10 Best Days To Watch Sports In Las Vegas (2012)

This article from Forbes titled “10 Best Las Vegas Sports Events – And Where To Watch Them” may have been paid for by MGM Resorts as there are sportsbooks here that nobody will ever recommend and half the list is MGM properties. Additionally, the write ups seem forced or written by someone that doesn’t gamble or has been to Vegas in years. Besides the possibly fraud of a sportsbook Top 10 list the article it provides another list that is a little more realistic, The 10 Biggest Sporting Events Worth Going to Vegas For (in order):

1. NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Opening Weekend (Days 1-4)
2. The Super Bowl
3. TIE: Kentucky Derby (General Public) & Breeders’ Cup (Horse Racing Devotees)
4. Any Big Boxing Title Fight
5. College Football Season Saturdays
6. New Year’s Day Bowl Games (especially when on weekend like this year)
7. Any Sunday in NFL Season
8. NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four
9. Soccer World Cup (draws huge international crowds)
10. TIE: Indy 500/ NASCAR Daytona

There are only 2 things missing on this list and they are the NBA playoffs and BCS Championship Game. I’ve watched quite a few NBA playoff gams at the sportsbooks and there are definitely people betting and watching the games – no matter what round. I can’t say the same for any kind of auto racing. Showing that demand is high for the BCS Championship game, Wynn opened the Encore Theater this year for the final game in the college football season.

You could easily remove either auto racing event. Few sports bettors wager on auto racing and most people at the sportsbooks aren’t there to watch auto racing. In fact, there are days when auto races aren’t even on in sportsbooks. I understand that the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 are big fish in their pond, but their pond is small.

I was at the Mandalay Bay sportsbook when and they were airing a USA soccer friendly against Mexico and the place was going crazy. Even though the World Cup is only every four years, I can only imagine that sportsbooks will be swelling with people from all over the world. H0wever, if another event has to be pulled from this list to make room for the BCS Championship game it would be the World Cup.

As a baseball fan, its sad for me to think that the World Series doesn’t belong here, but I really don’t know what I’d remove from this list (besides racing) to add it.

To the list’s credit I’ve been told, multiple times this week, that the first weekend of March Madness is even crazier than the Super Bowl at the sportsbooks. I avoided the sportsbooks last year but I may peek in to see what the action is like. I’m experimenting on the strip with the Super Bowl, why not for the madness!

You know my favorite sportsbooks on the strip are Lagasse’s Stadium at Palazzo and the sportsbook at Venetian. If you want a book off the strip you know I love the sportsbook at Red Rock casino.

Note: I don’t have any idea if MGM paid for their sportsbooks to be featured, nor am I sure why I care. However, Forbe’s Top 10 list bothered me enough that I will provide a more accurate Top 10 sportsbooks in Vegas list later this week from someone that actually lives, vacations and gambles in Vegas sportsbooks.