House winning big in Vegas this weekend

Interesting article from ESPN's Sports Gambling writer, David Purdum today. Looks like the Las Vegas casinos did some good business for the first round of March Madness.

Favorites were winning, but they weren't always covering the spread. Underdogs went 8-8 against the spread Friday and were 20-12 against the spread over the first two full days of the tournament.

Thursday was huge. One sportsbook said Thursday was its biggest single-day win in memory.

"Epic day, absolutely," Jay Rood, vice president of MGM race and sports, said of Thursday. "Tough day for the players coupled with the fact the books did well Wednesday, too."

"Yesterday was amazing," Dave Pemberton, director of specialty games for Caesars Entertainment, added Friday night....

The betting public isn't at its most sophisticated in March, when spring break collides with the NCAA tournament in Las Vegas. The public normally fancies the favorites and parlays at long odds. When underdogs go on runs, like they did Thursday, the books win big.

On the flip side, Purdum notes that after the crazy afternoon session on Thursday, the tournament hasn't had as much Madness in terms of who has advanced, with the Vegas favorites winning 25 of the last 26 games that have gone final. But as Purdum notes, lots of covers by underdogs who lost (such as we saw in the Badgers' game, who failed to cover when their scrubs turned the ball over twice in the final minute against Coastal Carolina), which usually is a big winner for the books

As for my bracket, lousy first day (like many people), and pretty good second day. Only missed 1 game and still have 14 of my Sweet 16 and all of my Final Four around. I don't have any cash on it so far, and Bucky cruised yesterday. Now I'm just recovering and getting ready to gear it up again this evening (although having 6 games after 5pm on Saturday and Sunday is kind of BS).

Happy 2nd round, all!