Once 200 - 1 Rams, Now Picked As 7 point Super Bowl Favorite

By TIM DAHLBERGAP Sports Writer <br><br>LAS VEGAS (AP) -- For a few short weeks before the NFL season began, bettors could get 200-1 odds on the St. Louis Rams winning the Super Bowl. What a difference

Monday, January 24th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

By TIM DAHLBERGAP Sports Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- For a few short weeks before the NFL season began, bettors could get 200-1 odds on the St. Louis Rams winning the Super Bowl. What a difference 18 games makes. A team that faced long odds before the first game kickoff is now a touchdown favorite in this city's sports books to win its first Super Bowl. "The Rams and Titans? Give me a break," said Jay Kornegay, sports book manager at the Imperial Palace. "Basically it sums up the entire NFL year. Everything has been flip-flopped."

The Rams opened as 8-point favorites, but minutes after the their 11-6 come-from-behind win over Tampa Bay 11-6, most books quickly lowered it to 71/2 or 7 as money came in on the underdogs. The over/under was 491/2. St. Louis had been a 14-point favorite over Tampa Bay and failed to cover the point spread, while Tennessee was a 7-point underdog to Jacksonville. "The most ideal match up for bettors would have been St. Louis and Jacksonville, but at least we got one of them in," Kornegay said. "A Tampa Bay-Tennessee Super Bowl might have been a disaster."

Early in the preseason, bettors could get 100-1 odds on the Rams winning the Super Bowl at most Las Vegas sports books. After quarterback Trent Green was injured late in the preseason, the odds jumped to 200-1. Not many bettors bit, but enough did to make some Las Vegas sports books a bit uneasy over next Sunday's game.

At the Imperial Palace, Kornegay said three bettors put money on the Rams when they were 200-1 in the future book. "I'd like to be in their shoes right now," Kornegay said. "But we'll end up all right on it. I know there are some books that are sweating out a win by the Rams."

Jason Been, an odds maker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants, said he actually made the Rams an 8-point favorite as the clock ticked down in the final conference championship game before lowering it. "It's just early money moving it a bit," Been said. The line isn't expected to fluctuate much this week because it is right around a touchdown, which is one of the magical number lines in odds making.

Last year, gamblers wagered $75,986,520 on the Super Bowl in this state's legal sports books. Untold millions, or even billions, were wagered illegally elsewhere. Bookies kept $2.9 million of that money last year, a 3.8 per cent hold.