No one would have bet that this would happen.
Inside the spectacular Las Vegas casinos, the slot machines are turned off and the sports betting centers remain dim. On what should have been the busiest Monday for gamblers, there wasn’t a single dollar that changed hands.
There were no bets on the national college basketball championship, no one gambled on Tiger Woods to win the Masters. Without sports there are no bets, it’s that simple.
One of the very few things that the most desperate sports bettors were able to do is go online and find a match for Russian table tennis.
“The Russian pingpong has stolen the show,” said Nick Bogdanovich of the William Hill betting chain. “They don’t even broadcast it everywhere, but there are people who are betting on it.”
Just a few weeks ago, casinos were rubbing their hands together in anticipation of one of the most anticipated college basketball tournaments in history. With sports betting expanding across the country, records were expected at the windows and the title game, scheduled for Monday, would have generated tens of millions of dollars in bets for both teams, no matter who they were.
Bookmaker Jay Kornegay would have been in the thick of the action at Westgate Las Vegas, one of the most popular casinos to watch the March Madness. But the huge hotel, like all the others, is closed because of the new coronavirus, and the huge screens inside it are turned off.
“It’s something you never thought to see,” said Kornegay. “Sometimes you realize when you walk through the hotel and you don’t see anyone. I can walk all over the property without seeing a soul. ”
The amount of bets generated in the NCAA tournament is unknown because Nevada casino authorities do not specify the numbers. But in March last year, $ 495 million was wagered on basketball in Nevada alone, and the Final Four weekend sparks huge activity.
“The Super Bowl is the biggest single-day event we have, but the March Madness is bigger using other parameters,” said Kornegay. “We deal with more people, more tickets. The money, if you consider the first four days of the tournament, will exceed what we handle for the Super Bowl. “
Although all of the city’s sports betting centers are closed, a few like William Hill still receive online bets. That means looking for sports that are still active.
Russian table tennis is the surprising success, but sumo has also generated interest. In addition, there are the NASCAR virtual competitions, of which William Hill accepted some 400 bets for Sunday’s virtual competition at the Autodromo in Bristol, where William Bryon was the winner.
“We lost some money on that, but at least we issued some ballots,” said Bogdanovich.
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