Congratulations Las Vegas sportsbooks. You set a new record for money lost on hockey, at $6.6 million in June. And you couldn’t be happier.
The loss came at the expense of all the winners who laid down a bet for the hometown Golden Knights to take home its first Stanley Cup in the recent NHL playoffs.
Having a hometown team win the championship is a double-edged sword for sportsbooks. On one hand, as a fan of the team you want them to win it all. But that means a lot of folks will walk away with a ton of cash, at your expense.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) has only been tracking hockey bets since January 2020. But the state’s sportsbooks’ $6.6 million shattered the monthly record for largest loss. The previous mark was set in July 2022, when books lost $1.2 million the month after the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup.
Books lost $1.1 million in October 2020, the month after the Lightning won the Stanley Cup. The Knights were 20-1 at Circa Sports to win the Cup when the season started and 10-1 at the Westgate SuperBook when the playoffs started.
According to NGCB senior economic analyst Michael Lawton, winning future wagers on the Knights that were cashed by customers in June were reflected in the monthly total.
“I would expect as we have historically seen, there will be additional bets cashed in July which were not paid out by books during June,” Lawton told the Las Vegas Review Journal.
The state’s hockey betting handle in June was $30.9 million.
A BetMGM bettor in Nevada made a $10,000 wager to win $140,000 on the Knights at 14-1 to win the Cup. Circa Sports bettor Jon Grace won about $130,000 on the Knights in the Stanley Cup Final, including more than $111,000 in futures parlays.
“Now that sports gaming is spreading across the country, we’ve been preaching that whenever the local team does well and/or wins a championship, you’re going to lose. It’s as simple as that,” Westgate SuperBook vice president Jay Kornegay told the Review-Journal.
Kornegay and members of his staff split season tickets to the Knights and are big fans, along with Circa owner Derek Stevens and others in the sports betting industry. They were thrilled to see the home team hoist the Cup despite their books taking a hit.
“I talked to a couple of our fellow operators here in town, and everybody was fine with it,” Kornegay said. “We are still rooting for our Knights, our Raiders, our Aces and our Rebels.”
And someday MLB may add to the mix.
Along with cashing futures bets to win the Cup, the Knights rewarded bettors by winning four of five games and covering the -1.5 puck line and going over the total in three of them, whipping the Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 to clinch the title at home at the T-Mobile Arena.
“Local properties don’t fare well on the Knights when they win by two goals or more and it goes over,” Kornegay told the Review-Journal.
The Knights are 10-1 co-favorites at the SuperBook to repeat as Stanley Cup champions with the Avalanche, Oilers, Maple Leafs, Hurricanes and Devils.
