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When I worked in Vegas in the mid-80's, the best gig going was middling college basketball. Before the introduction of the shot clock and the three-point shot to college hoops--sometime in the late 80's--no sport was as close to as lucrative for middlers as was college baskets.
In fact, Robby's(Polar's) boss, who was also my boss for a time, perfectly described the easeful riches to be gained from middling college basketball when he said, "It's like shooting fish in a barrel."
In fact, middling college baskets was so lucrative that you didn't even have to middle games to make money; you could "side" them. In other words, you could lay -1 and take +2 and lay -2 and take +3. According to studies that I did for the 83-83 and 84-85 seasons, implementing this strategy yielded an average profit of 1.5% on moneys invested. For example, for every game where you layed a dime on minus 1 and took +2 for a dime, you could expect to make $33. If you were able to do this dozens of times a day, and for amounts considerably larger than a dime on each side, imagine the profit potential.
In fact, some joints were so ignorant about the value of a point in college hoops, they would foolishly jump their line a full point when you bet the limit. We used to stick two guys in certain joints. One guy would bet one side, and then after the line was moved a point, the other guy would bet it back the other way. Back and forth they would go. It was like taking candy from a baby.
Now, consider how great the middles were.
1-and-a-half point middles on 1 point to 4 point favorites yielded an incredible 4.8% average profit on monies invested. As one went above 4 point favorites, profits declined, but one could still expect an approximately 1-and-a-half percent return on 1-and-a-half point middles.
Unbelievably, many sportsbooks also allowed bettors to buy half points, at 6/5, on college hoops. Well, around 1 to 3, this was like giving money away.
Before the shot clock and 3-point shot, many college basketball games were very low scoring. Weak teams would constantly stall against good teams. So many games would be close, and then come down to the final shot; hence the value of numbers around pick to 4.
One of the reasons that our operation shut down was the rule changes in college basketball. Middling college baskets had been our bread and butter. After the rule changes, the percentage profit in colege baskets dropped dramatically.
In fact, I don't mind giving out the current
percentages, since middling college hoops is no longer worth my time and energy. According to my most recent studies, 1-and-a-half-point middles in college baskets on teams that are between 1 and 6 point favorites yields a 0.9% profit on monies invested. Anything above a 6-point favorite yields a negative return. In other words, to make real decent money in college basketball middling, you now need two-point middles, which are hard to come by.
The greatest college basketball middler in Vegas history was Marty the Jew. Marty made an absolute mint middling college baskets.
He knew exactly what he was doing and had an incredible collection of large private bookies throughout the country. Interestingly, if I recall right, Syl, who had been one of the corrupt supervisors at the Stardust during the Sam Brown reign, worked for Marty as a runner after he was ousted from the Dust. And, he was supposedly robbed of a 100 dimes that he had been fronted. I'll believe in the tooth fairy before I believe he was actually robbed.
The ability of large-scale middlers to exploit stupid BMs, which was exemplified in college baskets, helped lead to to the implementation of the current sportsbook Order in Vegas. In my next post, I'll explain why clueless empty suits were the perfect choice as BMs for the new Order in Vegas.
In fact, Robby's(Polar's) boss, who was also my boss for a time, perfectly described the easeful riches to be gained from middling college basketball when he said, "It's like shooting fish in a barrel."
In fact, middling college baskets was so lucrative that you didn't even have to middle games to make money; you could "side" them. In other words, you could lay -1 and take +2 and lay -2 and take +3. According to studies that I did for the 83-83 and 84-85 seasons, implementing this strategy yielded an average profit of 1.5% on moneys invested. For example, for every game where you layed a dime on minus 1 and took +2 for a dime, you could expect to make $33. If you were able to do this dozens of times a day, and for amounts considerably larger than a dime on each side, imagine the profit potential.
In fact, some joints were so ignorant about the value of a point in college hoops, they would foolishly jump their line a full point when you bet the limit. We used to stick two guys in certain joints. One guy would bet one side, and then after the line was moved a point, the other guy would bet it back the other way. Back and forth they would go. It was like taking candy from a baby.
Now, consider how great the middles were.
1-and-a-half point middles on 1 point to 4 point favorites yielded an incredible 4.8% average profit on monies invested. As one went above 4 point favorites, profits declined, but one could still expect an approximately 1-and-a-half percent return on 1-and-a-half point middles.
Unbelievably, many sportsbooks also allowed bettors to buy half points, at 6/5, on college hoops. Well, around 1 to 3, this was like giving money away.
Before the shot clock and 3-point shot, many college basketball games were very low scoring. Weak teams would constantly stall against good teams. So many games would be close, and then come down to the final shot; hence the value of numbers around pick to 4.
One of the reasons that our operation shut down was the rule changes in college basketball. Middling college baskets had been our bread and butter. After the rule changes, the percentage profit in colege baskets dropped dramatically.
In fact, I don't mind giving out the current
percentages, since middling college hoops is no longer worth my time and energy. According to my most recent studies, 1-and-a-half-point middles in college baskets on teams that are between 1 and 6 point favorites yields a 0.9% profit on monies invested. Anything above a 6-point favorite yields a negative return. In other words, to make real decent money in college basketball middling, you now need two-point middles, which are hard to come by.
The greatest college basketball middler in Vegas history was Marty the Jew. Marty made an absolute mint middling college baskets.
He knew exactly what he was doing and had an incredible collection of large private bookies throughout the country. Interestingly, if I recall right, Syl, who had been one of the corrupt supervisors at the Stardust during the Sam Brown reign, worked for Marty as a runner after he was ousted from the Dust. And, he was supposedly robbed of a 100 dimes that he had been fronted. I'll believe in the tooth fairy before I believe he was actually robbed.
The ability of large-scale middlers to exploit stupid BMs, which was exemplified in college baskets, helped lead to to the implementation of the current sportsbook Order in Vegas. In my next post, I'll explain why clueless empty suits were the perfect choice as BMs for the new Order in Vegas.
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