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Point Spread Pioneer Passes
The recent passing of Ed Curd in Kentucky should not go unacknowledged by sports bettors, although many may never have ever heard of him. The Associated Press obituary called him the “inventor of the point spread,” the essential ingredient in the explosive growth of sports betting over the past half century.
Although men have wagered on athletic events since at least the ancient Olympic Games, horse racing was the sport of kings in Europe and became the king of sports in America. Match races in small towns gave way to racetracks, where bookmakers plied their trade in competition with the pari-mutuel machines. Bookies and bettors drifted a bit toward baseball, and the tide swelled when most tracks were shut down during World War I.
Odds for baseball were similar to odds for horses, 6-5, 3-2, 2-1. Prices could also be arranged for football fans who wanted to bet Harvard over Yale or Notre Dame over Army. But who wanted to play when Notre Dame met Kalamazoo? You could receive a better return on Man of War against one of Augustus Busch’s Clydesdales. The point spread, which devised a point differential to equalize opposing sides, first appeared in the late thirties and early forties, and within a generation, sports betting began its ascent and horse racing began its descent.
Howard Schwartz, resident expert at the Gamblers Book Club in Las Vegas, says Curd should more accurately be credited with refining and popularizing the point spread. He cites Betting the Line: Sports Wagering in American Life, by Richard Davies and Richard Abram, which reports that the concept was most probably originated by Charles McNeil, a statistics instructor and securities analyst who graduated from the University of Chicago. McNeil shared his thoughts with Minneapolis bookmaker Billy Hecht, and was later introduced to Curd through an associate of Adolph Rupp.
Curd was a big man in Lexington, Kentucky. It’s easy to imagine his Mayfair Bar on Main Street, with its upstairs banks of telephones servicing bettors throughout the nation. His obituary, after listing surviving family members, noted such long time friends as tough guy actor George Raft, Happy Chandler, a governor of Kentucky and commissioner of major league baseball, the legendary Coach Rupp, famed gambler Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder and convicted mobster Frank Costello.
Costello testified at the 1951 Kefauver Congressional hearings that he bet regularly with his “good friend Ed Curd.” This was not exactly the sort of endorsement bookmakers were seeking in those days. Curd’s fame caught up with him again when he was indicted for gambling in the 1960’s; he considered the charges serious enough to flee the country. Ironically he found refuge in the Caribbean, the current hotbed of sports betting.
What goes around comes around. Today, odds are experiencing a comeback, as more shops offer money lines on football and basketball (as well as run lines on baseball.) Variety is usually good, and the lines offer a viable alternative, up to a point. A three point favorite is about 8-5, a seven point favorite is about 3-1, ten points are worth about 7-1 and fourteen around 10-1. Double digit games do not generate much action on the money line. Saturdays and Sundays would be a lot slower without the point spread.
Hopefully a few NFL owners offered prayers for Curd. Surely their predecessors, men like Tim Mara, Art Rooney, Mickey McBride and Carroll Rosenbloom, realized the value of the point spread to the growth of their league. Everyone in the betting industry, on both sides of the counter, should appreciate Curd’s contribution.
The history of sports betting is cloaked in secrecy, clouded by myth and rumor as well as outright fabrication and denials. While oldtimers certainly sought fortunes, fame was not high on their wish list. A chronicle of the CIA or the Mossad could probably be more accurately compiled.
Ed Curd was undoubtedly responsible for at least increased usage of the point spread as a gambling tool, and surely deserves a spot in the Sports Betting Hall of Fame. The recognition can not harm him now. You can safely give odds on that.
Point Spread Pioneer Passes
The recent passing of Ed Curd in Kentucky should not go unacknowledged by sports bettors, although many may never have ever heard of him. The Associated Press obituary called him the “inventor of the point spread,” the essential ingredient in the explosive growth of sports betting over the past half century.
Although men have wagered on athletic events since at least the ancient Olympic Games, horse racing was the sport of kings in Europe and became the king of sports in America. Match races in small towns gave way to racetracks, where bookmakers plied their trade in competition with the pari-mutuel machines. Bookies and bettors drifted a bit toward baseball, and the tide swelled when most tracks were shut down during World War I.
Odds for baseball were similar to odds for horses, 6-5, 3-2, 2-1. Prices could also be arranged for football fans who wanted to bet Harvard over Yale or Notre Dame over Army. But who wanted to play when Notre Dame met Kalamazoo? You could receive a better return on Man of War against one of Augustus Busch’s Clydesdales. The point spread, which devised a point differential to equalize opposing sides, first appeared in the late thirties and early forties, and within a generation, sports betting began its ascent and horse racing began its descent.
Howard Schwartz, resident expert at the Gamblers Book Club in Las Vegas, says Curd should more accurately be credited with refining and popularizing the point spread. He cites Betting the Line: Sports Wagering in American Life, by Richard Davies and Richard Abram, which reports that the concept was most probably originated by Charles McNeil, a statistics instructor and securities analyst who graduated from the University of Chicago. McNeil shared his thoughts with Minneapolis bookmaker Billy Hecht, and was later introduced to Curd through an associate of Adolph Rupp.
Curd was a big man in Lexington, Kentucky. It’s easy to imagine his Mayfair Bar on Main Street, with its upstairs banks of telephones servicing bettors throughout the nation. His obituary, after listing surviving family members, noted such long time friends as tough guy actor George Raft, Happy Chandler, a governor of Kentucky and commissioner of major league baseball, the legendary Coach Rupp, famed gambler Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder and convicted mobster Frank Costello.
Costello testified at the 1951 Kefauver Congressional hearings that he bet regularly with his “good friend Ed Curd.” This was not exactly the sort of endorsement bookmakers were seeking in those days. Curd’s fame caught up with him again when he was indicted for gambling in the 1960’s; he considered the charges serious enough to flee the country. Ironically he found refuge in the Caribbean, the current hotbed of sports betting.
What goes around comes around. Today, odds are experiencing a comeback, as more shops offer money lines on football and basketball (as well as run lines on baseball.) Variety is usually good, and the lines offer a viable alternative, up to a point. A three point favorite is about 8-5, a seven point favorite is about 3-1, ten points are worth about 7-1 and fourteen around 10-1. Double digit games do not generate much action on the money line. Saturdays and Sundays would be a lot slower without the point spread.
Hopefully a few NFL owners offered prayers for Curd. Surely their predecessors, men like Tim Mara, Art Rooney, Mickey McBride and Carroll Rosenbloom, realized the value of the point spread to the growth of their league. Everyone in the betting industry, on both sides of the counter, should appreciate Curd’s contribution.
The history of sports betting is cloaked in secrecy, clouded by myth and rumor as well as outright fabrication and denials. While oldtimers certainly sought fortunes, fame was not high on their wish list. A chronicle of the CIA or the Mossad could probably be more accurately compiled.
Ed Curd was undoubtedly responsible for at least increased usage of the point spread as a gambling tool, and surely deserves a spot in the Sports Betting Hall of Fame. The recognition can not harm him now. You can safely give odds on that.