Las Vegas Still a March Madness Hotspot
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Utah State is my sleeper to knock out Washington and North Carolina for a trip to the Sweet 16 and I shared my tip with a March Madness fan watching college hoops on the wall of screens at the Red Rock sportsbook.
I saw Utah State beat New Mexico, Fresno State and San Diego State during the Mountain West tourney at Thomas & Mack Center last weekend and I thought their freshman center Neemias Queta from Portugal and junior guard Sam Merrill were studs who could lead the Utah State Aggies deep into the March Madness Bracketville.
I told the guy at the sportsbook about Utah State.
“I hope you’re right,” he told me. “I’m from Utah State.”
We watched The Pride of the WAC and Marvin Menzies’ former school — New Mexico State — give Auburn all type of problems before losing by a single point. Vermont gave Florida State a battle, while Yale hung with LSU before the smaller schools failed to shock the world. Maryland moved on with a two-point win over Belmont.
The bank of screens and watching four simultaneous hoops games is a thing of beauty. And across the Las Vegas Valley and along the Strip, sportsbooks were packed with March Madness fans who cheered and groaned with every shot.
Even with states approving sports gambling around the country, Las Vegas is still the epicenter for the March Madness gambling hoopla.
It’s a place where you can stand in a sportsbook and instantly start chatting tips and scouting reports on the more than five dozen college basketball teams facing off Thursday and Friday.
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My friends at the Team Marketing Report posted an interesting story on the economics of March Madness.
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