines or maybe acquired a diploma from Bishop Gorman Sycamore High School (look it up), let us spell it out for you: don’t overlook betting unders early on.
Going into the season, Station Casinos’ oddsmakers will be keeping a close eye on a few blue chip universities. Ohio State is the most-bet team to win the title. About 12% of National Championships bets were on the Buckeyes, followed by the University of Southern California and then Alabama. Did you expect anything different?
Pro Football on the Horizon
If the Sports Book could call a roughing penalty on the Raiders, it would. “We just got killed on all four of the Raiders preseason games,” Esposito said, noting the scheduling did the Book no favors either, as two of the four games were isolated, which always brings in a bigger handle (most of which went on the Raiders.)
“We lost big on all four, especially the games against Minnesota and the Patriots. Both of those were just huge decisions that the guests did really well on.” The Raiders are a veteran squad and guests obviously like old men.. Ya know, like Benjamin Franklin, Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew Jackson.
Last Call For LMS!
Last chance for last man! The Last Man Standing competitions in both the NFL and college football remain open for one more week. Station Casinos Race and Sports Books are currently accepting signups for the annual winner-take-all contests. Guests can sign up in person at any Station Casinos Sports Book, and the cost is $25 per entry. Each contestant that purchases four entries will receive a fifth free.
While still active in the competition, guests must turn in weekly picks in person. Active participants are required to select one game against the spread for each entry. For reference, the Last Man Standing competition in the college field will win a guaranteed minimum of $100,000, and the NFL’s Last Man Standing will take home a guaranteed minimum of $150,000.
WNBA Is Up
The Storm brought in a windfall of money to the Station Casinos Sports Books with a victory in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals. As expected, the first game of the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm series was a massive decision, and it went the Book’s way, as the vast majority of money was on Becky Hammon’s squad.
“It was probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest WNBA decisions we’ve ever had,” Esposito said. “It just goes hand in hand with good, talented Vegas teams. They get considerable backing. You saw the same thing with the Knights and right now with the Raiders, too.” Thus far, the early money for Game 2 is on the Storm, but all indications point to Aces money pouring in before Wednesday night’s game, which is why the line hasn’t moved. We need water in Vegas, but without the Storm please!
US Open Serves Up Action
To little surprise, guests aren’t afraid to open up their wallets and bet Serena Williams with long odds. There’s no question the GOAT isn’t the same Serena of 10 years ago, but she’s still the tennis darling at the Book and STN Sports App, particularly due to her opening odds of 40-to-1 at the US Open. After her first round win, Serena’s odds to hoist the trophy dropped, but she’s still not remotely considered a frontrunner — at least from the oddsmakers standpoint. The public, though, foresees a fairy tale ending.
“Outside of ‘the field,’ she has the most tickets out of anybody in the tournament by kind of large margin,” Esposito said. “We have more tickets on her than the next few people combined.” Unless the Mets can do something this season, this is the only championship you’ll find in Queens. Ahhh, we kid, Mets, we kid.
Bets To Know
STN Sports Weekly Winners
- – Rangers -161
- – Rockies OV 8 -120
- – Reds OV 9 EV
- – Braves OV 7 -115
- – Raiders -1 -110
- – Saints -160
- – Cowboys +250
- – D Kasatkina -550