Did you know that in Vegas early Sunday evening the houses put out an unofficial early line and allow bettors who will bet at least 500 dollars to see that line and it never sees the light of day. The underwriters use those 50 or so people they allow to bet as a measuring stick since those bettors are very sharp fans and the underwriter then judges from the action of those select fews to make the official line. I listened to a guy from one of the big Vegas houses on WWL one night talk about how the line is made. He said if the small group bets heavliy on one team, then the official line reflects that opinion.
Once the line is published, he said, if it moves more than two points it reflects a poor line and early in a season some fans who really follow teams know things the handicappers do not but as the season progresses, the line gets much better and the houses make more money.
In short, gambling in Vegas is a billion dollar industry and not subject to fans desires and fears, but the result of intelligent lines designed to maximize profit for the houses by splitting the bets. they use things like laying off bets to make the most profit for each house.
They do not build multi million dollar casinos on sentiment.