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Buzz Daly: Sportsbook Scene

Dec. 13, 2001 -- The prospect of a good shootout between two handicappers who know what they are talking about drew us to last Friday's (Dec. 7) quarter final round of the Stardust Invitational Handicapping Tournament.

We weren't disappointed as Gold Coast sportsbook manager Bert Osborne faced off against Stephen Nover, a columnist/reporter for Players' Choice newspaper and a writer for The Prescription, an Internet website. Nover is also a handicapper at Vegas Insider.

Both contestants were there after advancing in an earlier round. The Friday night crowd at the Stardust sportsbook, where the tournament is held and broadcast over KDWN 720 AM, was sparser than might have been expected. But of course, since 9/11, Vegas has not been inundated with visitors.

The competition offers a lot more than free picks from sharp players. Host John Kelly keeps the proceedings lively with an uncommonly diverse and relevant set of queries for both entrants. He is aided by Seat Williams, who joins him each week.

Osborne reminded bettors that most Coast properties keep their sportsbooks open 24 hours a day and that the book's overnight lines are posted between 2-5 PM every day.

The bet baron noted that offshore lines are a fact of life for the sports betting community, and that he respects the island numbers more than much of what comes out of Vegas.

Today's books are under more pressure than they were as recently as 10 to 15 years ago, he stated. The huge betting menu put up by books --including first halfs, second halfs, and letting players tease both sides and totals -- can make life difficult for bookmakers.

When asked to name the top BMs of the last 25 years here in Vegas, he declined, noting that he has many friends in the industry, and didn't wish to inadvertently offend any of them. Osborne did cite Jack Franzi and Jimmy Vaccaro as two notables who were unique and left a strong mark on the industry.

Yes, he bets on games, said Osborne, suggesting that there is no conflict with his position because he does it for fun.

Asked about habits of losers, he quickly pointed to their insistence on betting virtually all the TV games.

Nover, who has been a friend and colleague since we first came to Vegas, noted that the sportsbook industry has changed with managers having more of a corporate patina than the rugged individualists of days gone by.

He cited Osborne and the Stardust's Joe Lupo as two bet barons who deliver honest answers and who avoid corporate double talk. Stephen related an interview with one sportsbook manager which required the presence of a public relations person. Unfortunately, that is now the rule, not the exception, he said.

For the last six months, Nover had been writing a column for Gaming Today. But he quit recently over a compensation issue. His job at The Prescription allows him to get involved with offshore shops. He likened the industry to a parallel universe in which the BMs he talks with remind him of Las Vegas 15 to 20 years ago.

As a handicapper, Stephen said he doesn't have time for the college game, and focuses on the NFL. Through participation in several fantasy football leagues and watching lots of games, he hones his handicapping opinions, rather than relying on power ratings, etc.

The two 'cappers lived up to their reputations as Osborne went 5-2 and eliminated Nover, who was 4-3.

Osborne's analyses were terse and succinct, while Nover gave a more detailed rationale of his selections.

We realize 20-20 hindsight is a remarkable advantage, and before we take Stephen to task for two of his picks, we want to 'fess up that we used his analysis on a game that capped a five-team parlay.

Taking the New York Giants as road favorites is a dubious distinction, but when Stephen made them a Best Bet, it was like playing Russian Roulette with bullets in all six chambers of a gun.

He also insisted on betting over in the Detroit/Tampa Bay game, trends be damned. Buc head coach Dungy has an aversion to scoring, and prefers nail biters that his defense ekes out. A dollop of common sense is a most necessary ingredient to a 'capper's repertoire, and would have precluded that pick.

Meanwhile, we bought into Stephen's cogent reasoning for why the Seattle/Denver game would go under. It meant we had to sweat out Sunday's proceedings through the late game, but it was worth it as we will soon be cashing a five-team parlay card ticket at the Stardust.

Adios, Rio. For those who enjoy picking up Players Choice on the West side of town, please note that the paper will no longer be available at the Rio sportsbook.

It seems that an item in the previous issue of the paper -- which was critical of a promotion by the casino's parent company, Harrah's -- got the sportsbook manager's nose out of joint. He called to tell us that he objected to the coverage and that the paper was no longer welcome in his book.

Consider it done. This is an unfortunate example of what passes for managerial decision-making at some casinos. Loyalty to a company is an admirable quality. Pettiness, however, is simply counterproductive. And ignoring the interests of your customers, for whom the paper is a nice freebie, is a foolish exercise nonetheless.

A more professional response would have been to register displeasure with our comments via a letter to the editor which we would have printed. Players' Choice is not adverse to running critical rebuttals to our observations and opinions.

If we are inaccurate in our coverage, we will, of course, print a correction.

We're sorry for any inconvenience to our readers, but the paper is widely available around town.

New Sportsbook Alert. Sports bettors in Las Vegas are getting unexpected holiday cheer with the December 27th opening of a new, independent sportsbook, across the street from Texas Station -- the Wild Fire Casino.

It will be the only book on the Rancho Strip that is not a Station Casino-run operation.

The manager is Buffy McKinney, who rose to prominence while running a popular, locals-oriented book at Barley's Casino in Henderson. Assistant manager will be Trick Sixty, who noted the book's limits will be a tad lower than Station's sportsbooks, but that the ceiling would be comparable.

Buffy brings a dynamic, customer service point of view to the sportsbook. She also intends to add, "a Sonny Reizner flare to doing the job," noting that she was lucky enough to work with the legendary bookmaker and he was her mentor.

Adjacent to the book will be a lounge area, and between the two spaces punters will have a plethora of viewing options. There will be six 50-inch monitors in the book with eight more serving the lounge. Events will also be available on eight 36-inch TVs and a 70-inch screen in the book.

We'll check out the facility next week, and update this preview after the new book opens. But the prospect of original numbers, offered in a book managed by a personable professional, sounds like a place we'll put in our action.

Sure hope they have some good parlay and teaser cards.

Wisconsin Justice. In a Wisconsin U.S. District Court, a man from Wisconsin and a Las Vegas resident pleaded guilty recently to running an offshore bookmaking operation.

The two men -- Duane Pede of Amherst Junction, and Jeffrey D'Ambrosia who is better known by the name Jeff Allen -- plea-bargained various charges, the most serious of which was violation of the Wire Act.

However, it is not the offshore aspect of this case that makes it especially interesting. Rather it is that the offshore book, Curacao-based Gold Medal Sports, mailed solicitations for business which were frequently accompanied by mailings for one of four tout services.

The four handicapper services were: Jeff Allen Sports, Mike Wynn Sports, Razor Sharp Sports and Dan Pastorini Sports, all of which were also owned by Pede and Allen.

During court proceedings it was revealed that Mike Wynn was a fictitious invention, and no such person existed. The picks attributed to him were actually made by the defendants.

Meanwhile, it turns out that retired NFL QB Pastorini, who has been promoted for several years in magazines as a tout, was never actually involved in sports handicapping. He was paid for posing in pictures and making some radio announcements, but not for his strongly hyped insider's knowledge.

According to a government finding, Pastorini was, "falsely depicted as a source of information for winning picks because of his network of contacts in the NFL."

We wonder how many other tout services are using fictitious people and duping bettors by selling their picks to real players for real money.

If the government is so interested in protecting the poor consumer from frauds, it might be a good idea to place offshore books on the back burner and go after the obvious scammers. That would be tout services whose very essence is deception, and whose credo is to separate suckers from their money.

While we are not advocates of government protecting us against ourselves, we do believe that efforts aimed at squeezing opportunities for con men, who routinely rip off clueless bettors, merits consideration.

But Uncle Sam is too busy enforcing his Puritanical laws to pay the slightest attention to anyone but conservative extremists who, for all intents and purposes, are spiritually aligned with the Taliban.

Yahoops Radio. While football appeals to the masses, baskets attracts a smaller but more intense group of bettors. There is greater volatility in the numbers, especially the totals, and quality outs are an absolute necessity.

One of the more interesting sites servicing basketball bettors is Yahoops.com, which has a comprehensive betting menu covering NCAA and NBA games.

The Belize-based sportsbook is run by a high-energy Israeli named Ido who feels compelled to make his site the most competitive in the industry. Given his entrepreneurial drive, we would not bet against him doing it.

This weekend, Ido will appear live on a radio show heard in about 50 U.S. markets. He will discuss Yahoops, basketball betting and a lot of other material of interest to sports bettors.

Ido is convinced that after this broadcast, he will be the most famous Israeli in the U.S. We hope Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon doesn't mind playing second banana to a sports wagering mogul.

Please send questions, comments, etc., to buzzdaly@aol.com.

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