Bookmakers bemoan Super Bowl score that never was

Pete Carroll's late-game Super Bowl coaching blunder left Las Vegas bookmakers pulling out their hair instead of raking in the cash.

Several Nevada bookmakers said they missed out on a big payday, making just a small profit on the New England Patriots' 28-24 Super Bowl win against the Seattle Seahawks thanks to an abundance of proposition bets. Millions of dollars, however, were lost to gamblers in the last minute of yesterday's game.

With the Patriots one-point favorites, the majority of money wagered was on New England, which led by four in the game's closing minutes. When Seattle's Jermaine Kearse made a jaw-dropping, juggling 33-yard catch at the 5-yard line, the fate of millions of dollars in bets became in doubt.

The Seahawks moved the ball to New England's 1-yard line with less than 30 seconds to play. Instead of handing off to Marshawn Lynch, the game's most bruising rusher, Seattle coach Carroll called for a pass and quarterback Russell Wilson threw an interception, leaving both teams puzzled by the play-calling and bookies apoplectic.

"It's the biggest missed opportunity I've ever had," said Jay Rood, vice president of Race & Sports for MGM Resorts International. "It was real tough, when it looks like you've got it locked up and then you have it snatched away from you because of a really weird decision."

The Seahawks' failure to score caused a "significant seven-figure swing" in revenue for MGM, Rood said today in a phone interview. The casino did make a slight profit because of money taken in from prop bets.

"Here we are, 14 hours later, and I'm still shaking my head," said Jay Kornegay, executive director of the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook.

Worst case

The worst-case scenario for sports books was the Patriots beating the spread and the teams combining to score more than 47.5 points (they scored 52), Kornegay said in a phone interview. The Superbook also ended up a small winner, as it also made more money on the futures and prop bets it took on the game in Glendale, Arizona.

"It would have been a good solid day if they had given the ball to Marshawn," Kornegay said. "He's going to run through three guys to score that, are you kidding me?"

Lynch had 13 rushing touchdowns during the National Football League regular season, tying DeMarco Murray of the Dallas Cowboys for the league lead. He had a 3-yard rushing score in the second quarter of yesterday's game against New England.

William Hill's sports books, which saw about a 10 percent increase in the amount wagered for this year's Super Bowl, "got killed on the game itself" but also managed to "eek out the smallest of profits," Nick Bogdanovich, director of trading for William Hill U.S., said in an email.

Lost sanity

Asked how he was able to maintain his sanity after taking such a tough beat, Bogdanovich said: "That ship has sailed."

"I lost it long ago," he said.

Nevada sports books handled a record $119.4 million in wagers on the Super Bowl last year, winning $19.7 million. Figures for this year's game are expected to be released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board later today.

Even the game's final 20 seconds held drama for gamblers and bookmakers. New England had the ball on its own 1-yard line after the interception by Malcolm Butler and was trying to avoid a safety, which happens when a team fails to get the ball out of its own end zone.

Worth two points, each of the prior three Super Bowls had featured a safety, making it among the most popular prop bets on the game this year. The Superbook also took bets at 50-1 that a safety would be the final score of the game.

'Best encroachment'

As New England quarterback Tom Brady stepped to the line of scrimmage, the entire Seattle defense squeezed together, ready to burst into the line to keep Brady in the end zone, the only way to stay alive in the game. Defensive end Michael Bennett, however, couldn't keep from jumping early, earning a 5-yard encroachment penalty and essentially clinching the Patriots' fourth Super Bowl title.

"That was probably the best encroachment in the history of football," Kornegay said. "That would have cost the books millions."