Oddsmakers gain clarity from ruling

Uncertainty over Brady had made it difficult to set lines regarding Patriots.

Tom Brady is back, and Las Vegas oddsmakers can breathe a sigh of relief.

It’s not that they were rooting for Brady, whose fourgame suspension for his role in Deflategate was overturned by U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman on Thursday. They just had no idea how to set the lines for anything New England Patriots-related while waiting on a decision.

“It’s certainly kept us on our toes during the off-season, mainly because Brady is one of the best quarterbacks in the league and one of the faces of the NFL,” Westgate Las Vegas Superbook director Jay Kornegay said.

He estimated that Brady is on the short list of four or five NFL players who most affect a betting line if they’re unable to suit up.

“It surprised us somewhat that the judge decided to nullify all four games,” Kornegay said. “We actually thought it was going to be reduced to either two games or possibly one game.”

Until Thursday, Westgate had been setting gambling limits for Patriots games and win-total predictions. For the Pittsburgh Steelers-atPatriots NFL season opener, the Patriots went from a 21⁄2-point favorite to a sevenpoint favorite after Brady was reinstated. The team’s Super Bowl odds improved from 10-1 to 8-1, and its odds of winning the AFC East also improved.

MGM Resorts race and sports book director Jay Rood is taking a slightly more guarded approach to the newest Brady developments. Though he made the Patriots seven-point favorites against the Steelers — up from threepoint favorites when backup Jimmy Garoppolo was expected to be at the helm — he’s keeping some gambling limits in place.

“There might be a possibility of some disciplinary action further into the season, so we’re going to be cautious with the win totals,” Rood said.

Rood was referring to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s statement that the league would be appealing Berman’s decision. That appeal could take months before it’s resolved.

In an interview with The Times last month, Rood said he didn’t have “good feelings that this will play out in Brady’s favor,” so Thursday’s ruling also came as a surprise to him.

“The legal process is a little bit more far-reaching than I anticipated,” Rood said. “I think if you sign up with the NFL and agree to the terms and conditions of playing in their league, then they should be able to dictate those terms and conditions. But apparently that’s not the world we live in anymore.”

Though their approaches differ slightly, Kornegay and Rood agree about one thing — they’d like to get past the Deflategate saga.

“We’re still monitoring it, but we’ve got plenty of other fish to keep an eye on other than Tom Brady,” Kornegay said. “We’re moving forward.”