Vikes’ miracle gets bettors scrambling
Stefon Diggs’ 61-yard touchdown catch from Case Keenum in the NFC divisional round wasn’t the most stunning thing for bettors Sunday.
The touchdown gave the Minnesota Vikings a 29-24 lead over the New Orleans Saints as time expired. Minnesota was a 5½-point favorite, so bettors were waiting on the result of the extra point try or two-point conversion attempt that is required by rule when a touchdown is scored on the final play of regulation.
After the touchdown, photographers, several media members and others were cleared off the field at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, and eight Saints players — including the punter Thomas Morstead — emerged from the locker room to line up to defend the extra point.
Keenum took the snap and kneeled to end the game with a final score of 29-24, leaving the final margin at five points.
Jay Kornegay, VP of race and sports operations at the Westgate Las Vegas, was standing in the middle of his sportsbook when Diggs made his touchdown catch and run.
“The place erupted. It was crazy. It was one of the biggest cheers I ever heard in the sports book,” he told The New York Post shortly after the game ended. “Everyone rushed to the window, but they were patient because they were cashing. As the delay went on, you could hear the discussion building, with people talking about whether they were going to have to kick the extra point. But I knew they were going to kneel.”
Kornegay said the SaintsVikings game was the most heavily bet game of the weekend and that the line fluctuated throughout the week, with bettors getting in on either side at 4½, 5 and 5½.
“Some Vikings bettors won, the ones who laid 4½,” he said. “People who laid 5 got their money back. Obviously those who laid 5½ lost.”
Those in that final group would have had to get out of the winners’ line if they didn’t have other tickets to cash on the over, the money line, a parlay or propositions.
Of the 15 sports books listed at vegasinsider.com, six had the final line at 5½. Those included some big books such as Caesars/ Harrah’s, Mirage/MGM and the Golden Nugget. Eight others, including Treasure Island, Wynn and Atlantis, closed at Vikings -5. In sports book football wagering, the gambler receives the point spread at the time of the bet, unlike horse racing, where the final odds determine all payouts.