While the majority of America is left picking up the pieces of their shredded bracket, there was one clear winner yesterday – Las Vegas.
No surprise there, of course, because The House stands to profit just about every major sporting event in the country. That’s how it works.
The amount of which they won, though, really sets things into perspective. According to Yahoo,
“Very profitable day, historic profitable day from a basketball perspective,” Jay Rood, VP of Race/Sports for MGM International, told Yahoo Sports’ Brad Evans. “It was the second biggest day aside from a Super Bowl win in the state of Nevada.” (Rood didn’t disclose which Super Bowl had a more profitable day, but our guess is the Giants’ upset of the Patriots’ perfect season in 2008.)
The most profitable day in Vegas history came on a helmet catch against an undefeated team on the grandest of stages in primetime. The second biggest was at a College Tournament played in the middle of a weekday? That’s how you know March Madness has made it. The people are officially invested.
That’s what happens when you have a record breaking amount of one point games and a couple of highly ranked teams lose, though. Keep in mind that was only the first day.
The only question now is what happens when/if Kentucky loses? Their odds heading into the tournament were incomparable.
This just looks like another case of the rich getting richer, folks. Here’s to hoping that your bracket goes to helping your wallet, not theirs.