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00:00Countdown to kickoff continues as we are in Nola, New Orleans, and there's no better place to be.
00:06Right now there's a lot of excitement. We're here with the head of Caesars Gaming, Craig Mucklow, in the house with us.
00:14Craig, it's an exciting time for Caesars. You guys put a lot of money in a new property, beautiful facility, Super Bowl in New Orleans, naming rights to the stadium as well.
00:24Caesars is an iconic brand in gaming, but it seems to me that you guys are letting everybody know that you're still around and you're making some noise.
00:32Yeah, we are. Look, the property in New Orleans just got revamped. Tremendous job, brilliant effort by everybody.
00:40The Superdome is Caesars' Superdome, and hopefully we have a Super Bowl worthy of the naming as well.
00:48Caesars is a great brand and brilliant product. We put over 3,000 ways to bet on the Super Bowl this year, so it's worthy of a Caesars.
00:57Now obviously, Caesars is well known in the Las Vegas markets and in other markets, and sports betting has been legalized in so many states right now.
01:05Talk to me about the market that is Louisiana and how it's going. It's still a developing market. It's only been a couple of years.
01:12Correct. Three years, if I remember rightly. We've got some very, very passionate fans in Louisiana, obviously States fans as well, so we always see money for the States every week.
01:21LSU Tigers, New Orleans States.
01:23Every week we cheer against LSU. We have no choice, and it's all because of the passionate Louisiana fans.
01:28But yeah, I mean, we're hoping to break a state record handle this year in New Orleans. It helps having a sports book, you know, named the stadium so people can bet.
01:39There's a ton of kiosks in the sports book, so no problem getting a bet down. If you're new to the industry and you want to place your first bet, great helpful staff at the sports book that can help you as well.
01:50So tremendous people. You won't get lost being able to find a wager.
01:54Craig Mucklow with us. Craig, obviously you know in England you can bet in a stadium, EPL games. Will we ever see this, do you think, in North America?
02:03You know, a couple of years ago it was unheard of that a gaming company would have the naming rights, or the gaming company would be involved with the National Football League.
02:11Is that just a bridge too far, or do you think we'll see a day where we will have kiosks actually in the stadiums?
02:17We already do in basketball arenas, but full out?
02:19Yeah, I mean, we have a partnership with Capital One, with the Washington Wizards, so there is a book there.
02:26We have Chase Field as well, which is a book right outside the stadium. Can I see it happening? Yeah, I do.
02:31I think especially how we monitor the integrity of the games as well, so everything is fair and square and above board, so there's no reason not to.
02:39It'll happen eventually, I believe, but I mean, I went to the first NFL game in Europe, which was the Giants and the Dolphins.
02:45You could drink beer at the game, which you can't in an EPL game, but you couldn't gamble. They closed the sports book down.
02:51So it was one or the other.
02:52One or the other.
02:53Why not both, right?
02:54Exactly.
02:55Why not both? So you mentioned Caesars has over 3,000 options, basically, for the Super Bowl.
03:00What are some of the more popular prop bets and bets that are being bet?
03:04I imagine Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, the name player Saquon Barkley, but how's the action so far?
03:11Because NBA has really taken center stage this week in the media with all these NBA trades.
03:16They're trying.
03:17Yeah, they're trying, but how's the action?
03:19You said you guys are looking to set a state record for this, but how do you project this to be as far as a handle nationwide for the Super Bowl?
03:28I think it'll get there with previous years.
03:31The only problem is it's a close spread.
03:34The games pretty much pick them, so you lose the handle of people betting the favorite on the spread and the dog on the money line.
03:39You've got to pick the winner as opposed to saying, yeah, I'm getting seven, eight points.
03:41Exactly.
03:42And it's tough because it's the same two teams again, right?
03:44Exactly, but then familiarity as well, people know.
03:47We had the brother storyline, the first Super Bowl.
03:50Now we get Jalen Hurts trying to do what's never happened where a quarterback has faced each other for the second time in a Super Bowl, and the first one that won has won every other one as well.
03:59So there's all that.
04:01Some tremendous ways to bet.
04:03Saquon Barkley is head and shoulders the most popular wager right now for him to score a touchdown at any time, for him to score two or more.
04:10MVP?
04:11MVP is up there, although Darius Slay got bet a lot yesterday at Big Odds, and CJ Gardner-Johnson is our biggest liability on MVP as well.
04:19How evenly split is the auction on the game itself?
04:22On the game, if it lands two or three of the Chiefs, it's a winner for the customers right now.
04:26Other than that, it's pretty level.
04:28But literally two minutes ago, I approved a $300,000 wager coming in on the Chiefs.
04:33So 60% of the money has still got to come on Sunday, which it normally does.
04:37So we'll be in a different position maybe Sunday, but right now I'm an Eagles fan.
04:42Craig, I'm on the Eagles, and I like to be on the side of the book.
04:46The so-called Sharps, pro bettors, attacked the under of this football game earlier.
04:52Are you expecting to see a buyback with the public?
04:54Normally the public likes to bet the overs in these big games.
04:57Are you expecting a buyback?
04:59What did you guys think of the early move to the under?
05:01We took a six-figure wager off somebody we really, really respect.
05:05And for him to bet the under with these two teams, we moved that number.
05:09We went from 49.5 to 49.
05:11The same day we took four six-figure wagers on the Eagles plus 1.5.
05:15That moves us to minus one.
05:17Barring an injury or a seven-figure wage, I can't see it going to pick.
05:21But yeah, we will see public money on the over on Sunday, and we'll see a lot of Chiefs money.
05:25Because don't bet against Patrick Mahomes. Isn't that the golden rule?
05:28Yeah, 15-0 in Domes, 8-0 against Vic Fangio, coach teams.
05:33Oh yeah, they've won 17 consecutive one-score games, right?
05:37Besides that.
05:39Craig, it was a pleasure to meet you.
05:41On the way out here, tell people why they should come down and hang out in New Orleans at Caesars Palace this weekend.
05:47First of all, the food options in the Caesars Hotel in New Orleans are just tremendous.
05:52I don't have enough days to go there.
05:55It's a beautiful product, great book, brilliant helpful staff, and New Orleans is just a fabulous city.
06:01I'm still getting used to the humidity being from Vegas, but I love this city.
06:06It's just too bad I can't be. I've got to be in the office on Sunday.
06:09Well, you know, it's too bad. I love being here on Media Row, but I actually wish I was sitting at a table right now or in a restaurant down the street.
06:14As do I.
06:15At the casino, at Caesars Palace. Craig Mucklow with us, live from New Orleans.