The NFL season this year has baffled many sports writers and fans alike; how can there be such an abundance of mediocre teams? Currently 13 out of the 32 teams have losing records and only eight teams have two or fewer losses. When those top eight teams meet up with one of those 13 sub-par squads all bets are off (the bad team), literally. Las Vegas has taken quite a beating this year in their NFL betting books. When a team like Indianapolis (8-0) plays a team like St. Louis (1-7) and not only wins, but also crushes them by a score of 42 – 6 the betters come out big and

Las Vegas is left wondering how much more it can take.

The last weekend in October was the epitome of lopsided victories and lopsided betting. Las Vegas lost an estimated 8 million dollars that weekend. It was the “worst weekend I’ve ever seen,” said Jay Kornegay, the executive director of the sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton, as quoted by Yahoo! Sports writer, Dan Wetzel.

When a betting facility knows the game is going to be lopsided they try to get people to bet on the underdog by giving extra points to those betters. But patrons are not taking the bait; the pay off is too great.

Kevin Blackistone, a professor at the Philip Merrill School of Journalism, sports writer, and a frequent guest on ESPN’s “Around the Horn”, said there are not enough close games to attract betters. He said he sometimes bets on NFL games via Las Vegas books, but has not been affected by this season’s tumult. He mostly sticks to fantasy football, a safer, more relaxed option that many people enjoy with their friends.

Freshman general business major Dan Wojciechowski also participates in a fantasy pool where he put in a mere $15 to play. Wojciechowski says, “older kids might bet in Vegas, but we just usually bet with each other.”

It seems that the college-aged community does not really use Vegas as a means to bet and finds it more convenient to bet with friends, or just stay out of the uncertainty all together.

Vegas did see a rebound a week after the great losses of Halloween. In that weekend heavy favorites blew the game and the underdogs came out on top. Vegas made money with the victory of the Eagles over the favored Giants 40 – 17.

The uncertainty of the teams this season, even the good ones, has caused a lot of confusion amongst fans, betters, and Las Vegas executives. But in the words of Blackistone, “Vegas isn’t going anywhere because of this season.”

Web Design by Jeff Nash