Both William Hill and the Westgate SuperBook list the Broncos as 2.5-point favorites against the spread. They’re also -145 favorites on both book’s moneyline, with the Falcons getting +125 odds. William Hill set the over/under at 35, while the SuperBook lists it at 34.5.
If you’re curious how a spread can be set on a game that by the time it reaches the fourth quarter will likely be played with players unlikely to make the teams’ regular season rosters, you’re not alone. However, there are gambling experts out there that insist the NFL preseason can be the time to make money.
According to Joe Osborne, a sports analyst for Odds Shark, the key to making a bet isn’t to look at who will be on the playing field. Rather, look to the sideline and see who wears the headset.
Knowing how specific NFL head coaches approach the preseason slate is crucial for bettors at this time of year,” Osborne noted in an article. “Some coaches go with the confidence-building approach of attempting to instill a winning attitude prior to the regular season beginning, while others use the exhibition games simply to evaluate talent and test different schemes.”
Thursday serves as the NFL head coaching debut for Denver coach Vic Fangio. However, Falcons coach Dan Quinn sports just a 4-12 record against the spread in preseason games, according to Osborne’s research.
The kickoff is set for 8 pm ET, and the game will be broadcast on NBC.
Most Bettors Wait Until September
While football reigns supreme as the No. 1 sport for US bettors, sportsbooks do not take many bets on preseason games. This weekend features just Thursday’s game as the rest of the 32-team league will get underway next week.
According to statistics from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, 188 sportsbooks in Nevada took slightly less than $39 million in bets on football last August. That figure also includes bets on college football games, which has its regular season start at the end of the month. It also includes futures wagering on both college and pro football.
By comparison, from September 2018 to December 2018, the months for NFL regular season games, Nevada’s sportsbooks handled $1.44 billion, an average of $359.8 million per month.
Flacco Ready to Play, Jones to Sit
For those who don’t bet on preseason games, the contests still give bettors an opportunity to see how new players and coaches settle into their new environments and use that to determine how they may bet in the futures market or for the early regular-season games.
For the Broncos, they’re not just adjusting to a new coach.
Denver traded for quarterback Joe Flacco in the offseason. The former Super Bowl-winning signal caller lost his job in Baltimore last season to rookie Lamar Jackson. While he enters Thursday as Denver’s starting quarterback, the 34-year-old knows there are some who doubt if he can still compete at a high level.
“Listen, I think I’ve got a lot left in the tank,” he told reporters in training camp a couple weeks ago. “And I feel like I can do a lot more than I’ve shown in my 11-year career. I’m excited about that.”
Atlanta star receiver Julio Jones told reporters earlier this week that he would sit out the Falcons preseason games. There’s no contract issue involving Jones. Rather, the 30-year-old has been hampered by a foot injury that has sidelined him so far in practice.
Jones is confident he’ll be ready for the regular season, even without taking any snaps in preseason games. So much so, that he told reporters he’d try to get 3,000 receiving yards this season. That would break the single-season NFL record by more than 1,000 yards.
“I’m going crazy,” Jones told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’ve been doing everything that I need to do. I’m taking care of my body. Physically and mentally, I’ll be ready to go.”
University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds told KETV NewsWatch 7 that the state needs to identify new sources of revenue. He noted that Nebraska’s neighbor to the east uses casino revenues that way.
I don’t think that you can leave anything off the table right now,” he said. “The state of Iowa, through their gambling revenue, spends a lot of money on refurbishing facilities at its universities.”
Bounds, who started in his position four years ago, announced earlier this year that he would step down this month to spend more time with his family. During his tenure, he had to manage a system with four campuses across the state while dealing with budget cuts in three consecutive years.
Coalition Seeks Expanded Gaming
Bounds’s comments come as a group tries to secure enough petition signatures to force a casino gaming referendum on the 2020 ballot.
The Nebraska Horsemen’s Benevolent Protection Association and Ho-Chunk, Inc., which serves as the economic development agency for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, have joined forces to create Keep the Money in Nebraska.
According to the Omaha World-Herald, the petition drive will need to collect signatures on three separate petitions. One is to propose an amendment to the state constitution that would allow casino gaming and games of chance at the state’s racetracks. That require approximately 120,000 signatures, which represents 10 percent of the state’s registered voter rolls.
The other two would be to establish laws regarding gaming. One seeks to regulate casino gaming and establish a gaming commission, and the other calls for a law to set up the taxing authority. Keep the Money calls for 70 percent of the gaming tax proceeds to go to the state’s Property Tax Credit Fund.
Proponents claim expanded gaming in Nebraska could generate $50 million in new tax revenue.
According to Keep the Money, Nebraskans are a major contributor to casino gaming – and the tax bases they support – in surrounding states. The state’s residents spend about $500 million annually at casinos in Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Kansas, and Colorado.
Iowa is the major benefactor of Nebraska’s gamblers. According to an Associated Press report, about a quarter of all Iowa’s casino revenues came from its western neighbors. In 2013, that meant $327 million out of $1.4 billion. That also does not count what Nebraskans wager at Iowa’s tribal casinos, either.
HHR Approved, For Now
While Keep the Money tries to legalize casino gaming, the Nebraska Racing Commission (NRC) has given the state’s tracks the go-ahead to install historical horse racing (HHR) machines. The machines look like slot machines. However, each spin is based off the results of a previously run race, although information such as date and location of the race and the names of horses and jockeys are not shown. Gamblers can try to handicap the race or allow the machine to make the selections.
The 3-2 decision is the second time in less than a year that the NRC passed the measure, but the re-vote was taken after concerns arose that the commission violated open meeting laws.
While the racing industry supports the move, the World-Herald reports questions still remain about the legality, both from the state’s Attorney General and anti-gambling organizations.
This is despite Chau’s company still hosting VIP rooms at the Crown Melbourne and at the Star Sydney.
The Age did not divulge whether the ban was imposed before a media blitz last week that heavily criticized Crown Resort’s VIP operations and its relationship with the junkets, or was instituted because of it.
On July 28, Australian current affairs program 60 Minutes quoted a leaked report from the Hong Kong Jockey Club, whose officials were briefed by Australian police in May 2017 that Chau was allegedly linked to “large-scale money-laundering activities.”
The police report alleged that “Suncity Group’s controlling entities … (including) Alvin Chau … pose tangible criminal and reputational risks to the (Hong Kong Jockey Club) and indeed racing integrity in Hong Kong.”
It also claims that Chau (Chinese name: Cheok Wa Chau) is — or was — a member of the 14K triads, and that other “Suncity key personalities have demonstrated links to numerous triad societies and organised crime figures.”
Crown has condemned the 60 Minutes broadcast and subsequent reporting as “unbalanced and sensationalized.”
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Suncity confirmed to The Age that the company has operations in Australia but refused to comment on the triad allegations because they were “private and personal matters of Mr. Alvin Chau.”
In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Monday, Suncity said Chau had no intention of visiting Australia in the next 12 months and was not aware of “reported investigations into Australian casinos.”
Pervasive But Not Intrusive
Triad syndicates once dominated the junket industry, although the extent of their influence in today’s more strictly regulated environment is a subject of debate. The industry has operated in Macau since the 1970s, but only became licensed by the Macau government in 2002.
A 2016 study that interviewed former triad members, junket operators, Chinese government officials, and police officers concluded the triad influence was “pervasive,” but it had readjusted its traditional “intrusive” role.
The triads had become more “bank-like” and “civilized,” reinventing “harmonious business strategies to suit the market reality,” suggested the report.
Macau was a violent place in the 1990s when the 14K — the dominant triad society, led by the notorious “Broken Tooth” Koi — was fighting a street war against the rival Soi Fong gang.
Back then, Macau was a weakly governed Portuguese colony and the triad gangs were running riot. But their powers have diminished since the 1999 handover to China, and today violent crime is rare in the world’s biggest gambling hub.
Big Trouble in Chinese State Media
Suncity is now a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, and has diversified from middleman to operator in recent years. It owns a controlling stake in the $4 billion “Hoiana” integrated resort in Vietnam, which is scheduled to open later this year, as well as in Russia’s first integrated resort, Tigre de Cristal, near Vladivostok.
Caesars Entertainment announces completion of Harrah's Philadelphia sale
Caesars Entertainment Corporation today announced it has completed the sale of the real estate assets associated with Harrah's Philadelphia to VICI Properties Inc. Caesars Entertainment received $82.5 million in cash in return for Harrah's Philadelphia's real estate assets, reflecting a purchase price reduction for the value of certain lease modifications and other aspects of the transaction as part of the previously announced agreement between the two companies.
"The completion of this transaction with VICI provides Caesars with financial flexibility and reduces the volatility of our future rent payments, demonstrating our commitment to creating value for our shareholders while maintaining financial discipline," said Mark Frissora, President and Chief Executive Officer of Caesars Entertainment.
Caesars leased Harrah's Philadelphia from VICI pursuant to the existing long-term lease agreement related to other domestic properties, as modified. The property remains a part of the Caesars Entertainment network and continues to benefit from the Harrah's brand, the Total Rewards loyalty network and access to centralized services.
In connection with the transaction, Caesars and VICI have consummated certain lease modifications to the Caesars Palace Las Vegas and non-cPLV leases. The modifications are intended to bring the lease terms into alignment with other market precedents and the long-term performance of the properties. The changes moderate volatility in Caesars' rent payments to VICI while resulting in near-term increases in rent for VICI. The modifications also create additional flexibility to facilitate Caesars' development ambitions on the East Side of the Las Vegas Strip by removing certain impediments associated with those plans.
