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A New Orleans Saints’ win in the Super Bowl could mean a big payout to fans in South Mississippi.

Fans are lining up at Coast casinos to plunk down money on Sunday’s game against the Rams, casino operators say, and on Super Bowl LIII (53) on Feb. 3.

In this first season of sports betting in Mississippi, the exposure to the casinos from so many Saints’ bets is significant.

But not everyone is betting on the Saints, said John Ferrucci, general manager of Silver Slipper Casino, and a win by the Saints doesn’t always guarantee the betters will be winners.

That’s because of the point spread.

On Jan. 13, New Orleans came from behind and beat the Philadelphia Eagles 20-14 at the Superdome. The odds makers favored the Saints to win the game by 8.5 points, but New Orleans only won by 6.

So even though the team won, “Those who took the bet lost,” Ferrucci said.

The Saints beat the Rams 45-35 when they played in November at the Superdome. For Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams the Saints are favored to win at home by 3.5 points, according to OddsShark.com and other betting websites.

In addition to betting on the odds or the score, those at the casinos Sunday also can make proposition, or “prop” bets, said Scott King, vice president of marketing and resort operations at Golden Nugget Casino Biloxi.

The sportsbooks could offer bets on who wins the coin toss, who scores first, if the first score will be a field goal or a touchdown, and other elements of the game.

It isn’t so much these bets that could cause the sportsbook managers to sweat. It’s those bets placed when the sportsbooks opened and the odds were less likely the Saints would make it to the Super Bowl.

Future bets

“One of the first bets made here was the Saints to win it all,” said King.

“I do have a ‘golden ticket’ right here — in a very safe spot,” said Bobby Carter, director of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic held in June at the Golden Nugget. He was invited to make one of the first bets when the Golden Nugget sportsbook opened last summer.

How could he go wrong betting on the gold and black Saints at the Golden Nugget? But Carter said that wasn’t the feedback he got.

“Everybody thought I was crazy when I put $100 on the Saints to win the Super Bowl,” Carter said Friday. “That was back in August,” he said, when the odds were 16-1.

If the Saints win the Super Bowl, Carter said he’ll win $1,600 and the casino will pay $1,700, which includes his $100 bet.

Biloxi Councilman George Lawrence was at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino on Aug. 1 when the first sports bets in the state were made. He bet $50 on the Saints and said at 15/1 odds, that will pay $800 should they win it all.

There is no point spread on these bets.

It’s a hit

Sports betting wasn’t seen as a big money maker for the Coast casinos, but win or lose on the Saints, the casinos have benefited. The 12 Coast casinos combined reported the best December in the 26 years of operation.

“We’re seeing a lot of new faces,” said Ferrucci, and some of them turn into regulars. For the most part they are younger, he said, and often quite skilled at placing bets.

The casinos are making big plans for Super Bowl Sunday — with or without the Saints in the game. King said Golden Nugget will have a big VIP party, along with watch parties at Rush Lounge and Michael Patrick’s sports bar that will bring former NFL players in for public autograph sessions.

Even before football season ends, the sportbooks are seeing a strong interest, King said.

“We’ve got as much action this time of year on basketball as football,” he said.