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Giants win makes many happy at area sports books
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Jessica Ebelhar/Las Vegas Review-Journal
Dan Vordtriede of St. Louis cheers for the Giants on Sunday at the sports book at LVH (formerly the Hilton) during Super Bowl XLVI. The New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots, 21-17. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
It was a Super Bowl Sunday with a familiar feel to it, and not only because quarterback Eli Manning led the underdog New York Giants to a dramatic victory that came down to the game's final play.
The scene inside Las Vegas sports books was predictable, as long lines of football fans snaked to betting windows and cocktail waitresses weaved through traffic to hand out drinks and collect tips.
From the South Point to The Mirage to Red Rock Resort and every other stop on and off the Strip, it was standing-room only by kickoff in the afternoon. Those lucky enough to get a seat in the morning were on the edge of it by the evening.
"The crowds were tremendous," LVH sports book director Jay Kornegay said.
And everyone left entertained, thanks to a fourth quarter that was déjà vu from four years ago.
The Giants, 2½- to 3-point underdogs, upended the New England Patriots 21-17 to win Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis. Manning directed an 88-yard drive that was capped by Ahmad Bradshaw's 6-yard touchdown run with 57 seconds remaining.
A last-gasp heave from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady fell incomplete in the end zone as time expired, and with that, the year's biggest sports betting event concluded.
The Super Bowl unfolded with a similar theme in 2008, when Manning and the Giants rallied late to upset the Patriots, 17-14. The state's sports books suffered a rare loss on that game.
This time, Kornegay said, his book emerged as a "very small winner" after Giants tickets were paid and the hundreds of proposition bets were posted.
"People were either grumpy or silly happy," Kornegay said.
Jimmy Vaccaro, director of operations for Lucky's sports books, summed up the wagering results the same way, but with a unique analogy.
"We won a ham sandwich after all was said and done," Vaccaro said. "We wrote a lot of tickets and won a few dollars. You just kept writing tickets with the Giants on the money line."
Two hours before the 3:30 p.m. kickoff, a woman was working her way through the South Point sports book, and said, "This is a zoo."
But zoos are generally quiet compared with the controlled riots in the casinos on Sunday, when fans reacted with excitement and disgust on almost every play of a roller-coaster game.
There was a bizarre beginning, with the Giants scoring first on a safety and eventually taking a 9-0 lead, before Brady and the Patriots roared back to go ahead 17-9.
"It was an odd game. There was no flow to it," South Point sports book director Bert Osborne said. "The fourth quarter turned everything around, and it got down to the last play.
"It was kind of hectic. It came out OK, and I think a lot of people were happy."
Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.
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 during Super Bowl XLVI. The New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots, 21-17.){kind=link}
The half time show sucked!! Madonna lip synched every friggin word - she had a live mike just to say ' thank you!" at the end. What a joke. What's next? Ten years from now, they will roll out Paul McCartney in a wheel chair and have him lip synch the beatle's songs. Everyone will cheer - simply pathetic!!!!!
All the espn pundits are clammering about how it was such a great game. I must say, I thought it was somewhat boring. The half time show was so/so. Where was the Pats pass coverage? NE was at a disadvantage without Gronk. It would have been a differant game with him at 100%. But, that just part of the game. This is just me being a monday morning quaterback.
Wow, every person in that picture is obese. Pretty sad.
Belichek would have kicked the extra point, just because he's Belichek.
@michaelJames
An extra point or 2 point conversion CANNOT be returned for a TD by the defense. The play is dead once the defenders have gotten possession. Also, an extra point must be attempted regardless if time expires during regulation. The only time it is not done is if a TD is scored in overtime.
That game was snoozeville as was the half time show, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I still remember that game like yesterday Michael James. They still had that BS force out rule. Tough being a Viking fan!
On the extra point question: a few years back the AZ Cardinals hit a hail mary as time expired to go ahead of the Vikings 18-17. They still had to attempt the PAT but rather than risk a block and runback which would have cost them the game they simply lined up and took a knee. The Patriots probably would have done the same.
LVRebel - as rusty57 noted extra points are required to be played by rule for all TDs in regulation (even if on the last play of the game). Even if it doesn't impact the score it needs to be played just to avoid situations like this where not adding the extra point impacts the spread. It has to be consistent to avoid problems of this nature and the rule is that extra points are always played after a TD in regulation and never played after a TD in overtime. Now the Patriots could have just fallen on the ball but the play would have happened.
the books cleaned up by game going under the total .lot of people parlayed giants and over .patriots 17-15 nobody would have been cashing tickets .low scoring helped the books with the prop bets