THE Super Bowl is always a good bet for wild and wacky stories from Las Vegas.
“I’ve been accused of having a hotline directly to the Broncos sideline,” Las Vegas Hilton executive sports book director Jay Kornegay said. “We had a prop bet if [backup quarterback] Bubby Brister would have a rushing attempt. Our thought was if [John] Elway was winning, most likely they were going to take him out so he can receive his due.”
The prop bet was over/under one Brister rushing attempt. And, toward the end of the Broncos’ 34-19 Super Bowl XXXIII win over the Falcons, the Elway celebration began, and Brister replaced him.
It was made clear beforehand that a kneel down was a rushing attempt. Kornegay was at Imperial Palace at the time.
“Bubby Brister comes in and takes a couple of kneel-downs,” Kornegay said. “So we’re cashing out all the tickets after the game. This guy is real upset and he starts accusing me of being from Denver: “I know you’re from Denver. I know you know Mike Shanahan. You called him to put in Bubby Brister.’ “
Kornegay was incredulous.
“You’re accusing me, a Las Vegas sports book, of calling the Broncos sideline and telling Mike Shanahan what to do? .â.â. Oh yeah, Mike takes my calls all the time.”
Kornegay finally told him, “If you have a problem with one of our decisions, take it to Nevada Gaming,” and Kornegay gave him the number.
Another prop bet – over/under 1 ½ tackles by Buccaneers defensive tackle Warren Sapp in Super Bowl XXXVII.
“He got one tackle, but the other one was a sack,” Kornegay said. “We noted that sacks are excluded – we have a lot of disclaimers on all our props.”
It didn’t stop a group of bettors from crying foul.
“They were telling me I ruled it wrong and I should take their word for it because they’re lawyers,” Kornegay said.
The lawyers asked for a refund. Kornegay held his ground. “If I refund you, I refund everybody, and that’s not fair to the winners,” he told them.
Then there was Super Bowl XXXVI – Patriots 20, Rams 17.
“We see a guy come in with a McDonald’s bag,” said Bob Scucci, director of race and sports for Boyd Gaming. “He’s got a gray beard and a gray mustache, tattoos up and down his arm, looking about as disheveled as you can be .â.â. sandals, white socks and shorts.
“He bets $44,000 on the Patriots. He had $44,000 in this McDonald’s bag.”
That was the same Super Bowl that claimed the largest single losing bet – the Rams minus $6 on the money line; you bet $6 to win $1. Some poor soul bet $1.8 million to win $300,000.
The biggest winner collected $600,000 after the Rams beat the Titans, 23-16, in Super Bowl XXXIV. “We had a guy come in with $3,000 he wanted to bet on the Rams [before the regular season] at 200-1,” Scucci said. “I never heard of Kurt Warner. I thought it was Curt Warner, the running back for the Seattle Seahawks.”
The Cardinals were 40-1 before the regular season at many sports books, but Kornegay had them at 50-1 headed into the playoffs – the highest line of any team this postseason.