Las Vegas latest member of "Who Dat Nation"

By Frank Pingue

TORONTO (Reuters) - The New Orleans Saints can count several Las Vegas casinos as the newest members of the 'Who Dat Nation' since most of the millions of dollars being wagered on the Super Bowl are banking on an Indianapolis Colts victory.

The point-spread for the game has bounced around over the past week with reports of injuries, but the Colts are largely expected to beat the Saints by five points.

MGM Mirage, which operates 10 sports book on the Las Vegas Strip, said about 75 percent of the bets placed in its casinos are banking on a Colts victory in Sunday's game.

"At this point we are cheering for the Saints," Jay Rood, race and sports book director at MGM Mirage, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"But the next 48 hours is our bread and butter and make or break time. What we have booked to the game right now is probably only one third of what we'll have."

Casinos expect to see betting on the Saints ramp up on the weekend given wagers from fans who want to support a feel-good team in its first Super Bowl and less than five years after New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The team's supporters have adopted the refrain 'Who Dat?', which refers to a chant in local dialect "Who Dat Say Dey Gonna Beat Dem Saints?" and fans count themselves members of the 'Who Dat Nation.'

"More tickets might be on the Saints, but we think more of the larger wagers will be on the Colts," said Jay Kornegay, vice president of race and sports book operations for the Las Vegas Hilton.   Continued...