One of the muddiest Kentucky Derbys in recent memory saw the STN Sports Books full of action. Huge crowds — many of whom donned hats bigger than a casino marquee — began gathering early in the day to bet the horses, drink mint juleps and try their hand at a Twin-Q bet.
“The handle was up, a huge uptick in handle, one of the biggest in five or six years,” said Station Casinos Race and Sports Book Director, Chuck Esposito. “We really make an effort to take care of our race guests company-wide with dedicated race windows, promotions, giveaways and the Run for the Roses photo ops. If you couldn’t be at Churchill, there was no better place to be than our properties. It was reminiscent of the Super Bowl.”
Although most Vegas properties saw higher Derby handles than normal, STN Books’ handle doubled that of its competitors. In the end, Sovereignty, a 6-to-1 horse, prevailed, creating a winning day for 114 winners of Saturday’s Twin-Q, all of whom split the $20,000 aggregate payout.
With all that in mind, let’s quickly review the past week in sports and peek at what’s ahead on the STN Sports App and the STN Sports Books…
VGK Round Two
After dispatching the Wild and original VGK Misfit Marc Andre Fleury, the Vegas Golden Knights headed into a second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers as a slight (and we do mean slight!) favorite to win the series. The two teams split their head-to-head regular season matchups, with each winning two. These teams are very even and more interchangeable than the newly opened Tropicana bridge.
“The series was almost a pick ‘em, even with VGK having home ice. On neutral ice, I’m not sure Edmonton wouldn’t be a small favorite,” Esposito said. While the series basically began as a coin flip until the Oilers’ Game 1 win, the same can’t be said for the totals, which, at 6.5, is a full goal more than any other series. With these two offenses, the scoreboard operators might have more meltdowns than the Newark Airport. On Tuesday night, the game looked like it would soar over the total following three 1st-period goals, but things slowed down and ultimately stayed under (barely!) with Edmonton winning 4-2.
“This series screams volumes of scoring, scoring, scoring, and that’s what the West has been so far in the postseason,” Esposito said. “I think you’re going to see a tremendous amount of over bets come in. I think everything in the game will be tied to the over.”
Warriors Liability
For the first time since Steve Kerr became the Warriors’ head coach, Golden State opened a playoff series as an underdog, which is a stunning fact. Unquestionably, Steph Curry and company will have work to do to vanquish the Minnesota Timberwolves, something that guests are hoping for. With the Lakers now out, which was huge for oddsmakers, Golden State is the last team to present the Book with any kind of liability.
“Because of our close proximity to California and without an NBA team here, there’s always been a lot of Lakers and Warriors love, and we saw that this year prior to the trade deadline and after. I don’t think that’s going to change.” For years, it seems that the Warriors have always had a mental advantage going into most series, but Minnesota has shown that it’s not afraid. They want more smoke than a Vatican City chimney.
Having said that, Minnesota discovered why Golden State is Golden State on Tuesday night, as the Warriors bested the Wolves 99-88 as 6.5-point underdogs.
Fight Night
In the second round of Saturday’s super bantamweight fight at the T-Mobile Arena, fighter Ramon Cardenas blossomed like a bouquet of Mother’s Day flowers, knocking down heavy, heavy favorite Naoya Inoue. Inoue, a -6500 favorite, rebounded, and his punches soon rained down like a desert thunderstorm. He eventually won by eighth-round TKO. “We had a lot of liability on that fight,” Esposito said, citing Cardenas’s massive longshot odds of 28-to-1. “It was a juicy price. Had Inoue lost, it would’ve been a six-figure loss.”
One STN guest wagered $8,000 on the underdog, meaning a Cardenas win would have netted over $200,000. Said Esposito, “When Inoue went down in the second round, that guy might’ve let out a pretty loud scream.” We’ll take either of these two fighters against that gorilla everyone seems to be talking about.
Bets To Know
VGK may have gone down in game one, but it’s a long series. Throughout round two, check the STN Sports app for a huge menu of player and game props as the boys look to bounce back vs. Edmonton.
Weekly Winners
In the first game of round two of the NBA playoffs, all underdogs went 5-0, and a few STN Sports bettors were able to capitalize, including this bettor who laid $40 to win $13,406!
-Knicks over Celtics
-Nuggets over Thunder
-Pacers over Cavaliers
-Warriors over Timberwolves