All the media hype seems to point to the New York Giants being one of (if not) the best team in the NFC this year. Furthermore, it’s well known that Vegas always has a New York bias when they set their lines to account for the heavy home town gambling that New York teams engender. In light of all this, how surprised are you that America’s team is favored this week instead of the New York football Giants. Does Vegas know something all the pundits don’t?
Davio, NYC, NY, USA
Thanks for the question. I’m not so sure that Vegas favors the Giants and I wouldn’t discount the popularity of “America’s Team”, the Cowboys. In fact if Vegas was the only place you could bet, I would think there would be more Cowboys action. This brings up the question on where and how lines are made. Even though Las Vegas is the home of legal sports gambling in the country, it is believed that offshore sports books are the leaders in setting the point spreads. These are mostly based in the Caribbean and have do have an East Coast bias. I do think this bias is being diminished since government crackdown on the offshore sites. Also the recession is keeping fans of the Northeast teams away from Las Vegas. When talking about public action in Vegas, I have feel the San Diego Chargers seem to have the strongest bias.
That being said I think this is the proper line (Cowboys by 3-even, meaning no vig if you take the Cowboys, double vig if you take the Giants). This is pretty much where I thought the line would be. The Giants are considered the better team going into the year, but Dallas has played well early in seasons only to fade late. Dallas looked great last week and I am sure there are lot of bettors who are taking Dallas because of them opening the new stadium. I think that is a huge factor in the line and the game. I think Dallas will win with the Giants having some injuries on defense (Chris Canty and Aaron Ross out, Kenny Phillips and Kevin Dockery questionable) and the Cowboys fired up opening the new stadium.
