Super Bowl LIII is over and viewers are left to ponder such existential questions as “Is Julian Edelman a Hall of Famer?” and “Why are all NFL kickers bald?” The New England Patriots did the most important thing, i.e. covering the spread in a game that saw more first-half Los Angeles Rams punts (six) than total Rams points scored 
(three). Early money favored the Rams by a point but an influx of sharps bets moved the line in New England’s favor. However, sports books missed big time in the projection of 57 total points scored. Whoops. Oddsmaker Pete Prisco gets a nod for prophetic skill: “The Patriots don’t blow out teams in the Super Bowl, and they won’t here. In fact this one will come down to a late Tom Brady drive. This time, which will be different from their first Super Bowl meeting, he will need to get a touchdown late to win it. And he will.” The league would like to censor prop bets but sports books aren’t having any of that. Still, Nevada books didn’t take action on the over/under of Gladys Knight‘s protracted “Star Spangled Banner,” perhaps because there was so much ambiguity as to when the Queen of Soul actually finished her rendition.
It’s not known whether any of the prop bets included “Halftime hip-hot artist spews obscenities into a hot mike” but who’d bet against that? However, strange prop bets included “Which commercial will be aired first” and “Will There Be a Spongebob Squarepants tribute at halftime?” (Congratulations to all of you who bet “yes.”) Incidentally, we enjoyed the crowd’s lusty booing of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, even if it wasn’t related to his recent cover-up of anti-Colin Kaepernick collusion. As for our favorite Super Bowl commercial, it was this …
… or maybe this …
Tough to choose.
* Nevada‘s last Sigma Derby game, at The D, is getting some ink. (Derek Stevens has a knack for attracting publicity.) Indeed, this is the last operating Sigma Derby machine in the world, if Atlas Obsucra is correct. MGM Grand‘s defunct Sigma Derby machine is in storage someplace. The game’s cult popularity defies age (Sigma Derby is 34 years old) and the influx of newer games, none of which can exceed its 60-second-per-race time on device. We’d certainly like to see the derbies which were customized for Excalibur (knights) and Luxor (camels). “They were everywhere. They were like dirt. There wasn’t a casino that didn’t have them,” says one fan. And, as anybody who follows our Question of the Day knows, interest in Sigma Derby is in inverse proportional ratio to its availability.
“People with a fondness for kitsch, nostalgia, extremely low-level gambling, and free drinks started talking to other people who loved betting quarters on toy racing horses,” writes Atlas Obscura. One of those was Derek Stevens, who says, “Sigma Derby was the very first casino game that I ever played when I came to Las Vegas. It was in the 1980s. I played it at the Dunes Hotel. “I think there’s something beautiful about its simplicity. The fact that you’ve got five horses and you’ve got to pick the first two and you’ve got that rhythmic beat associated with it, there’s just something that’s kind of nice. You’re playing real money, as much as you’re playing quarters so there’s an element of authenticity about the game that is pretty special.”
It even took Nevada Gaming Control Board approval for Stevens to get Sigma Derby deployed and eBay scavenging to find the parts that keep it running. Stevens has even tried to buy that last MGM machine. In the meantime Alfastreet‘s Royal Cup and Konami Gaming‘s Fortune Cup are vying for the Sigma Derby audience. Stevens still has a soft spot for the older game. “I love the fact that so many people want to come to the second floor of The D just because they want to get their Sigma Derby fix in,” he says. “It’s a great attraction to us, so that’s why the game for us is a little bit more than a game.” Or, as a longtime fan puts it, “I would not use a dollar of your money for Fortune Cup.”
* Paragon Gaming, the folks who run the casino at Westgate Las Vegas, is liquidating a major Canadian holding. It is selling its stake in Parq Vancouver for an undisclosed amount, after a two-year tenure of operating the casino. Parq Vancouver was the successor to Paragon’s Edgewater Casino. The owners will inherit two hotels, a casino and a strategic locale next to downtown BC Place. “The milestones achieved in British Columbia – at Edgewater, Parq Vancouver and the overall community – are a testament to the incredible work of our team members,” said Paragon COB Diana Bennett, who has not disclosed where her company will reinvest the sale proceeds.
