Sportsbooks, flooded with early action on the New York Giants, are begging bettors to take the New England Patriots -3 in Super Bowl XLVI, dropping the juice on the spread from -120 to as low as +106 as of Friday afternoon. Some shops have already moved the spread below the key number, including the MGM Mirage in Las Vegas and offshore book Sports Interaction. Patriots -2.5 can be had between -120 and -125.
“I think you’ll start to see more books move down to 2.5 too,” MGM Mirage sportsbook manager Jeff Stoneback told Covers.com Tuesday. He also said he didn’t believe the spread would drop lower than that before kickoff on Feb. 5.
Those places dealing a field goal for the Super Bowl have gradually reduced the vig on the spread this week, not wanting to fall below the three points. The LVH in Las Vegas is current dealing New England -3 (+105) while offshore book PinnacleSports.com has the Patriots -3 (+106).
Veteran oddsmaker Jimmy Vaccaro of Lucky’s Sportsbooks in Nevada has the Patriots -3 (even) as of Friday afternoon. He says, like most shops, the action is split 65/35 in favor of the Giants.
“Everyone runs their book the best way it suits the property,” says Vaccaro. “It would take a while for us to move to -2.5.”
Jay Kornegay, executive director of the race and sportsbook at the Las Vegas Hotel, also has the Patriots at -3 (even). He says his book is seeing a similar split in action but isn’t as confident that the line will drop to -2.5 as he was earlier in the week, thanks to an uptick in New England bets over the last few days.
“I think the general public, which dominates action on the Super Bowl, is going to be on New York,” says Kornegay. “But Patriots money has started showing up and if we can prevent jumping around and going to 2.5, we will.”
Kornegay also addressed the possibility of some books being middled with the Super Bowl spread opening as high as 3.5 and coming down to 2.5. While the LVH opened at -3, Kornegay says those other shops who are exposed to a 3-point middle won’t take that big of a hit if the game lands on a field goal.
“Those books that opened 3.5, they took some big bets early, but in the overall scheme of things it won’t be a big amount. Maybe five percent of the total handle.”
Kornegay also gave an update on the moneyline action. He says Giants (+120) is outnumbering Patriots (-140) 3-to-1 as of Friday afternoon.
Follow all the line moves for the Super Bowl XLVI spread and total.