By Matt Stuart | Published | No Comments
The NFL is all set for what will arguably go down as its most ambitious and glamorous Super Bowl in its 58 year history. A Super Bowl in Vegas is the NFL’s “landing on the moon” moment. It may be one small step for a league that has now expanded its footprint all over the globe, but it’s a giant leap for sports and sports betting.
The question has long been can America’s preeminent sports gambling event, co-exist in the world’s most preeminent gambling Mecca.
The Super Bowl attracts more gambling and has more wagers placed upon its outcome than any other three events that attract wagers combined. Last year more than $1.6 trillion was wagered on the Super Bowl and it’s many prop bets. The next closest event was the NBA finals, which attracted a meager $856 million wagers by comparison.
It really is no contest.
The NFL has finally embraced gambling, or so it would like you to believe. The NFL isn’t just holding the Super Bowl in Vegas, it is taking over the entire Strip in Vegas, and anyone who has ever made a casual visit to Vegas will tell ya that is not an easy thing to do.
This is not a Super Bowl in Glendale, Atlanta, Houston or even Miami. This is not the NFL taking over a small convention center and a tiny block of space and springing up a few tents with a Pepsi banner splashed across a fence. Oh no! The NFL is setting up shop.
The NFL has taken over three prominent hotels as its base of operations and all of them have large casinos at their very core. The NFL Experience, an interactive fan event, is usually confined to a dusty convention center in most cities. In Vegas it’s taking over the Mandalay Bay Resort. You can swim with the Dolphins, while trying your luck at kicking a field goal. You can stand in line to meet one of pro footballs all time greats and then hop over to the Mandalay Bay’s poker room for a little action.
Just down the Strip a few blocks, is perhaps the most famous hotel or resort anywhere in the world, The Bellagio. You don’t even have to say any more than the name, that’s because people, even those who have never physically been, know exactly what you are talking about. CBS Sports, the network airing the Super Bowl, plans to completely take over the resort unlike any other event has even come close to doing. CBS is putting their main broadcasting stage right in front of the world famous fountains, which might be a bummer to any first time visitors to Vegas who happened to book their trip to Vegas during the same week as America’s greatest showcase and hoped to get pristine un-obsrtructed photo of the fountains in all of their glory.
Just a few blocks down the street from The Bellagio, you will find the new one week home of the NFL. Roger Goodell and company will turn Caesars Palace into their glamorous headquarters, fit with meeting rooms for conducting all necessary league business against the backdrop that is “Romanesque” inspired gambling and debauchery that is un-mistakenly the core of “Sin City”
In between boring board room meetings and press briefings, the leagues executive might be seen hitting the tables or trying their hand at anyone of a million shiny and polished slot machines that are eagerly waiting to receive lots and lots of cash. Just the idea of rubbing shoulders with an NFL executive while you throw the dice at the crap tables is a thought that has not escaped the minds of the many casino managers with resorts dotting the Vegas Strip.
Vegas is hoping that the many visitors for the week leading up to the Super Bowl will remember the real reason their in town, not for some silly football game, but to dump millions of dollars into those well positioned and beckoning casinos that will be open for business.
The one thing that you will not see though, are any San Francisco 49ers or Kansas City Chiefs players hitting those slot machines or table games.
That’s because the league has put a firm zero tolerance policy in place for this upcoming week. It’s going to be one of those look but don’t touch type of scenarios.
It will be interesting to see how the league polices all of this. There are several player events that are taking place on the Vegas strip, at many of those aforementioned Resorts. Also, as already mentioned, those resorts have casinos. Players will be undoubtedly be seen coming and going from these glamorous hotels. The league and Vegas are depending on that to drive excitement and intrigue, that in turn drives regular people to want to come out and gamble, see a show or have a nice meal.
Players can be apart of that backdrop, of course, just as long as they stay far enough apart.
The NFL is certainly keenly aware of the fine line it will have to walk here. This Super Bowl will be different from all of the others. While illegal wagering on the Super Bowl is nothing new or unique to Vegas, this will be the first time that sports books and corrupt gamblers will have such captive contact with players and coaches, and of course the officials calling the game.
For the first time in the “big games” existence, the Super Bowl will not just be a thing happening in Vegas, it will “the thing” happening in Vegas.
Vegas has always attracted a certain seedy element of gambling that will use any method, including illegal ones, to make a quick buck. Now with the biggest gambling event in the world in town, expect that element to go through the roof.
The NFL wants to keep that element away from its big game and away from its players. Players have been warned of the repercussions for placing a bet or entering a casino. The possible loss of an entire season is one such repercussion that players face for violating those rules. But Vegas is Vegas, and its lure and temptations can be hard to ignore.
It’s like a smoker trying to quit, but surrounded by countless friends lighting up. Sure it’s possible to resists, but someone is going to give in.
Some NFL players on the Chiefs or 49ers active rosters are going to test those boundaries this upcoming week. It’s going to happen. The question becomes what will the league do about it.
In some ways it’s going to look hypocritical for the league to suspend a player, while so many other NFL guests and employees are partaking in all the fun. Hypocritical or not, the league says it’s prepared to do just that.
Vegas can be a lot of different things to a lot of different people. And yes there are some people that travel to Vegas each year and never gamble a single penny. They come for the shows, the clubs, the Michelin starred restaurants and other tourist attractions just off the strip.
But Vegas will always be Vegas. It’s a gambling town above all else. People drop thousands of dollars over the course of a weekend and while most of the time it’s all innocent fun and entertainment, there has always been a darker side to Vegas, especially when it comes to illegal sports wagering.
The NFL knows the risks and they feel that the rewards of a Super Bowl against the backdrop of the world most glamorous Strip is well worth those risks. It’s a gamble to be sure, but one that the NFL is willing to go all in on.
