Sunday, January 19
Raiders favored by 4 to 5 points in early odds
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Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Oddsmakers like the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl just about as much as bettors do.
Before the Raiders were even finished beating Tennessee on Sunday, they were made a 3{-point favorite over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in two of the city's largest sports books.
The line quickly moved to 4 points in some books and 5 points in others as the early money was bet on the favored Raiders.
Stardust sports book director Bob Scucci said he posted a 3{-point line with a little more than 2 minutes left in the Oakland-Tennessee game, and quickly found out the Raiders were going to get a lot of action.
``I think we are going to be really heavy on the Raiders,'' Scucci said.
Stardust and Mirage later raised the line to 4 points, while Caesars Palace also made the Raiders a 4-point favorite.
The Las Vegas Sports Consultants had the Raiders as 5-point favorites.
The initial odds put out by bookmakers often change as bettors put money on one team or another and the bookmakers try to balance their ledgers by moving the point spread.
Last year, bettors got as many as 16 points on the New England Patriots against the St. Louis Rams before the line leveled out at 14. In that case, oddsmakers were way off, as the Patriots won the game straight up.
Oddsmakers put up a 43{-point over-under line and that went up slightly to 44, meaning bettors can bet on whether the teams combine to score more or less than that amount.
Robert Walker, sports book director at the Mirage hotel-casino, said Tampa Bay showed in its win over Philadelphia that it should be a respectable Super Bowl opponent for the Raiders.
``The Buccaneers are definitely going to be formidable,'' Walker said. ``They got a big monkey off their back beating Philly. They've got to be confident.''
