Cavaliers find support for Series and Game 6

Mirage sports book in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS -- NBA Finals bettors have a lot to think about before wagering on Thursday's Game 6 at the Quicken Loans Center where do-or-die Cleveland is a 2.5-point favorite over Golden State at most Las Vegas sports books.

Can the Cavs duplicate the insanely efficient Game 6 performance where they won 112-97 to cut the Warriors lead to 3-2. Or do the Warriors step up with Draymond Green back in the lineup and win a Game 6 and an NBA Championship at Cleveland for the second consecutive year?

In Monday's game the Cavs played to the high level most saw when they began the playoffs on a 10-0 run. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving both scored 41-points in the runaway win becoming the only duo in NBA Finals to score more than 40 in a game.

They didn't seem to miss -- especially early on -- combining to make 33 of 54 shots while letting Kevin Love shoot only five times (2 pts in 33 mins). James and also chipped in with 18 boards and seven assists in a game he was obviously charged up for.

So what are bettors on the strip saying?

MGM Resorts sports book hub director Jeff Stoneback already heard people talking when he came into work Tuesday morning. "A regular bettor with us came up to me this morning saying 'I don't know who to play for the next game."

There's a feeling that nobody can beat the Cavs if Kyrie and LeBron do what they did in Game 5, but the same can be said for Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry. Which duo does the best? And does momentum carry over into Cleveland with a city that will be going absolutely wild as they hope to win its first pro sports championship since 1964. "We're still alive, we believe".

After the home team won and covered the first three games, the last two have been won by the road underdogs. Stoneback said bettors were on the Cavs in Game 6 and they were even taking +5.5 when there were +6 and +6.5s available around town. He said they were a small loser after getting late Warriors money to help balance the risk.

An area where the MGM books aren't balanced is the series price.

"We had lots of people playing the Cavs adjusted series price taking 10-to-1 prior to Game 5," said Stoneback.

Read More Here...VegasInsider.com

Cubs prop posted: 100 wins, lay -160 for OVER

Cubs fans loving the South Point props on their team this season.

LAS VEGAS -- The Washington Nationals had baseball’s best record (14-4) through Sunday, which translates to +8.4 units if betting them every game, which also is the best return on investment. But the really big story of April has been the Cubs at 14-5 and looking every bit like the best team as many prognosticators predicted.

Every year the Cubs are the team with the biggest World Series risk at sportsbooks, just because it’s a normal process for visitors to make the bets for friends and family. There is this love and fascination with the Cubbies because of a history that hasn’t seen them win a World Series since 1908. Also, millions of Americans watched them daily on WGN when cable television started get in everyone’s home in 1980. They partied with Harry Caray daily in the afternoon’s and it just stuck for most.

“Cub fans have been waiting since the (Leo) Durocher years to have a team this good,” said South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews. “And this team is definitely legit. They have it all; starting pitching, hitting and solid bullpen.”

To capitalize on the popularity of the Cubs, Andrews posted couple of different props for the fans to chew on. One asks whether or not the Cubs will win 100 games or more with YES being -160 and NO +140. I’m starting to believe 100 is a strong possibility.

Initially, I thought 94 wins was a crazy thought just because of Chicago being in the NL Central with St. Louis and Pittsburgh, who both finished ahead of them last season. But Pittsburgh has been disappointing even though they’re 10-9. The past three seasons they had one of the best bullpens, but this year, it stinks. The Bucs pen has blown 3 of 8 save opportunities and has a 4.79 ERA – only six teams are worse. And the starting pitching hasn’t been getting to the seventh inning, so the pen has been worked hard every game. Because of the Pittsburgh rating being dropped, the Cubs become the beneficiary within the division.

Also Jake Arrieta is every bit as good as he was last season when he won the NL Cy Young Award. No way he can duplicate 2015, right? Think again, he’s won all four of his starts and allowed only two earned runs (0.87 ERA). He’s also thrown a no-hitter and even hit a homer. Throw in Jason Hammel allowing only two runs over his four starts plus the bullpen looking outstanding and you can see why I’ve changed my Cubs stance.

Andrews posted a prop on Arrieta asking whether or not he’ll throw a no-hitter again in the 2016 regular season, which he should have about 29 starts remaining. “We opened at NO -700, but the pros bet it up to -800. The public is taking the YES at 6-to-1.”

Still, winning three series makes it tougher than ever to win the World Series, unlike the 1908 Cubs that disposed of the Tigers in five games (4-1). No wild cards, no league championships, it was just one best of seven series way back then. And if the Cubs don’t win it this year, who will be the goat adding to the lovable loser mystique that no other sports franchise has? Have to blame someone, right?

Andrews is getting lots of Cubs future action and dropped their World Series odds from 4-to-1 down to 3-to-1 on Sunday.

Read More Here on NBA and NFL happenings............GamingToday.com

Westgate SuperBook offers best viewing experience in Las Vegas

Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook video display is incredible.

GamingToday.com

Last week I was so pumped for the start of the 2016 baseball season and wanted to make it a special occasion, but couldn't find anyone that was able to fit a trip into their schedule to either San Diego or Anaheim for the opening series, so I decided to stay home by myself in Las Vegas and watch them all. The big question was where should I stay to make it the ultimate baseball stay-cation.

I've always enjoyed my past stay-cations at Red Rock or Green Valley Ranch and the South Point has always been my go-to move, but I wanted something a little different, a change of pace. Basically, I just wanted a new experience with baseball being the focal point. So the main component as I whittled down the possible candidates of hotels came down completely to the sports book video presentation. I wanted to be able to watch every baseball game for four straight days with the clearest of screens, loud enough sound on a featured game and being able to do it in pure comfort.

Finally, it hit me. "What about the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook?" They just built this amazing new book that cost almost $12 million and I had seen it in different phases over the past eight months being built, but had never spent a full three hours to watch a game in the finished product, let alone stay multiple days for baseball-only purposes -- I had stayed there several times for the Elvis-fests.

The thing I liked best right off the bat in the renovated room as I started to get myself comfortable for opening day on Monday was how SuperBook VP Jay Kornegay shifted the race side and sports side from the old layout with each other. The sports side is now the larger of the two sides. There's also no-smoking throughout the book, a first for Las Vegas where smokey rooms have become synonymous with a race and sports book image.

When I sat down for the opening game in these huge comfortable seats with a table top to rest my coffee and sheets, it really felt like I was heaven. The room was full, but it felt like I had lots of space for myself -- no one crammed on top of me. "Yes, this is exactly what I was hoping for -- damn good choice going with the Westgate" is what I was thinking to myself and a game hadn't even started yet.

I had these massive screens in front of me and I felt like I was Captain of the Starship Enterprise. It was a video display that was out of this world and a testimony to the evolution of the modern sports book which first wowed us with the SuperBook in 1986 and then three years later with the Mirage until the ultimate video display was born at Red Rock in 2006, which was kind of the birth of the technology the SuperBook has expanded upon.

The SuperBook video wall has the ability to post odds on every section of it or use video on the entire 20 x 240 feet of screen that curves around the room. They can have seven monster movie screen pictures in HD on display or break it down to smaller screens to accommodate a busy MLB, NBA or NHL schedule.

On this Monday afternoon, it was all baseball, but I had to wait an hour longer than usual because of poor weather cancelling the first game on the schedule with the Astros at Yankee Stadium. Poor weather would later cancel the Red Sox and Indians. Both games would be made up Tuesday morning -- an added bonus for me on Tuesday. I had to wait for the 11 am game with the Giants at Milwaukee for my opening day to begin, but then slowly over the next two hours, four other games would pop up on the screens. I won a couple and lost a couple, but it didn't matter. I was in video heaven for opening day.

I wanted to know more about it, so I asked to see assistant manager Jeff Sherman. I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. I knew he was busy prepping his six pages of Masters props and I was doing a story on it, so I'd ask him some questions that I'd use for quotes while also getting to visit the control room. When I walked into the room, where there were three other administrators working the boards, making sheets and controlling race sound. It looked like a NASA control room. Manager Ed Salmons was seated in one spot booking the games, Sherman was in the midst of finalizing his props and they had a mini-version of the entire screen out front located in the back. It was an awesome operation.

Jay Kornegay walked in to the back room and I couldn't throw out enough descriptive words to him about how impressed I was with the entire operation, and that was just for back-of-the-house, not even the front.

Meanwhile, there was another big game on the day that was a bonus for me -- the National Championship basketball game with North Carolina being a 2-point favorite over Villanova. Salmons said the kids (smaller public money) were all over Carolina. I had bet Villanova a day earlier, but almost forgot about the game on Monday because of the baseball rush my mind was enjoying.

The room started filling up for the basketball game at about 5:30 and once it started, you could tell it was a pro-Tar Heels crowd. The flow of the game was actually like a classic Hagler-Hearns boxing match from the 80's where it just back and forth with each team doing what it does best. UNC's size had the edge on the boards 33-23 and shot 11-17 from three-point range, but Villanova kept after it with efficiency that defined their entire tournament run by shooting 58 percent from the field.

The biggest roar of the night with 5 seconds left in the game was when UNC guard Marcus Paige hit a circus double-pump three to tie the game 70-70. Most bettors wanted overtime so they could cash their tickets while others -- Villanova bettors -- wanted a foul or anything in the final seconds just to avoid OT. They got their wish, except it came on a 3-pointer at the top of the key from Kris Jenkins to win the game, 76-73, as time expired.

As the ball was chucked up in the air, you could hear several bettors yelling in unison "No, no, nooooo" followed by some expletives when the ball splashed for three. The 25 percent of the crowd that had Villanova were jumping around in unison, high-fiving and some even hugging. The UNC bettors either sat dejected or put their hands on their heads in disbelief.

But one thing all will agree on is that it might have been the greatest championship game ever played and I felt lucky to be part of it in a such a great environment. I'm like "really, I came for a baseball week of fun and I ended up watching perhaps the best basketball game ever?"

The rest of the week played out well with day baseball -- my favorite -- as opening days were happening for several teams. I even got a taste of some great Champions League soccer play on Wednesday and Thursday. I have never watched matches indoors on such a big screen -- because it doesn't exist -- and they had the sound on for it too with dozens of people oohing and awing every kick. And then on Thursday they had multiple feeds from the Masters opening round action and the color green never looked so brilliant on television.

So to the entire staff at the SuperBook, the maids that kept my beautiful room up daily (60-inch HD flat screens a nice amenity) and the overall vibe I got from everywhere at the Westgate, let me just say thank you. It was one of my favorite opening day baseball experiences ever, and I didn't even go to a game. You brought the games to me in manner I had never known and seen before.

Phil Mickelson getting most Masters bets in Las Vegas

Phil Mickelson getting the Tiger Woods' public-type bets.

There's no Tiger Woods in this years Masters, but action is still pouring in at a record pace at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook for the first major of the season which tees off on Thursday morning.

SuperBook assistant manager Jeff Sherman says Tiger is always good for business, but there are enough storylines to keep bettors satisfied for what is annually the largest wagered golf tournament.

"By far," Sherman said of their Masters handle compared to other majors. "We're going to surpass last year (which was the highest). We're on pace to do it."

With Woods not in play on the board -- he was the largest wagered upon golfer in last year's Masters and largest risk Sherman ever saw for a golfer in any tournament -- bettors have gravitated to Phil Mickelson who was once as high as 30/1 odds (Bet $100 to win $3,000), but the three-time Masters champ is down to 15/1 and will likely be dropping even further.

"He's our biggest risk so far," Sherman said of Mickelson. "He's had a good start to the year, and always been supported well in the majors. We have double the tickets written on him than we do on Jordan Spieth."

Spieth won last year's Masters by jumping out to a huge lead shooting a 64 on Thursday and followed it up with a 66 on Friday. Sherman opened him as the the 5/1 favorite when odds were first posted in August after the PGA Championship -- Where Spieth finished second. If Spieth wins again, he'll be the fourth player in Masters history to capture back-to-back green jackets.

"If you look at the top-10 guys on the odds list, they're all in such good form and the people are familiar with them," said Sherman who is considered the top golf oddsmaker in town. "Right now, I think the list of candidates to win is actually a little deeper."

Sherman likes Jason Day's chances a lot this week and currently has him the 7/1 favorite with both Spieth and Rory McIlroy next at 8/1.

He posted a prop on Monday night asking whether any one of the of them would win with NO -240 and the YES at +200.

Another one of his dozens of Masters props is an OVER-UNDER on the best round set at 65.5.

With two full days of action still to go, the SuperBook has already taken quite a few sizable bets on the odds to win board.

"We took a $9,000 wager on Spieth at 5/1 in January, and the second largest was on McIlroy for $5,000," said Sherman, which shows just how large their overall futures pool is that risk on other golfers has allowed the SuperBook to raise the odds on both those golfers despite those large wagers.

Read More Here...Complete list of props on VegasInsider.com

More Madness than ever at Vegas books

The first March Madness weekend in Las Vegas is always the busiest four-day stretch the sports books will see all season, but the 2016 version took things up a few notches that surprised even the most veteran bookmakers across the city.

"It was unbelievably busy,"said MGM Resorts sports book hub manager Jeff Stoneback.

"Every year you think it can't be any busier, but it was a sight I've never seen in my 30 years in the business. The crowds were incredible, and our action reflected the growth with ticket counts being up 30 percent on Wednesday before the tournament and then up 20 percent over the same Thursday through Sunday last year. We had lines backed up all the way past California Pizza Kitchen (inside Mirage) at 9 am with only one game starting within the hour on Saturday."

The busy Saturday morning was a continuation from what happened Friday night, when bettors did extremely well on the late results with Notre Dame covering -3 against Michigan and Northern Iowa winning outright as a 4.5-point underdog against Texas.

"We ran out of money Friday," said Stoneback regarding the non-stop payouts. "We had to get two cash fills from the cage, so when Saturday morning came around, bettors were really gung ho about the upcoming games."

The most surprising thing thing about the MGM books having so much additional action is that they didn't offer in-progress wagering or phone wagering like many of the other books in town, who also said handle was way up.

"Handle way up, win down," said William Hill's bookmaking director Nick Bogdanovich. "The first day was good, but the other three were a battle."

It was the same story at Station Casinos 19 books across the city.

Read More Here.....VegasInsider.com

No Teaser Caesar

The Caesars/Harrah's books couldn't wait till seasons end.

LAS VEGAS -- On Monday we mentioned that a few books were reviewing their position on teasers because of a 15-1 all-way teaser win for bettors during the divisional round that crushed the books.Caesars Entertainment's chain of books -- Harrah's -- got so rattled with last weeks losses that they didn't even wait for the season end to make changes -- they cut teaser wagering off immediately in a knee-jerk reaction.

If I had to pick one chain of books that would pull a move like this mid-stream, the Harrah's brand would certainly be it. For goodness sake, wait for the season to end. Do some analytics on what the proper prices should be in the playoffs and regular season and then implement the changes next season.

Funny thing is, both games are 3's and it's not an attractive position for teaser bettors that like the favorites like last week was with a couple of 7's. So not only did Harrah's shoot themselves in the foot from a public relations standpoint, but they bailed on a week that sets up more favorably for the books. Well done!

- VegasInsider.com

NFL Wild Card wagering percentages in Las Vegas

William Hill sports books throughout Nevada do a great job providing so many wagering opportunities. Great menu!

CURRENT ODDS AND TRENDS FOR NFL WILDCARD WEEKEND

Below is a chart showing the current odds and trends for the four NFL Wildcard games this weekend. Bettors at William Hill US and on the Mobile Sports app are currently in favor of the Chiefs, Steelers, Seahawks, and Redskins covering in the percentage of point spread total dollars wagered.

NFL WILDCARD GAMES	CURRENT POINT SPREAD	% of TICKETS AS OF 4PM PST on 1/8/16	% of $’s WAGERED AS OF 4PM PST ON 1/8/16
CHIEFS vs. TEXANS	CHIEFS -3	80% CHIEFS	86% CHIEFS
STEELERS vs. BENGALS	STEELERS -3	67% STEELERS	53% STEELERS
SEAHAWKS vs. VIKINGS	SEAHAWKS -5.5	75% SEAHAWKS	81% SEAHAWKS
PACKERS vs. REDSKINS	PACKERS/REDSKINS PICK	54% REDSKINS	52% REDSKINS

NFL WILDCARD GAMES	CURRENT MONEY LINE	% of TICKETS AS OF 4PM PST on 1/8/16	% of $’s WAGERED AS OF 4PM PST ON 1/8/16
CHIEFS vs. TEXANS	CHIEFS -170, TEXANS +150	55% TEXANS	76% CHIEFS
STEELERS vs. BENGALS	STEELERS -150, BENGALS +130	67% BENGALS	68% STEELERS
SEAHAWKS vs. VIKINGS	SEAHAWKS -240, VIKINGS +200	71% VIKINGS	63% SEAHAWKS
PACKERS vs. REDSKINS	PACKERS -110 REDSKINS -110	63% PACKERS	81% PACKERS

NFL WILDCARD GAMES	CURRENT TOTAL	% of TICKETS AS OF 4PM PST on 1/8/16	% of $’s WAGERED AS OF 4PM PST ON 1/8/16
CHIEFS vs. TEXANS	40	54% OVER	76% UNDER
STEELERS vs. BENGALS	45.5	61% OVER	80% UNDER
SEAHAWKS vs. VIKINGS	39.5	59% UNDER	78% UNDER
PACKERS vs. REDSKINS	45.5	52% OVER	81% UNDER

Las Vegas books experience major loss in NFL Week 15

Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook control room.

After nine straight NFL Sunday’s of getting beat by the Las Vegas sports books, bettors exacted revenge in Week 15 with a furious assault on the posted numbers that led to a massive losing day for the house while turning it into a great Christmas gift for the masses. .

“Our worst day of the year,” said CG Technology VP of risk management Jason Simbal. “We got stuck big with parlays.“

It was almost as if St. Nick himself had been watching the one-sided relationship between NFL bettors and the sports books the past two months and had seen enough of the little guy getting pushed around. Coal in the stocking for the naughty and greedy sports books while the public get cheer and jolly for Christmas.

By no means are the books to be painted out as some kind of villain or Grinch, because all they do is post the numbers and let bettors choose who they want.

It’s pretty simple, the books set the numbers on all the games and you give them money and then pick one side or the other. But where the books make all their money throughout the year is the exotic wagers such as parlays, where a bettor can make a lot for a small amount wagered by tying a couple team together.

Betting parlays was a profitable strategy early on in the season when the public won three of the first five weeks. But after the books ironed out the numbers with five weeks of data, the popular public teams were tougher to win with weekly.

Read More Here....VegasInsider.com

Holiday,NFR, no college football slows Week 14 betting action

Bellagio Conservatory festive in Vegas

The Chiefs have won and covered six straight games which is normally a sign that bettors will be jumping all over whatever spread is offered on its next game, but that’s not necessarily the case this week as the Chiefs are 10.5-point home favorites over the Chargers.

South Point sports book director Bert Osborne says enthusiasm for the Chiefs has slowed at his books this week for a couple of reasons.

“No matter how good a team is doing, when you put double digits on the board, it scares people off the game, or at least with the favorite. Bettors just don’t want to include double-digit favorites on their eight-team parlays.

“We’re also seeing business slow as usual at this time of year because of the holiday season. Maybe if this same situation with Kansas City were to occur last month, it would be a different story, but the betting public is usually cautious about laying double-digits.

This is the first week with no big college football games which will make Friday night and Saturday morning sports book traffic come to a crawl compared to the last 15 weeks. Couple that with bettors readying themselves for holiday spending, they’re being a bit frugal at the bet windows.

“We’ve been so jammed with the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) in town that we’re not getting our regular betting crowd, and then we’ve only got one college game Saturday (Army-Navy), so I don’t expect to see too much action on any of these (NFL) games until Saturday night and Sunday morning.”

Read More Here........VegasInsider.com

Free NFL Week 3 Plays: Colts to bounce back at Tennessee

Lots of good games on the board to jump on this week. 

Colts at Tennessee

In a situation similar to Philly's, the Colts' rating has come crashing down after an 0-2 start. Indy backers can lay a generous -3 (-120) against a Titans squad they have won and covered against seven straight times. Yes, the Colts offensive line is worse than we thought coming into the season, but they are still 9.5-points better than the Titans on a neutral field. If we give Tennessee +3 for home field, the spread should be Colts -6.5, which makes laying only a field goal very cheap.

Despite the bargain created by the overreaction, public bettors will be skeptical of laying any amount of points after losing on Indy in the first two weeks. That’s understandable, but let’s not ignore the data we had coming into the season that made Indy co-favorites to win the AFC. That team is still in the locker room, and we should expect to see that real Colts squad Sunday. Colts -3 (-120) is the play.

Predicted score: Colts 27-14

Get More Free NFL Week 3 Picks Here......TheLinemakers.com

Free Thursday Night Football NFL Pick: Broncos at Chiefs

Do you bet the value with Denver on road? or is Manning done?

Adds The Linemakers’ Micah Roberts, “The things I did see from Denver that I liked (last week) was a swarming defense that got lots of pressure on the quarterback and a secondary that was able to flock to the ball. I saw a run defense that didn't allow a good ground team to get anything going. I saw plenty of positives, and even a few with Manning, who was just barely off on a few deep balls to Emmanuel Sanders. “

Denver’s D ranked second in the league last season in yards allowed per play at 4.8.

More on the Broncos: Stats and trends

More on the Chiefs: Stats and trends

Pick: "Last week was certainly an eye opener for the Broncos as we watched Peyton Manning struggle, but let's not put too much into one game," says The Linemakers' Micah Roberts. "I still dropped Denver 1.5 points in my personal ratings, which is less than many others did.

“Manning hasn't lost to the Chiefs as a Bronco, and Denver has won the past four meetings at Arrowhead – even with Tim Tebow."

Micah continues, “Even when Manning was 100 percent the past three years, the flow of these meetings has always been slow, much by the Chiefs’ doing. The UNDER is 7-1-1 in last nine meetings, pre-dating Manning, and that's another way to attack this game, even though we’re not looking at as big a total as we’ve seen for these games recently.

"Look for a better Manning this week and for the trends to continue. Take the Broncos +3 – or better – and UNDER 42.5.”

Read More Here on TheLinemakers.com.......DEN/KC Score Prediction

College Football Week 2 Picks: Sparty has home field advantage

MSU home field should be the difference between W & L. 

LAS VEGAS -- Last season, the Spartans failed to hold a 24-18 halftime lead against the Ducks at Eugene and got outscored 28-3 in the second half. Things figure to be a little different this time around. The main reason is because Marcus Mariota is playing in the NFL and Oregon has to rely on transfer QB Vernon Adams Jr., who is a senior but has never played in a game this big. The next reason is the night crowd in East Lansing, which will quickly remind Adams that he's not at Eastern Washington any more.

Between the crowd and one of the best defenses in the nation, the Spartans should win this game rather easily. Senior QB Connor Cook will put points on the board against a less-than-stellar Oregon defense. Michigan State, behind Connor, has been excellent against the point spread the past two seasons at 18-8 ATS. You can trust him to get the job done.

Despite the quality of the Spartans defense, the totals on their games have apparently been too low, as 13 of their past 16 have gone OVER. Still, the only play in this one is Michigan State -3.5.

Predicted score: Michigan State 41-28

Read More Here for other predictions.........Sporting News

Video: Roberts talks Oregon @ Michigan State

Updated Westgate odds to win Super Bowl 50

The Ravens could be serious Super Bowl contenders out of the AFC.

2016 SUPER BOWL 50
@ LEVI'S STADIUM, SANTA CLARA, CA
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2016

SUPER BOWL 50 GAME LINE
NFC -2.5 TOTAL 52.5
AFC

SUPER BOWL
SEAHAWKS 9-2
PATRIOTS 8
PACKERS 6
BRONCOS 9
COWBOYS 14
EAGLES 8
COLTS 8
LIONS 30
SAINTS 30
RAMS 60
49ERS 100
CARDINALS 30
STEELERS 20
RAVENS 16
BENGALS 40
TEXANS 40
CHARGERS 40
CHIEFS 30
GIANTS 60
PANTHERS 60
FALCONS 40
DOLPHINS 20
BEARS 80
VIKINGS 40
BILLS 40
BROWNS 100
REDSKINS 100
JETS 100
BUCS 100
TITANS 200
JAGUARS 300
RAIDERS 100

NFC CONFERENCE
SEAHAWKS 9-4
PACKERS 3
COWBOYS 7
EAGLES 4
LIONS 15
SAINTS 15
RAMS 30
49ERS 50
CARDINALS 15
GIANTS 30
PANTHERS 30
FALCONS 20
BEARS 40
VIKINGS 20
REDSKINS 50
BUCS 50

AFC CONFERENCE
PATRIOTS 3
BRONCOS 7-2
COLTS 3
STEELERS 10
RAVENS 8
BENGALS 20
TEXANS 20
CHARGERS 20
CHIEFS 15
DOLPHINS 10
BILLS 20
BROWNS 50
JETS 50
TITANS 100
JAGUARS 150
RAIDERS 50

Say it ain't So, Papa Joe; Chevalier Passes

By Micah Roberts
Gaming Today

Papa Joe will be dearly missed

The sports world lost one of it’s all-stars Friday when sports talk radio host Armand Chevalier passed away at the age of 62. Chevalier, better known as Papa Joe, suffered a stroke in April that had paralyzed his right side. He was originally from Pittsburgh, but it was Las Vegas that he called home and established many lasting relationships.

His Sports Buffet radio show went national, but had a distinct Las Vegas flair to it as he invited callers to give them their picks for the week. His show was unlike any other where the callers were the show and he was the moderator. He despised the Yankees and Cowboys, yet did it a way that fans of those teams still loved him.

For over two decades Las Vegas sports fans were treated to this type of delicious radio. Callers became celebrities like “Bubba” with his lead pipe cinches or “Top Gun” from Florida who had his own intro music. They would give their picks and Papa Joe would grade them. It was next to impossible to get in on the show as the lines were always jammed.

I used to be a regular caller myself during the early 90’s and had a system of trying to get in that worked about half the time. Knowing that there was a five second broadcast delay, I would try to time when the on air call sounded like it was almost over and then make my call trying to beat the hundreds of others trying the same strategy to get on to the show with that open line.

His afternoon daily show was contagious and allowed for myself and thousands of others to vent frustrations with anything in sports with his “Bite Me Wednesday’s” edition. No matter how good or bad any of his caller's takes were, he would find the angle immediately and spin it in an instant to make it sound more interesting.

His show was a lot different from what we have on radio now where the hosts are the stars who rarely take phone calls, opting to talk about what they want to talk about. Papa Joe let the callers set the topics and let them be the stars, chiming in with his two cents in his own clever way usually with a good natured zing at the end of the conversation.

Papa Joe loved all his callers and wanted to meet them so he organized gatherings where all the callers could meet each other and Papa Joe himself. He had a weekly softball team that he invited listeners to show up where they got to see him pitch with his ‘79 striped Pirates box hat.

Chevalier also had a news letter that used to go out to thousands of listeners and in 1994, during the baseball strike, his presence in the sports world was never more acknowledged than a story ran by USA Today on the cover of their sports page. The photo on the cover had him draped with thousands of baseball cards from listeners supporting his grass roots effort of his protest of baseball for what would eventually be a lost season, something that not even world wars could do.

Current ESPN Las Vegas 1100am radio producer Clay Baker was one of those loyal fans who sent his baseball cards in while living in Lansing, Mich., but also had the privelidge of working with Papa Joe in Las Vegas from 2002 throgh 2008 as his producer.

"Rather than interview a player, Papa Joe was more interested in what the fans thought. On his show, the callers were priority," Baker said. "His fans were encouraged to roar and debate his topics, daily, and they never let him down. I'm grateful to have worked with Joe and his friendship was a blessing."

"Joe's first stint in Vegas was dealing dice and 21 at the Slots O'Fun, but working on the floor was short lived," said Baker, who then quotted Joe on the matter, 'After my first day, the Pit Boss told me: If you were ever hanged for being a craps dealer, it would be an injustice to the rope. Eventually, I was assigned to the 'Eye In The Sky' and that afforded me similar work at the Hilton and Four Queens.'

He was genuinely loved by everyone because he actually seemed to care about us. He was one of us. He would have a beer and discuss topics like regular guys do at a bar. It was that same type of comfortable approach that made him such a loved icon on air.

A few years later I ran into him while I was running a sports book and we had a good laugh about his early years on the radio and how I used to get in to the radio shows. When talking about the show and everyone in his radio world family, he glowed with the same pride he did when it was initially happening.

He had quite a few relationships with people all over town, but he especially was fascinated with the job of sports book directors, who he always called “Boss Bookies”. He was intrigued with how the operation worked; how and why numbers were moved along with what the “wise guys” were doing.

When talking about the wise guys on air, he would stretch out the pronunciation in a different hush-hush tone, “Wiiiizzze Guyyzz”, as if he was telling a secret and if it got out, someone might get whacked. I always chuckled every time the voice came out.

I was proud to have been invited as a regular guest on his shows and reflect fondly of my younger years trying to get on his shows as a caller, but I was more honored to have just been his friend.

Las Vegans, and everyone else who had the chance to know him, or hear him are going to miss him, but his legacy will not be forgotten. Not only did he have one of the most unique relationships with his callers, but he was also somewhat of a pioneer with syndicated sports radio shows. He set the pace and tempo of an industry that we know as common place today.

"Joe Chevalier fell in love with radio by chance and it changed the world forever," Baker said. "Joe eventually quits the casino business, does radio full time in Las Vegas, then took the nickname Papa, from the Bourbon street bar and soon he was a Vegas legend. Papa Joe never had to make a demo tape. Papa never typed up a resume for a radio gig, he was just the genuine article. The fans knew it and Papa Joe Chevalier became the first star of an industry that had no stars."

Very well said Clay Baker.

Thanks for all the memories Papa Joe, rest in peace!

William Hill Hopping The Pond, Jumps Into Las Vegas Sports Book Market

By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

Welcome to America, William Hill.

Shockwaves were sent through the Las Vegas valley last week when it was announced that England sports book king William Hill had agreed to buy out the Leroy’s and Cal-Neva chain of sports books for $39 million. Because of their reputation and stature within the gaming world, this may be the most anticipated English group coming to Vegas since the Beatles played at the convention center in 1964.

There’s a wide array of opinions and thoughts from people throughout the business as for what it means for existing sports books and the actual impact they’ll make in Las Vegas, but there’s no denying from anyone that when the deal eventually becomes final, there will be an impact.

Rather than get some of the sports book directors to go on record with comments -- regardless of what they say -- that can be misconstrued by several sides on the subject, I thought I’d use my own opinions and thoughts from my years behind the counter. I also found an appropriate expert on the matter, one of my favorite characters I worked with in the industry who has a lot of knowledge of how both Las Vegas books and William Hill operate.

Billy O’Gorman was everyone’s favorite Irish lad while running Las Vegas race books for the last 25 years, but before he hopped the pond, he also ran a William Hill booking operation in Coventry, England from 1974 to 1975. O’Gorman see’s this as being big news, but is a bit reserved on what advances they’ll be able to make.

“It all depends on what Nevada’s gaming board allows them to do. They are famous in England beyond race and sports for their variety of propositions like ‘who will win Miss World,’ or ‘will it snow on Christmas day’ to even ‘what color dress the Queen will wear at the Royal wedding.’ Those type of wagers would seem to have some difficulty passing board approval here.”

William Hill is a giant in England

But maybe not. Just a few months ago the GCB announced that they would be more willing to listen to unique proposition ideas offered by Nevada sports books if they could prove the outcome not to be predetermined and provide satisfactory methods used to ensure that the integrity of Nevada wasn’t compromised. Things like the political elections, poker tournaments and the Academy Awards are just a few of the ideas that could be submitted if a sports book wanted to right now.

The technology of what William Hill brings to the Nevada table should be good for the state overall. We’ve seen Cantor Gaming roll into town and keep the GCB techies working day and night trying to keep up with all of their innovative submissions and William Hill figures to do more of the same.

Cantor, and now William Hill, are both companies in Nevada who run mostly race and sports betting as their core source of income. It is likely that William Hill will be very proactive, like Cantor, with all their lawyer’s and technology wizards looking to make things happen rapidly within the state. Most of the other sports books in casinos are going to have strike back with some kind of counter-offensive to keep up.

Over the last two decades Las Vegas sports books have been put on the back burner of most casino operations just because many account for only 2 to 8% of the overall casino win. Why spend all the time and effort of a company to spearhead an operation to new heights when they can make more money with those same efforts expanding upon proven methods, like increasing slot revenues which generate 40 to 60% of the casino win.

But now, push has come to shove. Even though race and sports betting is small piece of the overall pie, casino executives still like that slice and if they’re getting less than they’ve been accustomed to, they’re going to do something about it in a more aggressive fashion.

Cantor Gaming has some English influences. 

Cantor Gaming has already struck a nerve across the city and have the corporate bosses game planning for maintaining their slice of the pie. With the announcement of William Hill coming, Paul Revere has now been sent rushing full speed down the strip on horseback alerting Las Vegas executives that the time is now for implementing defense strategies to maintain their current grip.

For almost everyone involved, William Hill coming to America is a good thing. Without saying so themselves, the casinos may disagree somewhat because they’ll have to do some more spending on their operation to maintain their status. But now is as good as any to give the sports books some love. It’s the one area of casino operations over the last four years of a poor economic climate that has shown growth, or at least flat levels year-over-year.

For the players it becomes an all win-win situation. The ship loads of English pounds brought over convert nicely to dollars which should go into improving all the Leroy’s and Cal-Neva sports books across the state giving bettors new attractive options for spending their race and sports bankroll.

“Of all the books in England and Ireland, William Hill is the cleanliest and nicest of them all and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that continue over here,” O‘Gorman said as he chuckled about some of the other hole in the wall books scattered throughout England. “They just opened one in my home town of Tipperary, Ireland, and even though we have just a tiny little town, they went first class with everything. It’s absolutely beautiful.“

They’ll also have a competitive wagering menu and gadgets that make wagering easily from wherever like they currently do in England.

From that competitive standpoint, William Hill will have to immediately change their business model in the U.S. The theoretic hold they have in all their wagers offered in the U.K. would be a business killer for them in Vegas and they’ll have to adapt to their new market. The only reason they do it in England is because everyone else does the same thing.

Horse Racing could use a lift in the U.S.

The area where William Hill could really spice things up is in the race book. In England they have pool odds like we have in Nevada with the pari-mutual wagering that is linked to the track. But they also have fixed odds offered in the U.K.‘s books and on site at the track that allows bettors to shop for the best price.

If they wanted to entertain the idea of booking races in Nevada, they would have to do one or the other, either book it or offer pari-mutual wagers. The only stipulation by the GCB is that they would have to be licensed by an approved race dissemination company. If they were bold enough to do the move, they could really shake up the stagnant Las Vegas horse racing business by creating more action with several variations of hedging against the market price.

O’Gorman doesn’t know if they’ll go that far, but knows they’re capable of it.

“They have more intelligence than the CIA when it comes to horse racing, it’s second to none,” said O’Gorman. “They have paid scouts and information flowing from every stable at every track in England to be able to offer the best prices set at the most informed and educated rates. Sports betting made them millions, but horse racing with a competitive edge in information and odds is what allowed William Hill to be what they’ve become.”

O’Gorman said he initially heard about the possibility of William Hill coming to America about six months ago while William Hill executives were having lunch at the Queen Victoria pub inside the Riviera, site of where the featured Leroy’s sports book is, and a place O‘Gorman frequents for a proper pint of Guinness.

“My initial thought was ’no way, their not coming over here, why‘, and then just blew it off as bar talk. But they are coming and it will be very interesting to see what happens.”

U.S. on-line gaming market could be ready soon

O’Gorman poses a great initial question, why are they coming? My first guess is that they have seen what Cantor Gaming has done so fast in Las Vegas -- as well as with the GCB -- and feel they can do similar things, but to a much larger audience across the state with all the Leroy’s and Cal-Neva locations.

My second thought, and maybe it should be the first, is that perhaps the English giant is taking their first step into the U.S. with hopes that interstate wagers will someday be allowed and they want to be ready for it. This aspect wouldn’t be just race and sports, but would include any variation of on-line poker, slots and table games.

If they’re licensed and ready to go in Nevada with the technology they already have in existence in their much more tolerant and bet-friendly country, should the day ever come where the United States accepts the logic in taxing on-line gambling and make it legal, William Hill will be ready from the start just as Cantor Gaming, Caesar’s Entertainment, MGM Resorts and other Gaming Industry leaders will be.

It may take a year before we start to see some changes and the ripple affect it has throughout Las Vegas sports books, but keep a sharp eye at what is going on at your favorite race and sports book. It could be a subtle thing like offering more betting options or higher odds on the parlay chart to cosmetic changes like new paint, carpet or TV’s. Whatever changes are made, the bettor wins!

Las Vegas Betting Notes: Masters Takes Center Stage in Sports Books This Weekend

By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

Mickelson and Woods are favorites to win The Masters

With the NCAA Tournament coming to a close, it signals another season of change for Las Vegas sports books. Betting patterns are altered by the customers and vacation requests by book employees are more easily accepted by book managers across the city. April begins a lull in traffic through the sports books that gets progressively worse all the way to August when the NFL pre-season starts, and even that is up in the air now with a possible strike.

Horse Racing picks up some steam as we near the triple crown, but that doesn’t appeal to many of the traditional sports bettors like it did just a short decade ago. The telling sign that that season has changed, without knowing what month it is or what sport has stopped, is to simply look at a typical Saturday morning in any Las Vegas sports book from September through March and compare it with what we’ll see this Saturday. It’s dead, quiet and there will be minimal windows open for betting.

The busiest day for the sports books now becomes Sunday morning from 9 am to 11 am as bettors all gather to bet their early baseball and NBA games.

It’s kind of surprising that more bettors -- the type that rush to the books for their four-team parlays in the NFL -- don’t bet baseball more just because it’s the best value for the player against the house odds. Not only does the player get the edge of playing a .10 cent line -- less at some places, but they get true payouts on parlays as opposed to fixed odds from a chart for basketball and football odds that decrease with each additional leg added to a parlay when using a true .20 cent payout formula.

Because of the true odds payouts in baseball, Sports Book Directors will be walking on egg-shells for the next four months just hoping to make some kind of profit until football starts and avoid the losing month that inevitably happens quite often during baseball seasons.

In addition to all the great MLB, NBA and NHL action going on this weekend, we also get a chance to wager on the most bet upon golf event of the year, The Masters. Beyond all the history of Augusta National that makes it so popular, handle for the sports books is spurred because most books have had the odds offered since last December allowing the millions of visitors to the city since then a chance to take home a few souvenir tickets for friends, family or themselves.

The Las Vegas Hilton Super Book offers, by far, the most extensive weekly wagering menu on all golf tournaments. The architect of all the creative odds and propositions in Assistant Manager Jeff Sherman who will offer over 40 golfer match-ups with another 40 props this week. Sherman also plans to do match-ups for each round as well as offer updated odds after each round has completed.

Phil Mickelson is the 13-to-2 favorite after winning the Shell Houston Open last week with Tiger Woods next at 10-to-1. After that, Sherman doesn’t have anyone else lower than 15-to-1.

“I think this is as wide open as it’s ever been,“ said Sherman. “It’s kind of like the NCAA tournament we just saw where it wouldn’t be surprising to see to see anyone up to the 40-to-1 range win it.”

Woods has won The Masters four times and has 14 grand slam wins, but none since 2008 and fell to No. 7 in the world rankings. However, Sherman says despite all the woes with his golf swing, there is much respect.

“He’s still Tiger, but these are the longest odds I can ever remember posting on him. Part of that is because of his troubles on the courses, but most of it comes because there are just so many good golfers out there capable of winning. There is parity like never before.“

Golfers Sherman likes to do well this week include Dustin Johnson (20/1), Nick Watney (15/1) and Matt Kuchar (25/1).

Baseball and NBA Saves Sports Books Saturday
The two most bet upon games of last weekend were the Final Four games, but without the NBA and baseball helping, it would have been a losing day for most. The combination of favored Butler winning and covering and 2-point underdog Connecticut winning outright was a bad one for the house in both straight bets and parlays. Keeping the parlay risk to a minimal 13-to-5 majority payout was helped by the Connecticut game staying under the total. However, the Sharps had bet that game under from the opening number of 141 ½ to a closing number of 138 ½.

NBA Notes

Lowry and Rockets are red-hot

There are only five to six games remaining for most NBA teams as some scramble to make the post-season while others try to maneuver for playoff position. Out west, the Hornets and Grizzlies are tied at 44-33 and hold the No. 7 and 8 spots, but only three games out are the red hot Houston Rockets with Kyle Lowery and Kevin Martin leading the way going 8-2 in their last 10 games. On Wednesday they’ll have a chance to help their own cause with a game at New Orleans. In their other four remaining games, only Dallas has a winning record.

Meanwhile, the Hornets have a tough road ahead with games against Phoenix, Memphis, Utah and Dallas. The Grizzlies have somewhat of easy road in their games. In addition to the Hornets, Memphis will face the Clippers twice, Sacramento and Portland. No odds are offered on the possibilities of making the playoffs in Las Vegas sports books, but if they did, I would take some Houston action with hopes that the Hornets tank it. To supplement that wishful action, I’ll just take Houston Wednesday night at New Orleans.

The Lakers took a major blow to their hopes of gaining the No. 1 seed out west when they lost to Denver on Sunday ending their nine game winning streak. The Spurs had been in a six game free-fall until beating Phoenix on Sunday and maintain a 2 ½ game lead over the Lakers.

The most interesting playoff matchup out west looks to be No. 4 and 5 seed with Oklahoma City and Denver. The Thunder have shown that they can beat just about anyone this season but have lost two in a row, including one to the Clippers. The Nuggets have gone a tear since hi-jacking the Knicks and dumping Carmelo Anthony. The loss of Chauncey Billups was initially thought to hurt the Nuggets more, but the combination of Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton running a two-headed point guard -- on the court at the same time -- has been tough for all teams they have faced.

Since the deal with New York, the Nuggets have gone 14-5 and have nearly secured the No. 5 slot. They may miss the star treatment of Carmelo from the officials in the playoffs, but they have so many scoring options now with not having to run everything through one player.

The Bulls and Heat are playing their best ball of the season in the East while the Celtics have sputtered. The trade that sent Kendrick Perkins away may have backfired on GM Danny Ainge. His hopes of bringing in a quicker Jeff Green to be their James Posey-type of player while waiting for their twin O’Neal towers to return inside and elevate their game hasn’t happened yet. Shaquille O’Neal returned to action over the weekend for five minutes only to have his calf break down, something that can’t be promising since it could be stemming from his achilles problem.


Baseball Notes

Britton shined in MLB debut Sunday vs. Rays

The Rays played like one of the best teams in baseball last season with great defense, getting good pitching and timely hitting. This season, they find themselves only being able to muster one run a game in their first three chances of the season against Baltimore and got swept at home. Compounding matters for Tampa Bay is that their best player, Evan Longoria, just went on the 15 day disabled list.

Whether it’s a matter of good pitching by Baltimore or bad hitting by the Rays, Buck Showalter’s staff came out and made a statement for the rest of the AL East to take notice of. A pitcher that could make big difference this year is Zach Britton who made his major league debut Sunday throwing six strong innings allowing only one run off of three hits. Britton had a terrific spring but was supposed to start the season in triple-A until Brian Matusz was placed on the disabled list.

Despite having a lineup full of free swingers like Mark Reynolds, J.J. Hardy, Derek Lee and Adam Jones, they have quite a nucleus of really good hitting players that stack up well against most lineups in baseball. Should Brian Roberts and Vladimir Guerrero be able to stay healthy, this could be a great season for the Baltimore faithful and definitely worth taking a shot with at 40-to-1 to win the American League and 80-to-1 to win the World Series.

While the O’s soar, the Red Sox slid miserably going 0-3 for the weekend at Texas where the potent lineup of Boston couldn’t get anything going against Texas pitching. Meanwhile, the Rangers hitters put on a show belting 11 home runs in the three games outscoring Boston 26-11. For the Red Sox, it's their worst start since 1996 when they started the season 0-5.

Through the first weekend of baseball games we had six games with favorites of minus-200 or above and only the Phillies were able to win, doing so in all three of their games against the Astros. The other three games saw the underdogs win outright with the Padres beating Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals opening day, then on Saturday the Diamondbacks beat the Rockies and the Orioles took down Tampa Bay.

A team better than the Phillies to bet OVER the total in each game this year may be the Cincinnati Reds. With Philadelphia, you have their tough staff to worry about ruining your bet, even though the Phillies can score runs in bunches. With Cincinnati, they have a stacked lineup with only a few good pitchers that should lead to quite a few games going OVER. Drew Stubbs at the top of the order for the Reds has the makings of being a Carlos Gonzalez type and thus far has not disappointed.

It was nice to see Felix Hernandez and Jaime Garcia go the distance and get complete games over the weekend. Even though their pitch counts were barely over 100, it’s rare to see pitchers -- who are coddled so much because of the team‘s investment in them -- go the distance this early in the year.

The pitching performance that stood out the most, beyond the Orioles Britton, was Toronto’s Kyle Drabek who pitched seven innings of one hit ball with seven K’s in their win Saturday over the Twins. We’ve been hearing the name for the last two years as a great prospect for Philadelphia, not only because he’s the son of former Pirates Cy Young award winner Doug Drabek, but because he has great stuff. It’s easy to see why the Phillies were so reluctant to deal him even if it meant not getting Roy Halladay.

UNLV Head Coach David Rice

We should have an official announcement by Wednesday where former UNLV player David Rice will be announced as UNLV’s new head basketball coach. The match should be a perfect fit of mixing the old with the new for UNLV, accentuating on all the positives. With Rice, The Rebels will get back to runnin’ and gunnin’ like the old days while also maintaining the integrity and stability to the program that Lon Kruger brought. It’s a win-win for everyone, especially for the fans in Las Vegas.