And for those who believe the house never loses, take note. In 1996, the fight between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield proved to be a painful evening. Tyson came into the bout a heavy 25-to-1 favorite, meaning people who bet Holyfield at those odds won $25 for every $1 they bet. So much money was bet on Holyfield that the betting line ultimately plummeted and closed at 8-to-1. Holyfield went on to win, costing casinos throughout the city millions.

“The best day ever for sports bettors,” says Walker, “the Super Bowl, our single biggest day for wagering. Best event, March Madness. Hands down the book’s most electrifying event. Those first four days of the college basketball championship tournament are crazy fun,” says Walker. “People fly in from all over, and by six o’clock in the morning the book is already standing room only.” The first two rounds feature 48 games played by teams representing every corner of the country in do-or-die contests. Upsets are inevitable, which fan the flames of the deeply passionate, heavily partisan crowds. “There is an instant camaraderie,” says Walker. “Total strangers rooting for the same team are jumping up and down and hugging each other. It’s awesome.”

The Super Bowl is only slightly more sedate, the main difference being that all eyes are on the one game. Uninformed sports book spectators may find themselves scratching their heads when hoots and hollers go up at the oddest times. This is thanks to the myriad of “proposition bets” that The Mirage offers on the Super Bowl. Proposition bets are fun side bets—150 in all last year—that run the gamut: Will there be a score in the first six and a half minutes of the game; which team will commit the first turnover; which team will punt first; which will be the first team to use a coaches challenge for instant replay; which player will score the first touchdown. Among the wilder bets last year was who would score more points that Sunday: the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl or the NBA’s Kevin Garnett for the Minnesota Timberwolves (each scored 32). In the end the Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers 32-29, and while the champs did not cover the seven-point spread, bettors who picked either team’s exact final score won with hefty 50-to-1 odds.