Gonzaga championship would be good for sportsbooks … most of them

If Gonzaga completes its quest for a perfect season, most Las Vegas sportsbooks would be fine with that result.

But BETMGM would not. The Bulldogs (28-0), bidding to become the first unbeaten NCAA champion since Indiana in 1976, would cost the book six figures after a bettor placed a $100,000 wager to win $150,000 on Gonzaga (+150) to capture the title Tuesday at Bellagio.

“Now it would be the biggest liability,” MGM Resorts director of trading Jeff Stoneback said. “Now we have liability on them and Houston.”

The Zags’ odds to win the NCAA title are at their lowest point since they opened as 10-1 favorites last year. They were +250 favorites most of the season and were +180 before the tournament started Friday.

BETMGM lowered Gonzaga to +150 on Monday before it beat Oklahoma to advance to the Sweet 16 and kept the Bulldogs at that price after taking the big bet.

“We don’t like to go much lower than that with four games to go,” Stoneback said. “All season long, they’ve been about 2½ to 1, which is really low for the futures during the season. Usually the favorite is 6-1 or 7-1. That just shows how dominant they are this year.”

William Hill and South Point reported that they would be small

winners on futures bets if Gonzaga cuts down the nets, and it also would be a good result for Circa.

Westgate sportsbook director John Murray said his book would be a “small to medium loser.”

“They keep playing them even as we lower the odds,” he said. “The teams we are rooting against now are Houston and Michigan.”

Gonzaga is +120 at the Westgate, followed by Baylor (+450), Houston (8-1), Michigan (10-1) and Alabama (10-1).

“Gonzaga certainly looks like one of the strongest favorites, going all the way back to those great Kentucky teams, at this stage of the tournament,” Westgate vice president of risk Ed Salmons said. “In a one-game setting, anything can happen. But it seems unlikely. BYU was up on them by double digits in the second half (of the West Coast Conference final), so it can be done.”

The Bulldogs are 13½-point favorites over Creighton on Sunday and, barring an upset, will face the Oregon-southern California winner in the Elite Eight.

Gonzaga leads in remaining futures bets at William Hill with 42 percent of the money and 22 percent of the tickets. But Oregon State is by far the biggest liability.

“The one team we get throttled with is the mighty Beavers of Oregon State,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich said. “We lose close to seven figures with Oregon State. We had them at 2,000 to 1, 1,000 to 1, 750 to 1, 350 to 1, and now they’re down to 60 to 1.”

While six-figure futures bets aren’t common, a William Hill bettor made a $100,000 wager to win $2 million Friday on Ohio State (20-1) to win the title. Oral Roberts, a 15 seed, turned that ticket into trash the same day.

A Westgate bettor has a $10,000 wager to win $300,000 on Houston at 30-1, and a William Hill bettor has a $1,000 bet to win $125,000 on Michigan at 125-1.

Major wagers

Here are several notable wagers placed at BETMGM on the Sweet 16:

■ $451,000 to win $410,000 on Alabama (-6) over UCLA.

■ $367,200 to win $306,000 on Oregon (+3) over USC.

■ $306,000 to win $255,000 on Loyola-chicago (-6) over Oregon State.

■ $222,200 to win $202,000 on Florida State (+3) over Michigan.

■ $112,200 to win $102,000 on Creighton (+13½) over Gonzaga.