By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Jay Kornegay is bracing for the tsunami of Super Bowl fans who will pack the Westgate SuperBook Sunday when the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs square off in Super Bowl 54. It’s Super Bowl prop bet central in Las Vegas with hundreds of betting options.
Kornegay, Westgate vice president of race and sports operations, oversees the sports betting operations from his spacious bunker of an office tucked well behind the gigantic non-smoking sports book and its betting counter. He’s a likable Colorado State graduate who recalled that one SuperBook bettor thought Kornegay had more influence on the Super Bowl game than he ever could ever imagine.
Kornegay recalled an angry bettor who accused him during Super Bowl 33 (Broncos vs Falcons) on Jan. 31, 1999 of calling former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan to put in back-up quarterback Bubby Brister for a SuperBook prop on “will Brister have a rushing attempt with a disclaimer that taking a knee was a rushing attempt.” Brister came in for Broncos Hall-of-Fame quarterback John Elway when Denver’s 34-19 win over Atlanta was a lock at the end of the game. And Brister took a knee — which angered the upset Super Bowl 33 bettor who identified himself as a lawyer from California
“You really think I can get a hold of Mike Shanahan to put in a back-up quarterback?,” Kornegay asked with a laugh.
Kornegay expects 10,000 fans to descend on Westgate on Super Bowl Sunday — the typical number of visitors at Westgate during an entire week. In 2019, more than 311,000 visitors came to Las Vegas for Super Bowl Sunday, a couple of thousand more than the visitors for the New Year’s Eve celebration in Sin City.
The Super Bowl gambling handle in Nevada dropped in 2019 for only the second time in a decade when the handle dropped eight percent to $146 million in 2019 from $158.6 million in 2018. Kornegay said “Patriots fatigue” of having the New England Patriots play in the last three Super Bowls and four of the last five could have been a factor in the dip in Super Bowl wagers in Nevada in 2019. Here’s a look at the Super Bowl handles since 2010 in Nevada.
Kornegay’s crew worked on the sheets and sheets of prop bets three weeks before the teams were decided. “It’s a lot of work. It’s not breaking up concrete here, but it takes a lot of time.”
He observed the Super Bowl handles reflect the state of the U.S. economy, noting the 2008 and 2009 Super Bowl handles were lower and indicative of a battered economy after the Great Recession. So, he expecting a strong Super Bowl wager showing Sunday.
“It’s an intriguing match-up with two teams with strong fan bases,” Kornegay said.
Indeed, he’s optimistic the Super Bowl handle in Nevada will snap back this year and suggested bettors place their wagers early and not wait until Sunday. He said fans start arriving at the SuperBook on Super Bowl Sundays as early as 7 a.m. — before even Kornegay shows up. But he warned, “One guy can’t camp out and save seven seats while his friends are sleeping.”
The SuperBook has the Chiefs as a one-point favorite over the 49ers with total points set at 54 1/2.
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