LAS VEGAS — Jay Kornegay and Westgate SuperBook colleagues knew that venturing into other states to conduct business, displaying their impressive bookmaking skills and menus, would be challenging.
In the end, in July, it became too challenging. So the SuperBook ceased operating in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.
“It just didn’t make sense for us,” SuperBook executive vice president Kornegay said. “We weren’t sure if we’d be able to dedicate those types of resources to be competitive in those states. We made the right decision.
“We pulled the reins back to our roots, to Las Vegas. I want to make sure that’s clear. The Las Vegas SuperBook is still running strong, and it is still considered an industry leader. We’re focused on our Las Vegas property.”
In those other states, the SuperBook announced it would honor all wagers that occurred on events through Nov. 17. All other such futures action was refunded. Kornegay said, “It was very fair.”
In May 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for states to set their own legal sports-betting fates and futures, triggering a competition frenzy. Thirty-eight states and Washington, D.C., now feature legal sports wagering.
“It’s a very hyper-competitive market,” Kornegay said. “We knew that going in. We knew that it was going to continue. You have to really dedicate a lot of resources to be somewhat successful.
“Many are playing the long haul. I’m not sure if anybody’s profitable at this point in time. I know that they’re inching closer to it, and I’m all for it. I’m really happy for them. But it just didn’t make sense for us.”
A fateful spring break
On Monday, I spoke with the 61-year-old Kornegay about his company shuttering its shops outside the Silver State, how it deftly avoided Illinois and its curious Bronny James propositions.
What he couldn’t address were rumors, circulating stronger by the day, that his position at the SuperBook would soon change, in a move considered amicable to both parties, to that of a special advisor or property ambassador through 2028.
Kornegay is a Vegas industry pillar, on a short list that includes Johnny Avello (DraftKings), Richie Baccellieri and Nick Bogdanovich (Circa) and Michael Gaughan, Chris Andrews, Vinny Magliulo and Jimmy Vaccaro (South Point). In recent years, sportsbook veteran chiefs Art Manteris (Station Casinos) and Jeff Stoneback (BetMGM) retired, altering the presence of old-school Vegas ways and means.
A 1987 spring-break Vegas trip, with a bunch of Colorado State pals, served as Kornegay’s career catapult. Ironic, since he was the only one who had voted for sun, sand, warmth and adult beverages on a California or Mexico coast.
He and his team at the Imperial Palace became renowned for proposition action.
Kornegay landed at the Westgate in 2004 and spearheaded the Super Bowl prop craze by overseeing the release of hundreds of such props on dozens of pages.
He will remain accessible to Westgate executives seeking his expertise and to media.
Look for John Murray, director of race and sports who hails from the Washington, D.C., area, to take over Kornegay’s operations role.
Send in the clowns
As this was being written, rookie guard Bronny James made one basket in six NBA games. He was 0-for-4 beyond the three-point arc, sank both of his free-throw attempts and snatched an offensive rebound. He also had two assists and a steal.
He’s wearing a Lakers jersey, with a four-year contract worth nearly $8 million, thanks to the polarizing LeBron James, his father, who forced his team to pick his kid in the June draft.
In one season at USC, Bronny didn’t even average five points. “The Nepo Baby,” Fox Sports Radio overnight host Ben Maller calls the blatant nepotism.
The SuperBook partook in this comedy by posting eight Bronny props, from him recording a triple-double this season (200-to-1 odds) to winning rookie of the year (500-1).
Kornegay recalled that the “20+ points” in any ’24-25 NBA game, at 10-1, was the most popular prop in which patrons invested.
At the end of a blowout defeat in Cleveland on Oct. 30, Lakers coach JJ Redick put garbage-time Bronny in, and he hit a 14-foot jump shot, which would have paid +400 on the method of his first NBA points.
“They love Bronny,” Kornegay said of a market that gets heavily influenced by its proximity to Southern California. “My gosh, they couldn’t get enough of Bronny. We didn’t realize how much interest there would be; there was plenty.
“We had a number of different propositions on him that received a tremendous amount of play and interest from the general public.”
That “No” odds weren’t offered should tip off punters to avoid the circus.
Kornegay reiterates that six years into this mass legalization there isn’t a single profitable operator.
“There are so many educated players out there that make it difficult for the operators to be profitable,” he said. “I know the common guy is not going to bet something like [long ‘No’ odds on a Bronny prop.]
“He’s not going to risk $600 to win $20. He’s not going to do that, but the educated players will. So it’s just a losing proposition for us, if we were to put that up there on the ‘No’ side. Again, you don’t have to bet it.”
I glanced at 20-1 on Bronny to grab at least 10 boards in a game, 30-1 on at least 10 assists, and laughed.
Kornegay understood.
Those who might question such tactics must understand that he is running a cutthroat business.
“It’s a ‘Yes’ bet and there if you want it,” he said. “It’s like the rib eyes at the grocery store, and they’re $22 a pound. You don’t have to buy it.”
Making it fair
Kornegay and his scouts avoided Illinois, which essentially doubled its tax on operators as the Westgate halted all business outside Nevada in midsummer.
Such an action is bound to trickle from the operator to the consumer, inevitably affecting problem gambling.
“Players will have a more difficult time winning, or holding their own,” Kornegay said, “based off how the operator is posting their spreads, splits, pay charts, etc.”
Six years into this widespread legalization, he called this still the infancy stage of sports betting.
“There has to be a lot figured out,” Kornegay said, “when you have ‘this’ legal in one state and not legal in that state.”
In five years, he predicted, it will all be running much smoother than today. With that SCOTUS decision, Kornegay believed a huge dam was about to burst.
“You could tell how popular sports betting would be,” Kornegay said. “The growth, the handle numbers, are just through the roof. We must be doing something right, and I think we’re doing a lot right.
“There are some terrific operators out there that are doing what they can to make it enjoyable and affordable, and fair, to the players.”