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Columnist Buzz Daly: Sports Book Scene

Sports betting has its charms: hitting a four-team parlay … nailing a two-team teaser … hell, just winning a straight bet is enough to give us a rush most of the time.

But writing a column about sports wagering also has its rewards. Flinging an idea into the cyber void and seeing what comes back is always fascinating. For some reason, this column draws responses, comments, etc., that are both provocative and uncommonly erudite.

We're obliged to pass them along, simply because we want to share these observations with the crew that regularly gathers 'round this campfire.

In the weekend column, we almost didn't kvetch about AOL STATS' tendency towards mistakes in its Baseball Scoreboard, and CBS Sportsline's slowness in its scoreboard, since we felt the topic might be too obscure.

However, an email from Horveydg reaffirmed our faith in sports bettors' affinity for this type of material. He wrote, "Yes, I have noticed that CBS is much slower. AOL is faster … and does indeed make a few mistakes.

"The reason I can confirm the speed of both is that I can have a game on the TV and compare it to the time it takes for the event in the game to reach both of the other sites on the computer."

In takes approximately 10 to 15 seconds to get on AOL, compared with one to two minutes on CBS Sportsline, he pointed out.

Last week's column about the Florida Attorney General's stuffy attitude toward publications that accept ads for off shore books drew many responses. But no one addressed the question we had asked regarding whether the state's newsstands had been swept clean of the offending pubs.

Finally, one Florida sports bettor emailed his observations. As a six-year resident, he noticed, "There is absolutely no difference in what is offered today compared with six years ago."

He said many pubs carry off shore ads and suggested, "There is no reasonable way that the misguided AG Buttersworth (major clown in many ways) can EVER regulate this."

In conclusion, he related a story that illustrates just why citizens are losing confidence in and patience with some of the numbskulls who pull down a hefty paycheck as law enforcement officials.

Our correspondent was in the habit of making bets on a gambling boat out of Ft. Lauderdale called "Vegas Express". This went on for about two and one-half years.

He enjoyed the camaraderie aboard the floating sports book, but didn't use it as a primary outlet what with all the off shore books and locals able to service bettors.

The books on the boat paid out only when they were in international waters. "So, if an event closed after the boat was within three miles of the coast, you had to wait until next time out to get paid."

This happened frequently and he didn't worry since getting paid was a given.

"Well, one time I had about four dimes coming to me, but I didn't go on the boat for about two weeks. Then one night I moseyed on down to the boat only to find nobody around," he related.

Checking with friends didn't provide any answers, and the boat's phone number had been disconnected.

What had happened, he discovered, was that AG Buttersworth, "sent a hit squad to the boat and confiscated all of their tables, etc.

"No charges, nothing," he remembered. "Just some oblique references to issues that never went to court. But the boat never went out again."

So after years of playing with locals and off shore, lending money to all sorts of characters, he stated, "I have never been stiffed … except by my own government."

Much Ado About Nothing. Recently, Antigua-based Premiere League (www.premiereleague.com) found itself embroiled in a brief but intense controversy, which turned out to be an Internet Tempest in a Teapot. At the end of the day, this well-regarded book had made sweet lemonade out of its lemons.

While we were on the island, we met the head man at P.L., Eddie Hadeed, and discovered two interesting details about him.

He is an expert number cruncher, who frequently makes the lines for his own book. Eddie has opinions, and is especially astute at massaging basketball numbers. In fact, P.L. frequently gives out its lines on baskets to competitors.

The other factoid we unearthed - actually, Eddie just told us - is that even if he falls on lean times as a BM, he'll never starve.

It turns out that Eddie owns one of the most prominent eateries in the tourist section of Antigua. The restaurant is called "Big Banana," and it features a wide variety of dishes.

We can vouch for the pizza and turkey sandwiches. The food is quite good, cost is reasonable, and if you tell the bartender you bet with Premiere League, you just might get a complimentary drink.

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