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Interesting question.
And yes, betting $50,000 to win $100 is a huge outlay no matter how you slice it, even on an event as seemingly preposterous and inconceivable, at the time, as the Las Vegas "Misfits" beating the best and most established teams in the NHL to win the Big Trophy.
Which is why, according to Jeff Sherman, manager of the Westgate Superbook, they didn't book a single "no" bet on the Knights at the opening 500-1 odds.
However, according to Chris Andrews, sportsbook director at South Point (and author of our upcoming bookmaking memoir, Then One Day), "It didn't take long for folks to start taking the Knights at long odds."
In other words, early in the season, futures bettors were wagering that the VGK would win the Stanley Cup. The opening lines at some places, such as the Westgate, were the same 500-1, meaning you could bet $100 to win $50,000. We know that a number of sports bettors picked up that bet, mostly for sentimental or souvenir reasons.
The odds came down quite a bit after the expansion draft: to between 200-1 and 175-1.
Then they dropped all season long. In late February, when the Knights were well ahead of the San Jose Sharks at the top of the Pacific Division, they were the lowest in the league: 9-2, slightly lower than on the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning at 5-1.
In fact, so much money was coming in on Vegas that Sherman said at the time, "It’s the largest liability we’ve ever had on NHL futures."
So naturally, the bookmakers started putting up wagers to balance their books, with "no" bets starting out at -550; so much action came in on the "no" that the lay price quickly rose to -750. Still, that's a far cry from -50000, on which no one took a chance.
The Vegas Golden Knights' inaugural season has been quite a roller-coaster -- in more ways than one.