Astros winning World Series cost Vegas sportsbooks record $11.4M

Mike Oz

It wasn’t just Los Angeles Dodgers fans who buried their faces in their hands after Game 7 of the World Series. The Houston Astros winning the 2017 World Series was also a gut-punch for Las Vegas sportsbooks, which took a record loss thanks to Houston’s upset win.

The Astros win cost Vegas $11.4 million, which is a million away from doubling up the biggest monthly baseball loss on record. According to ESPN’s gambling expert David Purdum, the closest baseball has come to hitting Vegas this hard in a single month was November 1999, when the New York Yankees beat the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. That loss was $6.2 million.

The Dodgers were the favorite heading into their series with the Astros, but the Astros had a lot of support from bettors. They were also a popular futures bet in Vegas, which contributed to the $11.4 million loss.

The Astros weren't the only ones celebrating their World Series win — bettors won $11.4 million because of them. (AP)
The Astros weren’t the only ones celebrating their World Series win — bettors won $11.4 million because of them. (AP)

And while you might think it’s nice for the fans to beat Vegas on this one, here’s a reality check from Purdum:

“[E]ven after the record loss, the books were able to remain open. In fact, thanks to big wins in football and basketball, Nevada sportsbooks actually won $9.8 million overall in November. It’s the 52nd straight month the books have come out on top, a streak that dates back to July 2013.”

We can all learn a lesson from this: The house always comes out on top. And that’s not a popular saying, it’s 52 months of fact.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!