David Sweet • E-mail

Forget falling profits and a grim jobless rate. The United States knew for sure it had entered a recession during a football game last February.

How so? Super Bowl wagers in Nevada’s sports books dropped more than 11 percent compared to the previous year. At $81.5 million, the Pittsburgh-Arizona thriller — a 27-23 Steelers victory — marked the lowest handle (money bet on a contest) for the bookies since 2004. The drop in six-figure bets in particular jarred oddsmakers.

As Indianapolis and New Orleans prepare to battle in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami on Feb. 7, sports book chiefs believe the recession won’t sack the house this year.

“Our handle’s been real strong since the middle of November,” said Jay Rood, race and sports book director for MGM Mirage. “The second playoff weekend, we weren’t expecting the crowd we had.

“The betting was off (in Las Vegas) last year during the Super Bowl. But there’s no sense that we’ll be impacted significantly by the economy this year.”

Noted Matt Youmans, who covers sports betting for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “The sagging economy’s impact on Super Bowl betting should be minimal. People always seem to find the money when they really want it, whether it’s to party on New Year’s Eve or gamble on the Super Bowl.”

Nothing boosts business at sports books like the Super Bowl. Though wagering has never reached the elusive $100 million mark, it has steadily increased over the years, from around $50 million in 1989 (when the San Francisco 49ers nipped the Cincinnati Bengals) to $71.5 million in 2002 (when the New England Patriots upset the St. Louis Rams) to a record $94.5 million bet on Super Bowl XL in 2006, when Pittsburgh beat Seattle.

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The Super Bowl matchup always affects the amount of wagering, but it doesn’t drive betting. Though Pittsburgh was involved in the highest handle ever, it also played during last year’s big decline. The matchup between the Patriots — looking to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history — and the New York Giants — a historic big-market team — seemingly would have broken all betting records in 2008. But Pittsburgh-Seattle, a much less attractive duo, topped them.

Regardless of who’s playing, it’s hard to resist Vegas on Super Bowl Sunday. Aside from the movie-sized television screens, free drinks and charged atmosphere in the sports books, propositions — off-beat bets such as who will win the coin toss, the over/under on the length of the National Anthem and what color drink will appear from the Gatorade container dumped on the winning coach — entice bettors. Rood expects a third of all Super Bowl bets at MGM Mirage properties will be prop-related, whereas a decade ago it may have reached 15 percent.

Ones that tie in to other sports — such as whether LeBron James will score as many points that day as the winning Super Bowl team — are not as popular as public may believe, because they require more homework than the other bets, said Rood. The most popular props? “They’re media-driven, if they’re hyping up a matchup,” he said. “(Peyton) Manning and (Drew) Brees, everyone will bet up who has the most completions. The more glamorous player positions get a lot of play. So does long-shot value, like picking the exact score.”

Of course, if bettors make too many proposition bets, they may end up cheering against themselves. Those rooting for a fourth-quarter safety as New Orleans is backed up against its 1-yard line in a tie game may have forgotten it negates their overtime stake on another betting slip.

Though casinos offer a sheet of props for regular-season games, they’re nowhere near as extravagant as the Super Bowl choices. And no casino posts more propositions than the Las Vegas Hilton, which offers a 30-page book featuring 350 choices.

“The props turn the game into a betting circus,” Youmans noted.

Two items will help Vegas. First, Internet gambling was banned a few years back in the U.S., meaning residents can no longer bet from home at BoDog.com and at other sites on Super Bowl Sunday. Second, some casinos have introduced electronic devices where sports bettors — after paying a sum up front — can wager instantaneously on in-game bets, such as whether the next field goal will be made or missed.

And, of course, Vegas always attracts the big bettor convinced he can outsmart the oddsmakers for a huge payday. During Super Bowl XXXVI, The Mirage accepted a $4.6 million money-line bet on the Rams, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. The Mirage pocketed the money, as the Patriots prevailed.

That’s what usually happens. In the past decade, Vegas made millions of dollars on every Super Bowl save one — when the Giants stunned the Patriots. Though the books paid out $2.6 million on that surprise, they shrugged it off; their total profit on Super Bowl bets for the first decade of the 21st century ended up near $75 million, according to Nevada Gaming Control Board numbers.

Whatever happens Feb. 7, the sports books know the big-game handle will far exceed the betting during the typical 16-game NFL weekend. Said Rood: “It’s like asking a manager at Best Buy how a Friday in July compares to shopping on Black Friday.”

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