Don't worry, Seahawks fans, you weren't the only ones driven mad by Russell Wilson's fourth-quarter interception.
Las Vegas bookies were also irate to see Malcolm Butler become an instant hero in the Boston area.
While the Super Bowl was a pick 'em at many casinos, heavy money flowed in to the Patriots' side in the hours leading up to the game. And, as has become custom, many bettors were favoring the over on the 47.5 final score figure.
The teams were at 52 points following Julian Edelman's touchdown reception from Tom Brady with 2:02 left. So as Seattle got the ball back, the bookies' last hope to avoid paying out a parlay on the over and a Patriots win was for a Seahawks' touchdown.
As we all know, that didn't happen. New England won and the teams were already over 47.5.
"That was our one losing scenario," Nick Bogdanovich, William Hill sports books’ director of trading, told the Las Vegas Sun. "We had a big start with the futures, so it’s going to be close but the game couldn’t have been worse."
So while the house still won, a Seattle victory could have been extremely fruitful for casinos. Jay Rood, vice president of Race & Sports for MGM Resorts International, told Bloomberg that Seattle's failure to score created a "significant seven-figure swing."
"It’s the biggest missed opportunity I've ever had,” Rood said. "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."
As if Butler's interception wasn't bad enough for casinos, bookies still had another potential problem because the pick left the Patriots in a precarious position on their own 1. Deep in their own territory and with the game on the line, a safety was a possibility. Because the past three Super Bowls have featured safeties, casinos were taking prop bets at 50-to-1 that the game's final score would be a safety.
Alas, bookies' concerns were allayed when Seattle defensive end Michael Bennett was flagged for jumping early. That allowed the Patriots to start at their own 6-yard line rather than just outside the goal line.
"That was probably the best encroachment in the history of football," Jay Kornegay, executive director of the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, told Bloomberg. "That would have cost the books millions."
Also of note from Bloomberg's report: There was $116 million in wagers in Nevada's 191 sports books, according a release by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, with the casinos winning more than $3.2 million. Last year there was more wagered overall, a record $119.4 million, and the sports books won $19.7 million.
One of the most popular prop bets, on the length of the national anthem, was suspended after insider information was leaked regarding the length of Idina Menzel rehearsals. Menzel went over 122.5 seconds, rewarding those gamblers who placed bets before the suspension.
