The sportsbook at the Las Vegas Hilton is sweating out the Final Four a little more than its Sin City counterparts.
That's because a person put in a $10 bet at the sportsbook earlier this season on Virginia Commonwealth to win the national championship -- at 5,000 to 1.
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Should the Rams win two more games and cut down the nets in Houston, this particular fan will cash in a ticket worth $50,000.
"We definitely have some liability associated with VCU winning the title," Hilton book manager Jay Kornegay told Covers.com. "I can't say I'm comfortable."
At one point this season, the Las Vegas Hilton listed VCU at 9,999 to 1. When the NCAA tournament started and with VCU one of eight teams playing in the first round in Dayton, the Rams were listed in the "field" grouping, which opened at 200 to 1.
"They probably would have been much higher like 400- or 500-1, if they weren't associated with the field" Kornegay said. "But because they were playing in the play-in game, we put them in the field. I mean we had them at 200-1 to win the region."
And the Hilton isn't the only sportsbook with its eye on the Rams:
Jay Rood, book manager at the Mirage, told Covers.com Sunday that he took "significant" futures action on VCU at 175-1 and Butler at 150-1. Mike Colbert, book manager at the M, told the Las Vegas Review Journal that he took some big-money bets on VCU at 16-1 before the Sweet 16. And, over at Caesars, sportsbook analyst Todd Furhman wrote a ticket on the Rams at 500-1 in January.
But the sportsbooks aren't reaching into their wallets yet. The Rams still have to win two more games before these tickets can be cashed.
