Sports betting: Watch that moving Super Bowl spread

LAS VEGAS — When the line for next Sunday’s game opened at Rams -3.5 and moved to Rams -4.5, it reminded me of Super Bowl 13 and perhaps the most horrific day for sportsbooks.

That Super Bowl, played 43 years ago in Miami, was the foundation for two wonderful sports betting terms: the “middle” and the “backdoor cover.”

First, the middle.

The Pittsburgh Steelers opened as low as 1.5-point favorites over Dallas. Steelers bettors fired away and the bookies responded by moving the line up to as high as 4.5.

That’s when the Dallas people came in and laid heavy on the Cowboys.

Pittsburgh won, 35-31.

“It was just one of those things where the line moved throughout the week,” Jimmy Vaccaro, a dean of Las Vegas bookmakers, told the Fort Worth Star Telegram a few years ago, “and the result just couldn’t have been worse for all of us.”

Super Bowl betting certainly wasn’t what it is today, but a similar middle would be costly. Estimates at the time say Vegas lost $9 million, which would be about $36 million today.

The Cowboys were down, 35-17, before scoring two late touchdowns to make the final margin four points. The final score came after they recovered an onside kick, and converted a fourth-and-18 before scoring with 22 seconds left. Butch Johnson caught the touchdown pass and spiked the ball so emphatically you’d have thought he had Dallas +4.5. Rafael Septien kicked the extra point for the wild backdoor cover.

» READ MORE: WATCH: Steelers-Cowboys, Super Bowl 13 Highlights

Last year’s Super Bowl handle was over $500 million in legal plays. This year, with states such as New York offering mobile wagering on a Super Bowl for the first time ever, the handle could reach 10 figures. One billion. For one game.

“It would have seemed impossible just a few years ago to reach such heights,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayUSA.com, “but with the expansion of sports betting over the last year, it is inevitable that legal wagering will soar.”

If former coach Brian Flores’ allegations are true, that Miami owner Stephen Ross was willing to pay $100,000 to lose in order to secure better draft position, it obviously undermines the integrity of a league that is gobbling up as much of the sports-betting pie as it can.

For what it’s worth, the Dolphins were decent against the point spread in Flores’ three years, going 9-7 in 2019, 11-5 in 2020, and 9-7-1 this year. If they were intentionally tanking games, of course, anybody who was on the Dolphins’ money line got ripped off.

Call: Feels like a good time to pass along the website 1800Gambler.net and the number 1-800-GAMBLE (1-800-426-2537). We have fun with the Super Bowl and the zany props, but this can be a difficult time of the year for folks who have problems with gambling.

NFL: Houston businessman and renowned sports-betting whale “Mattress Mack” went into Louisiana (for GeoTracking purposes) and placed $4,534,000 on the Bengals money line (+170) with Caesars. It’s the biggest play ever made on a mobile app, according to the casino.

NHL: The Devils entered the All-Star break on a 16-game streak in which at least one goal has been scored in the first 10 minutes. It’s remarkable. Six of their last seven have gone over 1.5 goals for the first period between both teams. They play at Ottawa on Monday. Curious to see if this continues after their five-day hiatus.

NFL: The sharp guys were in Vegas on Thursday night betting with both hands as the Superbook at Westgate unveiled its Super Bowl props. “Give us at least a nickel on these, or stay out of the line until those who are trying to bet more are finished betting,” said Rex Beyers, the casino’s risk manager. A “nickel” is $500.

NFL: We’ll have more on the props next week, but one that caught our eye at DraftKings is the Super Bowl margin of victory at -8.5. Odds are -110 both ways. Kind of like the under there.

Found this in the notebook from last week.

It was the usual madhouse at joints everywhere on Sunday for the NFC and AFC Championship Games. Players firing 5- and 6-figure plays on the Bengals, Chiefs, 49ers, and Rams all afternoon, and into the evening.

“Amidst all the football action,” said Tom Gable, who runs the sportsbook at the Borgata in Atlantic City, “a $200,000 wager on the Jazz (+2.5) just came in.”

Game started at 8 o’clock, right in the middle of the NFC Championship Game. Utah lost to Minnesota by 20.