Monday Morning Gambler: Countdown to Super Bowl Sunday Is Underway

By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com

With the Pro Bowl in the history books, it’s on to Super Bowl 56 — or LVI, if you prefer.

After a few gyrations, the line has generally settled at the Los Angeles Rams -4 or -4.5 vs. the Cincinnati Bengals. The total is is 48.5. Money line bettors are generally paying -200 with the buyback on the Bengals around +165.

Rams QB Matthew Stafford is generally the favorite to win the MVP at around +115. Bengals QB Joe Burrow is +225.

 

And everybody has an opinion or a favorite prop — everybody including advertising salespeople, bartenders and barbacks, cocktail servers, dishwashers and dealers, electricians, food stuffs preparers, garage-door repair people, hospital aides, insurance adjusters, journeymen and journeywomen, kitchen workers and kiters of checks, limo drivers, maids, nursery workers, orthodontists, plumbers, quilt makers, restaurant workers, sous chefs, taxidermists, undertakers and Uber Eats drivers, vice cops, window dressers, X-Ray technicians and Yellow Cab drivers. And yes, zoologists. And Zamboni drivers of course. They all have an opinion or a favorite prop. You can ask them.

For what it’s worth, the wizards at CBS SportsLine make the Bengals an A-rated play and predict a score of Rams XXIV, Bengals XXIII — or Rams 24, Bengals 23. From what we’ve seen, these “simulations” are sometimes close but can’t account for big plays, special team scores or snafus or other unpredictable events that often occur in a game with a spheroid-shaped ball that weighs between 14 and 15 ounces (perhaps less in some circumstances. Ask retiring Tom Brady.)

Regardless, we’ll make one prediction: The crowds will turn out, the lines to the ticket counter will rival those at the DMV and the bars will be jammed with rowdy patrons, both masked and unmasked. In other words, it will be a classic Super Bowl Sunday in Sin City, roughly 270 miles from where the game is being played at SoFi Stadium Inglewood, California.

Elsewhere:

— Back to the grind: After the NHL All-Star festivities, the Vegas Golden Knights get back to work on Tuesday for the first of two games north of the border. They face the Edmonton Oilers first, then the Calgary Flames on Wednesday.

The Golden Knights are still perched atop the Pacific Division standings, two points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks.

However, on the futures market, there are three teams ahead of them. The VGK are +800 to win the Stanley Cup. But the Colorado Avalanche are +450, the Tampa Bay Lightning are +700, and the Florida Panthers +750.

— Back to Earth: The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels took their two-game winning streak to Logan, Utah, on Saturday to play the Utah State Aggies and found themselves on the short end of a 90-75 score when the buzzer sounded. The Rebels trailed only 40-38 at halftime before the Aggies dominated the second half. The Aggies shot 64 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from 3-point range.

“We just had some breakdowns and had to play catch-up,” coach Kevin Kruger told reporters. “That’s not what you want to do here — not against them.”

The Rebels (13-10, 8-14 ATS) next host Air Force on Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center. Bettors may remember the Falcons were 5.5-point underdogs at home on Jan. 20 to the Runnin’ Rebels and beat them outright, 69-62.

— Back to Houston: Former rivals Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker meet Saturday at the Toyota Center in Houston in the main event of UFC 271 with the middleweight crown at stake. Adesanya is generally around -300 with Whitaker +240 on the buyback.

 The two clashed in UFC 243 with Adesanya prevailing in a second-round knockout. Since then, Whittaker has won three straight. Adesanya lost to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259.

Vegas Insider notes that a $100 bet on Adesanya in his last five outings would have netted you an average return of $150 each time.

— Back to Beijing: If you’re looking to wager on an Olympics event, the U.S.A. men’s hockey match on Thursday with China has an intriguing line. Team U.S.A is currently -2.5 goals at -140 or about -850 on the money line. The puck drop is at 5:10 a.m.

— Laugher of the week: Sometimes it isn’t even close. Bradley, -8 vs. Evansville on in college hoops on Saturday, prevailed in a 76-41 rout of the Purple Aces. If you’re scoring at home, that’s a cover by 27 points.

---