Question of the Day - 22 July 2022

Well, this writer, who was only 18 in 1970, couldn't, but over-21 sports bettors certainly could.

However, way back in the dark ages of sports betting in 1970, there were no such things as sports books in casinos. Those didn't start to show up for another half-decade.

Sports bettors of the time were relegated to a handful of standalone and privately owned smoky little joints, such as the famous south Strip Churchill Downs Race and Sports Book, owned and operated by the equally famous Harry Gordon, who also owned the Derby and Hollywood books downtown; most of the others sported horse-race names, such as named Paddock, Saratoga, and Santa Anita, plus the Del Mar in North Las Vegas, owned by Bill Dark. 

In those days, the handle was minimal, limited by the 10% federal tax on sports betting profits. That didn't drop to 2% until 1974, which paved the way for the first casino sports books to open in the Union Plaza (1975) and Stardust (1976).  

The standalone sports books were seat-of-the-pants operations. The Churchill is a case in point. It had a small counter with five ticket writers and a single cashier. Behind the counter were big odds boards; a manager lowered the boards with pull cords to post numbers, then raised them again. The Churchill also sported the first electric reader board in Las Vegas; according to legend, when it short-circuited, someone had to bop it in a particular spot with a broom handle. Communications were handled via a Western Union ticker, similar to the old paper-ribbon machines used for stock prices. The ticker was wired into the reader board, so sports bettors could see all the information in real time. 

In 1969, the Nevada Gaming Control Board began to track the handle from the race and sports. In that year, there were all of 12 licensed books in the entire state, which mostly handled race bets; the race handle was $2.1 million. The sports handle, believe it or not, was a tad less than $400,000. 

So yes, you could bet on the Super Bowl. Of course, it was nothing like it is today, though it was still one of the biggest sports-betting events of the year.

Indeed, according to Scotty Schettler, first operator of the Stardust sports book, in his excellent 2010 book We Were Wiseguys and Didn't Know It, the feds liked to raid the books on Super Bowl Sunday: "They figured it would be the time most under-the-table money and records would be there. Of course, neither was on premises or anywhere else to be found. The Super Bowl raids also made semi-important headlines and helped pad resumes." Schettler also writes that it was a good day for armed robbers to hold up the books. 

Anyway, to the question. In 1970 for Super Bowl IV, it was the Minnesota Vikings versus the Kansas City Chiefs. It was the Chiefs' second appearance in the Super Bowl; they'd lost Super Bowl I to the Green Bay Packers in 1967. The Vikings were the favorite at -12 and the total was 39. Kansas City crushed Minnesota 23-7, so the dog and under got the money. As for the Chiefs themselves, they earned $15,000 apiece for their trouble, while the Vikings got $7,500.