In an odd twist of fate, Tilman Fertitta, who owns both the Houston Rockets and the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, is watching one of his investments cost him money on the other. That’s because the sportsbook inside the Golden Nugget is already paying out for the Warriors winning the Western Conference before the series even begins.
Fertitta purchased the Rockets back in September of 2017 for $2.2 billion dollars. He had already owned the Golden Nugget so when he became owner of the Rockets as well, the sportsbook made the decision to remove the team from all NBA futures bets to avoid any potential conflicts. According to ESPN’s David Purdum, they also removed the team from the possibility of “finishing best” in the West and the NBA Finals.
That means since the Rockets weren’t available to be bet on, the Warriors have technically already “finished best” in the Western Conference and people who placed those bets can already come collect their winnings, even if they were to wind up losing the series.
“We’ve already graded [the Warriors] a winner,” Golden Nugget sportsbook manager Aaron Kessler said. “Bring your ticket and you’ll get paid.”
What’s worse for Fertitta is if the Rockets defeat the Warriors, the same thing will apply for the Finals. Since nobody was able to bet the Rockets would “finish best” in the Finals, that means anyone who had bet the Celtics or Cavs winner would automatically win their Finals bet as well.
According to Kessler, despite the potential of large payouts, it won’t make or break them. “It would be decent handle in a slow month, but it’s not going to kills us if we don’t book The Finals. We’d still have baseball, and we still have the [Vegas Golden] Knights.”
This isn’t the first time a Vegas casino stopped taking bets on an NBA team due to possible conflicts. Back in 2006, Caesars Palace stopped taking bets on Boston Celtics games when casino executive, Gary Loveman, took an ownership stake in the team.
Written by @IamJoeSports
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