When Jay Rood, vice president of race and sports for MGM, was reviewing his book's odds to win the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon, he seriously considered making the Dallas Cowboys the favorites -- even ahead of the New England Patriots.
Rood stopped just short, trimming the Cowboys' odds to win the Super Bowl from 4-1 to 11-5, after their 27-17 win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Patriots are 9-5 at the MGM.
"They're pretty neck-and-neck with the Patriots, if not a little bit better," Rood said of the 9-1 Cowboys, who are close to even money to win the NFC. "They've won nine in a row and are looking really solid. It's apparent they're the favorites for home-field advantage [in the NFC]."
The MGM sportsbook now has Dallas listed at 6-5 to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Dallas began the season at 8-1 to win the conference, behind five other teams.
The Cowboys have traditionally been a popular public team to bet, but with quarterback Tony Romo going down with a back injury in preseason, bettors shied away. As of Sunday at the MGM, five teams had attracted more bets to win the Super Bowl than the Cowboys.
(In fact, more Super Bowl bets have been placed on the Green Bay Packers than on any other team at the MGM and Westgate SuperBook. The Packers fell to 4-6 on the season after a 42-24 loss at Washington on Sunday night, Green Bay's fourth loss in a row).
With rookie quarterback Dak Prescott and rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott shining, the betting public has begun to gravitate toward the Cowboys in recent weeks, though.
"It took [the public] a while to get on them, but they have the last three weeks," Jason Simbal of sportsbook operator CG Technology said. "The most telling thing was last week, when they're playing Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, one of the major public teams, and we needed the Steelers."
But not everyone was on board the Cowboys' bandwagon this week, when they hosted Ravens as 7-point favorites. Earlier in the week, Dallas had been a 7.5- and even 8-point favorite over the Ravens at the MGM. Respected bettors thought that was too many points.
"The Ravens were a big wiseguy play," Rood said.
Other shops weren't as lucky and were overwhelmed by public money on the Cowboys, who were one of nine favorites to cover the spread Sunday. All three favorites in the late afternoon kickoffs -- the Seattle Seahawks, Miami Dolphins and the Patriots -- covered the spread, turning what had been a decent morning for the house into a losing day for some shops.
"Not a good afternoon," Simbal said. "In our three biggest decisions of the entire day, just on straight bets, not even on parlays, we needed the Eagles, we needed the Rams and we needed the Niners. And we lost all of them. Losing day for us."
The Patriots, per usual, delivered the largest blow of the day for the Westgate SuperBook. Twice as much money was bet on New England as was bet on the underdog San Francisco 49ers at the Westgate. New England, which closed as a 12-point favorite, beat the 49ers 30-17.
"For an afternoon NFL kickoff, that was as much money as we've written on game like that in a long time," Ed Salmons, assistant manager at the SuperBook, said.
The New York Giants were one of the most popular picks on parlay cards at the MGM. The Giants, who were seven-point favorites over the Chicago Bears, won 22-16. Giants kicker Robbie Gould missed two extra points.
Boxing fight deals six-figure blow
Andre Ward defeated Sergey Kovalev on a controversial unanimous decision Saturday night to win three light heavyweight world title belts. Ward, the favorite, winning by decision was the worst-case scenario for the MGM sportsbook. It cost the book a "small six-figure loss," Rood said.
It also delivered a blow to William Hill's Nevada sportsbook, which took a $150,000 bet on Ward at -140 odds on Oct. 24. The bet netted $107,142.85.
College football odds & ends
-- Alabama opened as an 18.5-point favorite over the Auburn Tigers on Sunday at CG Technology. In the first 15 minutes, the line moved to Alabama -20, after a respected customer placed a $2,000 limit bet on the Crimson Tide. The only other early bet on Iron Bowl as of 6 p.m. PT was a $20 wager on Auburn.
-- Ohio State opened as a 7-point favorite Michigan on Sunday at CG Technology. The first bet the book took was a $2,000 limit play on the Wolverines, which dropped the line to Buckeyes -6.5. The Westgate SuperBook also opened Ohio State -7 and attracted some early action on the Wolverines.
-- Colorado improved to 10-1 against the spread this season with Saturday's 38-24 win over Washington State. Temple is also 10-1 ATS, the two best ATS records in the nation. Arizona has the worst ATS record at 1-10.
-- William Hill's Nevada sportsbook took four money-line bets on Texas to beat heavy underdog Kansas straight-up. None were very big, but one bettor did place $120 on the Longhorns to win at -2,400 odds. The bet would have netted $5. William Hill took 11 money-line bets on the Jayhawks at +1,200, the largest a $50 poke that netted $600.
-- The Golden Nugget sportsbook in Las Vegas posted an early line on the SEC championship game between Alabama and Florida. The Crimson Tide opened as 20-point favorites.