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Sports Betting in Vegas Rebounds Behind Football
As Hordes of Players Descend on the Sportsbooks
By Buzz Daly
September 26 – After a surrealistic couple of weeks in which the hellacious events of 9-11-01 cast a shroud of gloom over the country, and transformed Las Vegas into a ghost town, it was both a thrill and a relief this past weekend to see the sportsbooks here once again brimming with football fever. It was proof positive that the American spirit is indomitable … and no matter how bad things may appear, we’ll bend but no one can break us.
Without trivializing the evil deeds that need to be avenged, let it be noted that sports bettors were able to resume a semblance of normalcy and focus on the issue at hand: beating the bookmaker and the spread.
We visited books on the Strip and those that cater to locals, and one overwhelming impression came out of our visits to the books: Football has a magical effect on our national psyche. We love to watch it, we love to bet it, and it seemed that everyone viewing the games was caught up in the excitement of the resumed contests.
There is nothing quite like the drama of a sportsbook packed with investors, all of whom have a pocketful of potentially valuable tickets. Without any question, the most active elements of Vegas casinos last weekend were their race and sportsbooks.
A few observations: Notre Dame has slipped as the public’s favorite college team. Not only were bettors rooting for its opponent, Michigan State, but there was vocal sentiment against the Irish as well.
Although a lot of wiseguy action showed on Tulsa vs. Fresno State, the majority of recreational players were soundly behind the Cinderella team from California, which covered and has hopes if it goes undefeated, there will be a shot at a BCS bowl game.
Baltimore, despite being current Super Bowl champs, did not have automatic support at the +8 Bengals. At the books we visited, the home team had lots of backing.
A tip of our hat to the hot dogs sold at the book at Sunset Station. Mighty tasty.
By the time the weekend was over, it was clear that the dent in our national psyche had been hammered back into shape. We are, after all, Americans. Not Afro, Hispanic, Italian or Jewish Americans. Just the plain old, garden-variety red, white and blue kind.
We know how to mourn and bounce back at the same time. Osama bin Laden likes to beat his gums about religion, and assume the mantle of a holy man. Truth be told, he is a fraud. A spiteful little nonentity who, if he were practicing his “faith” in the U.S., would be doing it wearing a white hooded robe, spewing forth the same litany of hatred that comes out of his rat hole in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, we’ve still got a season of football to look forward to. We think Miami will wind up NCAA national champs, with Iowa and Fresno State two surprise squads that will finish in the top 10.
In the pros, we look for the Eagles to stop the Rams in the NFC Championship, while in the AFC, Denver gets the nod over the Colts. For the Super Bowl victor, check back here in December.
Offshore Tales. Bettors also got back into action with offshore books as if the games had never stopped. Let’s focus on what happened at a single sportsbook to get a birds’-eye view of offshore results.
Score Sportsbook (www.scoresportsbook.com), based in Costa Rica, last week took a heavy hit from its players, revealed general manager Justin Terrell.
“We sustained a very bad weekend, which was very good for our players,” Justin told us. “We lost BIG dollars on the Dolphins, Cardinals and, as usual, the Cowboys. I was surprised at how many people bet against the Oakland Raiders. I was not shocked at all the action that came in on San Diego vs. the hapless Cowboys.”
Phones were ringing off the hook all day Monday. But by that night, all the payouts that had been requested were processed, and ready for delivery to happy customers.
Score understands that players do win, and the book is professionally managed to see that when that happens, the clients are serviced properly. “We have deep pockets,” advised Terrell, “and just like our great country, we’re ready for better days. And our resolve to do the right thing by our customers is even stronger.”
For more information on Score, call 1-866-BIG BETS.
Meanwhile, at another book, the general manager was taking corrective action for an interruption in service caused by an Internet virus that curtailed action on Saturday. The book, British Caribbean (www.bcbet.com), is offering a free bet to players, many of whom were unable to reach BC due to the virus, which depleted bandwidth and caused servers to crash.
BC Sports general manager Nigel Roberts noted that the virus caused the book to have several down hours during a period of peak action. But, “We’re fully operational now,” he advised. “We know Saturday is a busy day for college football and baseball, and while the problem was not our fault, we want to offer all members an opportunity to get a free bet in addition to any other bonus they might qualify for.”
Deposit $300 to $499 and get a free $25 bet, with free $50 and $100 bets available for larger deposits.
“The free bet bonus is our way of saying we are sorry for any inconvenience the Saturday outage may have caused,” said Nigel.
A tip of the hat to Nigel and BC Sports for coming up with a way to take care of customers who were inconvenienced by not being able to get their bets down. For more information, call Customer Service at 1-800-263-6956 and redeem the free bet bonus.
It’s ALIVE! That was Dr. Frankenstein’s feverish reaction in the old 1930s movie when his creation showed signs of life.
With the same enthusiasm displayed by the bug-eyed doctor, we would like to get out the word that our creation, www.buzzdaly.com, is now live on the Internet.
As with most websites, it is a work in progress, but we decided that rather than continue to wait until it was “ready”, to just pull the trigger, get it up and move on. Instead of reciting a laundry list of all the great stuff it offers, we’ll let bettors check it out and decide for themselves how much they like the site.
But we will cite one weekly feature, Pro Football Matchups, which will be available every Thursday. It is an in-depth, comprehensive scouting analysis of each NFL game, prepared by an organization that provides NFL teams and the media with similar material. A projected score will be included.
Our goal is simply that the site’s eclectic collection of material targeting sports bettors should be relevant, insightful and entertaining.
Some sites would have us believe that they are the only place in cyberspace bettors need visit. Maybe, but we don’t believe any such site exists. Certainly not ours. Bettors should surf for info just like they shop for numbers.
We do not pretend to be paragons of virtue, but it is our intention never to pander to our audience, to bore you with hype or deliberately mislead bettors.
And when we slip on a banana peel, we expect you’ll let us know.
Is There a 900 Number in Our Future? One offshore sportsbook that doesn’t lack for creativity is Carib Sports, based in Belize. Head man William J. Caesar prides himself on staying just a little bit in front of the industry.
A veteran of the offshore biz, Caesar looks at Vegas and says, “Anything they can do, we can do better.”
With that in mind, he decided to trump the Las Vegas Hilton and its handicapping contest which has a $1,500 entry fee.
And so, the Caribsports.com Pro Football Handicapping Challenge was born. The contest had a $250 entry fee and drew about 300 players. Fee revenue will be added to the contest pool and divided among the winners.
Under the rules, entrants must pick five games ATS each week. Most lines will be hung with a half-point to avoid pushes.
A win is worth 2 points, a push 1 point, a loss gets nada.
Prize money will be awarded with 40% going to first place, 25% to second place, 15% to third place, 5% for fourth place, and 5% for last place.
Just like the Hilton contest, which displays how contestants are doing, a leaderboard will be posted at the Carib site on Saturday mornings. It will allow visitors to view everyone’s picks.
So, contestants who are hitting the kinds of numbers touts always claim – but mysteriously never produce for anyone – can be followed by all who wish to play their picks.
Currently, a handful of contestants are 9-1, with a healthy number at 8-2 or 8-1-1. Based on the leaderboard after two weeks, Carib has a fair number of sharps playing with the book.
There is a nice little bonus pot that offers entrants who hit at least 67.5% of their plays a share of an additional $10,000.
Now, back to our enigmatic lead-in which wondered if a 900 number might be in our future … it was a tongue-in-cheek reference to our standing in the contest, in which we are tied for first place with a 9-1 mark.
Frankly, we’re ready to see the contest end right now, since our usual 45% win ratio should be kicking in soon. But Carib is such a stickler for rules.
Lest anyone misconstrue our light hearted reference to 900 numbers, it was a rhetorical question, to which the non-rhetorical answer is, there will be no 900 number in our future, either as a seller or a buyer.
Please send questions, comments, etc., to buzzdaly@aol.com.
As Hordes of Players Descend on the Sportsbooks
By Buzz Daly
September 26 – After a surrealistic couple of weeks in which the hellacious events of 9-11-01 cast a shroud of gloom over the country, and transformed Las Vegas into a ghost town, it was both a thrill and a relief this past weekend to see the sportsbooks here once again brimming with football fever. It was proof positive that the American spirit is indomitable … and no matter how bad things may appear, we’ll bend but no one can break us.
Without trivializing the evil deeds that need to be avenged, let it be noted that sports bettors were able to resume a semblance of normalcy and focus on the issue at hand: beating the bookmaker and the spread.
We visited books on the Strip and those that cater to locals, and one overwhelming impression came out of our visits to the books: Football has a magical effect on our national psyche. We love to watch it, we love to bet it, and it seemed that everyone viewing the games was caught up in the excitement of the resumed contests.
There is nothing quite like the drama of a sportsbook packed with investors, all of whom have a pocketful of potentially valuable tickets. Without any question, the most active elements of Vegas casinos last weekend were their race and sportsbooks.
A few observations: Notre Dame has slipped as the public’s favorite college team. Not only were bettors rooting for its opponent, Michigan State, but there was vocal sentiment against the Irish as well.
Although a lot of wiseguy action showed on Tulsa vs. Fresno State, the majority of recreational players were soundly behind the Cinderella team from California, which covered and has hopes if it goes undefeated, there will be a shot at a BCS bowl game.
Baltimore, despite being current Super Bowl champs, did not have automatic support at the +8 Bengals. At the books we visited, the home team had lots of backing.
A tip of our hat to the hot dogs sold at the book at Sunset Station. Mighty tasty.
By the time the weekend was over, it was clear that the dent in our national psyche had been hammered back into shape. We are, after all, Americans. Not Afro, Hispanic, Italian or Jewish Americans. Just the plain old, garden-variety red, white and blue kind.
We know how to mourn and bounce back at the same time. Osama bin Laden likes to beat his gums about religion, and assume the mantle of a holy man. Truth be told, he is a fraud. A spiteful little nonentity who, if he were practicing his “faith” in the U.S., would be doing it wearing a white hooded robe, spewing forth the same litany of hatred that comes out of his rat hole in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, we’ve still got a season of football to look forward to. We think Miami will wind up NCAA national champs, with Iowa and Fresno State two surprise squads that will finish in the top 10.
In the pros, we look for the Eagles to stop the Rams in the NFC Championship, while in the AFC, Denver gets the nod over the Colts. For the Super Bowl victor, check back here in December.
Offshore Tales. Bettors also got back into action with offshore books as if the games had never stopped. Let’s focus on what happened at a single sportsbook to get a birds’-eye view of offshore results.
Score Sportsbook (www.scoresportsbook.com), based in Costa Rica, last week took a heavy hit from its players, revealed general manager Justin Terrell.
“We sustained a very bad weekend, which was very good for our players,” Justin told us. “We lost BIG dollars on the Dolphins, Cardinals and, as usual, the Cowboys. I was surprised at how many people bet against the Oakland Raiders. I was not shocked at all the action that came in on San Diego vs. the hapless Cowboys.”
Phones were ringing off the hook all day Monday. But by that night, all the payouts that had been requested were processed, and ready for delivery to happy customers.
Score understands that players do win, and the book is professionally managed to see that when that happens, the clients are serviced properly. “We have deep pockets,” advised Terrell, “and just like our great country, we’re ready for better days. And our resolve to do the right thing by our customers is even stronger.”
For more information on Score, call 1-866-BIG BETS.
Meanwhile, at another book, the general manager was taking corrective action for an interruption in service caused by an Internet virus that curtailed action on Saturday. The book, British Caribbean (www.bcbet.com), is offering a free bet to players, many of whom were unable to reach BC due to the virus, which depleted bandwidth and caused servers to crash.
BC Sports general manager Nigel Roberts noted that the virus caused the book to have several down hours during a period of peak action. But, “We’re fully operational now,” he advised. “We know Saturday is a busy day for college football and baseball, and while the problem was not our fault, we want to offer all members an opportunity to get a free bet in addition to any other bonus they might qualify for.”
Deposit $300 to $499 and get a free $25 bet, with free $50 and $100 bets available for larger deposits.
“The free bet bonus is our way of saying we are sorry for any inconvenience the Saturday outage may have caused,” said Nigel.
A tip of the hat to Nigel and BC Sports for coming up with a way to take care of customers who were inconvenienced by not being able to get their bets down. For more information, call Customer Service at 1-800-263-6956 and redeem the free bet bonus.
It’s ALIVE! That was Dr. Frankenstein’s feverish reaction in the old 1930s movie when his creation showed signs of life.
With the same enthusiasm displayed by the bug-eyed doctor, we would like to get out the word that our creation, www.buzzdaly.com, is now live on the Internet.
As with most websites, it is a work in progress, but we decided that rather than continue to wait until it was “ready”, to just pull the trigger, get it up and move on. Instead of reciting a laundry list of all the great stuff it offers, we’ll let bettors check it out and decide for themselves how much they like the site.
But we will cite one weekly feature, Pro Football Matchups, which will be available every Thursday. It is an in-depth, comprehensive scouting analysis of each NFL game, prepared by an organization that provides NFL teams and the media with similar material. A projected score will be included.
Our goal is simply that the site’s eclectic collection of material targeting sports bettors should be relevant, insightful and entertaining.
Some sites would have us believe that they are the only place in cyberspace bettors need visit. Maybe, but we don’t believe any such site exists. Certainly not ours. Bettors should surf for info just like they shop for numbers.
We do not pretend to be paragons of virtue, but it is our intention never to pander to our audience, to bore you with hype or deliberately mislead bettors.
And when we slip on a banana peel, we expect you’ll let us know.
Is There a 900 Number in Our Future? One offshore sportsbook that doesn’t lack for creativity is Carib Sports, based in Belize. Head man William J. Caesar prides himself on staying just a little bit in front of the industry.
A veteran of the offshore biz, Caesar looks at Vegas and says, “Anything they can do, we can do better.”
With that in mind, he decided to trump the Las Vegas Hilton and its handicapping contest which has a $1,500 entry fee.
And so, the Caribsports.com Pro Football Handicapping Challenge was born. The contest had a $250 entry fee and drew about 300 players. Fee revenue will be added to the contest pool and divided among the winners.
Under the rules, entrants must pick five games ATS each week. Most lines will be hung with a half-point to avoid pushes.
A win is worth 2 points, a push 1 point, a loss gets nada.
Prize money will be awarded with 40% going to first place, 25% to second place, 15% to third place, 5% for fourth place, and 5% for last place.
Just like the Hilton contest, which displays how contestants are doing, a leaderboard will be posted at the Carib site on Saturday mornings. It will allow visitors to view everyone’s picks.
So, contestants who are hitting the kinds of numbers touts always claim – but mysteriously never produce for anyone – can be followed by all who wish to play their picks.
Currently, a handful of contestants are 9-1, with a healthy number at 8-2 or 8-1-1. Based on the leaderboard after two weeks, Carib has a fair number of sharps playing with the book.
There is a nice little bonus pot that offers entrants who hit at least 67.5% of their plays a share of an additional $10,000.
Now, back to our enigmatic lead-in which wondered if a 900 number might be in our future … it was a tongue-in-cheek reference to our standing in the contest, in which we are tied for first place with a 9-1 mark.
Frankly, we’re ready to see the contest end right now, since our usual 45% win ratio should be kicking in soon. But Carib is such a stickler for rules.
Lest anyone misconstrue our light hearted reference to 900 numbers, it was a rhetorical question, to which the non-rhetorical answer is, there will be no 900 number in our future, either as a seller or a buyer.
Please send questions, comments, etc., to buzzdaly@aol.com.