Vegas wins again

Nevada had another good day Sunday. Casinos booked nearly $94 million in Super Bowl bets, according to the Nevada gaming commission, about $500K short of the record set in 2006, and grossed $5 million, making it 20 of the last 22 years the books have posted a profit on the Super Bowl. The total take was up 7.3 percent over last year.

The books won big on props, as well as the over-under, and lost on the money line, according to RJ Bell of pregame.com. Caesar's sportsbook director, Todd Fuhrman, has a good breakdown of all the numbers here.

We have an update on our boy Birdman, who told people he was going to put $5 million on the Patriots. He now claims that he didn't place the bet because, like The Crew said, he had trouble finding a taker. Unbeknownst to us, however, one outlet essentially begged him to do it.

"If Birdman is prepared to put his money where his mouth is, we are prepared to accept his $5 million wager on either the point spread or the money line of Super Bowl XLVI," wrote Dave Mason, brand director of Betonline.com, in a formal press release in the days leading up to the game.

So as it turned out we whiffed a bit on that story. We were, in fact, correct in saying that he was lying about betting that much, but wrong that there wouldn't be any takers even if he were being truthful. Though, we suspect that it was a bit of a publicity stunt on Betonline.com's part, knowing full well that dude, in desperate need for attention, had no desire to actually follow through. Call it a calculated gamble (pun intended) on their part.

The Crew, who lost our first documented play last night on the Lakers +4.5 (lost by 5), has a small play on Oklahoma St )-2) tonight. Again, follow our record on Wagerminds.com and set up an account yourself. Pretty cool stuff.