LAS VEGAS — As the baby of his family, with three older siblings, Jay Kornegay is accustomed to being spoiled. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” his parents, two brothers and sister always told him.
The executive vice president of the Westgate SuperBook applies that theme to supporters of the Vegas Golden Knights, who in their sixth season are playing in a second Stanley Cup Final.
Florida is the foe on the Las Vegas Strip inside T-Mobile Arena, site of Games 1 (Saturday) and 2 (Monday) — and, if needed, 5 and 7.
Are hockey fans in this city spoiled?
“Well, Vegas is one of the babies of the NHL, so their fans should be spoiled,” Kornegay said. “The other fan bases might not like it, but that’s how it is.”
This time around, though, the city’s sportsbooks aren’t exposed to immense liability.
Before they played their first game, the Golden Knights were 100-to-1 shots to win the 2017-18 Pacific Division, 250-1 to claim the Western Conference and 500-1 to win it all at the SuperBook.
That shop faced a lordly loss of nearly $1 million, according to Kornegay, if Vegas went all the way. Alas, Washington won the Final in five games. For bettors, two out of three ain’t bad.
“The city, operators, sportsbooks and fans were so caught up during that first season,” Kornegay said, “the liability was secondary. Despite the possible high loss, most took it in stride and accepted it.
“It certainly didn’t deter any of us from rooting our butts off for that team that first season.”
LIABILITY LESSON
The loss might have been difficult for some to explain to superiors.
Not at Caesars Palace. The Strip property caters to tourists, who mostly made futures bets on teams they visited Vegas to watch play the Golden Knights.
Jeff Davis, the ace Circa Sports hockey oddsman who then worked at Caesars, said its liability “wasn’t bad at all.”
“We didn’t have much local play, at that point. All of the road fans traveling to watch their teams bet those squads to win the cup. [Vegas] was a very small loser for us that year.”
This season, the books weren’t caught by surprise.
In June, William Hill, the South Point and Station Casinos opened Vegas’ title odds at 10-1, the SuperBook listed 16-1 and Circa, in early August, had 25-1 on the Golden Knights.
The Panthers were anywhere from +745 (risk $100 to win $745) at Circa in the preseason to 12-1 at William Hill.
“I don’t want to get into detail about Circa’s current liability, but Vegas was our worst result in the pool entering the playoffs,” Davis said.
“That being said, Vegas in the Cup Final will be great for Circa as a whole.”
FRIEND OR FOE?
Not everyone in Vegas roots for this team. Minnesota Paul, a regular at my home casino, typifies a transplant attitude that still rails against the Golden Knights’ beneficial expansion-draft treatment.
Paul, who held North Stars season tickets for a couple of decades, retired to Vegas. He was ecstatic last season when he won a bet on the Knights, who missed the playoffs for the first time, to finish under a projected points total.
Minnesota Paul and others cheer loudly for Knights opponents when Vegas games air on the huge sportsbook screens.
Many more, though, salivate about the prospects of a parade down the Strip, last experienced when UNLV won the national hoops championship in April 1990.
Arlene told postgame radio show host Ryan Wallis late Monday night, after Vegas had finished off Dallas, that she grew up an Islanders fan in New York.
When the Islanders won four consecutive Stanley Cups, from 1980 to ’83, she supported them.
Having relocated to Vegas, she praised first-year coach Bruce Cassidy, the former Blackhawks defenseman.
“I bet early and have a 19-1 ticket on them,” she said. “I’m so excited. This is not the Knights team of the past. This is Cassidy’s team. Totally different.”
Others trumpeted Cassidy’s structure and detail, the February acquisition of dynamic winger Ivan Barbashev from St. Louis and goaltender Adin Hill’s sterling emergence.
SLIGHT VEGAS EDGE
Of my 10 futures acquisitions, Vegas title ducats at +325 and +375, Florida at +350 and +700 on Matthew Tkachuk for playoff MVP are still alive. It’ll be another minnow’s profit, unless Tkachuk stays hot.
In this space, Darren Banks — the Circa executive casino host and 14-year hockey pro who played 20 games for Boston — had predicted a Bruins-Edmonton finale.
The former tallied a record 135 points this season, the latter had the most effective power play in NHL history. Vegas, however, slammed Edmonton, and Florida bounced Boston.
I asked Banks, who will attend Final games, whom he’s taking:
“I like Vegas.”
At Circa, Davis gave Vegas a 52-48 power-rating edge, due to its home-ice advantage, over Florida.
“Vegas has greater depth, but Florida’s best players are better than Vegas’ best players,” he said. “This will be a long series, and I have no idea who is going to win.”
Kornegay predicted drama.
“A tight-fought battle,” he said. “VGK in 7, barely; a Game 7 overtime winner by 30-year-old Swedish center William Karlsson.”
