Wild NFL weekend tested state’s new sports betting market
“The Chiefs came back and closed the spread, and they cost us a lot of money, and they made a lot of people a lot of money. It happens in sports. That’s the beauty of sports. Any given Sunday, as they say.” Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequots, who operates Foxwoods Resort Casino
It was a wild finish, the type that keeps a sports fan glued to the screen until the final seconds.
And it tested the state’s new sports betting business, as the action led to some big losses for gambling operators.
In a back-and-forth game, the Buffalo Bills retook the lead against the Kansas City Chiefs, 36-33, after scoring a touchdown in just 49 seconds in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs Sunday night.
With 13 seconds left on the clock, Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs star quarterback, threw two completions for a combined 44 yards. The team’s kicker, Harrison Butker stepped onto the field, nailing a 49-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.
The Chiefs, who won the coin toss to get possession of the ball to start overtime, scored a touchdown on the opening drive, beating the Bills 42-36.
“The Chiefs came back and closed the spread, and they cost us a lot of money, and they made a lot of people a lot of money,” said Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequots, who operates Foxwoods Resort Casino. “It happens in sports. That’s the beauty of sports. Any given Sunday, as they say.”
Ted Taylor, president of Sportech, the operator of off-track betting venues in Connecticut including nine OTB locations that take sports bets in partnership with the Connecticut Lottery Corp, said the losses weren’t unique to Foxwoods.
“We had a good day on
Saturday,” Taylor said. “And then on Sunday it reversed itself. I would genuinely be amazed if all operators of sports betting yesterday in Connecticut didn’t lose money.”
The thrilling finish capped off a high-stakes weekend of football in Connecticut’s new expanded gambling market, which includes legalized sports betting as well as online casino gaming. And it showed what operators have long insisted — that sports betting is a volatile market and will not produce revenues for the state as strong or as consistently as other forms of gambling.
December’s gaming numbers highlight that point. The total bet on sports online and in the Sportech venues in Connecticut grew by about $16 million over November, to $143 million, but payments to the state declined nearly in half from $1.6 million to $874,879.
Mohegan’s payment dropped from $819,799 to $359,618 and Foxwoods’ decreased from $703,665 to $438,119. The lottery paid slightly more to the state, going from $76,358 in November to $77,142 in December.
“The NFL was upside down in December and a lot of people who thought they would win a bet were losing bets and vice versa. It’s really that simple,” Butler said, explaining the dip. “It depends on what the actual teams do.”
Butler and Taylor both declined to give figures for wins and losses over the weekend. Mohegan Sun did not return a call late Monday seeking comment on how it fared in the betting.
Butler, tribal and casino representatives from Mohegan, and lottery officials — the three authorized gambling operators in the state — gave a broad overview of how the nascent industry is shaping up in Connecticut at an online forum hosted Monday by the General Assembly’s Public Safety and Security Committee.
Several months in, the industry has generated nearly $10 million in revenue generated for the state.
From early October, when the new industry began, until Dec. 31, the state received $6.6 million from online casino games, nearly $3 million from online sports wagering and $196,018 from retail sports betting. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun do not pay taxes on revenue from inperson sports betting.
Want to know why sports betting revenue is far less dependable? Look no further than the final two minutes of the BillsChiefs game in which the two teams scored a combined 25 points and the lead changed hands three times.
Kansas City was favored to win the game, with the over-under — the point total subject to betting — at 55 points when the game started. Bettors placed heavy wagers for the over, and for the Chiefs to cover the spread. “A minute before the end of the game they were crying,” Taylor said.
“Our customers had a great weekend, i.e., they won,” Taylor said. “They have to win sometime. It’s not common to lose significant money, but it’s just the way of the betting world.”
Overall, in 40 years of sports betting data in Las Vegas, Taylor said, the casinos’ revenues, known as the “hold,” has totaled 5 percent — which is less than the hold in casino games and slot machines. And it’s up-and-down, depending on the results of games.
As expected, the sports betting numbers in Connecticut were far below the online casino gaming payments to the state in December. Foxwoods paid the state $1.65 million and Mohegan’s payment totaled $1.28 million.
“What’s unique about sports betting, unlike casino, is that there’s fluctuations based on the odds and the bets that are being placed,” Butler said during an online press conference with reporters Monday. “There’s a lot of skill and luck involved whereas with casino, it’s statistics and probability that allow us to track hold, whether it be on slots or tables more consistently.”