Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
01/28/2007 - Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - McCann's Mojave, the oldest member of the field, pulled off the upset in Saturday's $1 million Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park. The seven-year-old covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.89 on a fast track.
The Classic is the featured stakes race in the annual Sunshine Millions series. This is the fifth edition of the series which features Florida and California bred horses.
Lava Man won the Classic last year when it was held at Santa Anita Park. He remained in California on Saturday and impressively won the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Turf.
McCann's Mojave, sent off at odds of better than 33-1, pressed the pace that was set by Del Mar Derby winner Get Funky. Running in third was 2-1 favorite Sweetnorthernsaint with Summer Book racing fourth in the 12 horse field.
With Frank Alvarado in the saddle, McCann's Mojave took the lead entering the final turn as Sweetnorthernsaint moved into second place. Joining the leaders was Silver Wagon.
Sweetnorthernsaint and McCann's Mojave dueled briefly down the stratch, but the older runner drew clear as the challenger faded. McCann's Mojave hit the wire 3/4's of a length to the good over Summer Book. Silver Wagon held on for third.
Rounding out the order of finish was Dry Martini, Sweetnorthernsaint, Papi Chullo, Rehoboth, Armenian Summer, Texcess, Bob's Proud Moment, Blazing Rate and Get Funky.
Owned by Alix Nikke Hunt and Mike Willman, McCann's Mojave scored in his first start of the year and notched his third straight victory. Last year he was sixth in this race at Santa Anita Park.
McCann's Mojave is trained by Steven Specht and has now won 10 of 24 career starts for better than $1.2 million.
McCann's Mojave returned $69.80, $30.60 and $14.80. Summer Book paid $36.20 and $16.60, and Silver Wagon paid $4.80 for show.
Next Saturday at Gulfstream Park will be the $500,000 Donn Handicap which will feature Horse of the Year Invasor.
<< Woods trails rookies Snedeker, Buckle at Buick
La Jolla, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods came within one shot of playing in
the final threesome with a pair of rookies at the Buick Invitational.
Not that the youngsters would have minded.
Nationwide Tour grads Brandt Snedeker and Andre
<< Alkmaar climb into second with 3-0 win
Alkmaar, Holland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AZ Alkmaar climbed into second place in
the Dutch Eredivisie standings - at least temporarily - with a 3-0 win over
Sparta Rotterdam on Saturday.
Goals by Shota Arveladze and Maarten Martens and an
<< Senators blast Bruins
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Neil's 10th goal of the season proved to
be the game-winner, as the Ottawa Senators scored three times in the third
period to post a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins at Scotiabank Place.
Antoine Verme
<< Arkansas rolls over No. 12 Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Patrick Beverley tallied 19 points and Sonny
Weems added 16, as Arkansas stifled the 12th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in
the opening half then hung on for a 63-57 victory at Coleman Coliseum.
Gary Ervin
Real miss chance to take La Liga lead >>
Villarreal, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid fell 1-0 at Villarreal on
Saturday and missed its chance to top the La Liga table.
Marcos scored the game's only goal in the 68th minute to propel the home side
to ninth in the table.
No. 17 Marquette rips Cincinnati >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Krystal Ellis scored 17 points, and the
17th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles topped the Cincinnati Bearcats, 76-59.
Christina Quaye scored 15 points, and Danielle Kamm added 13 for Marquette
(19-2, 7
Ayers, Notre Dame hold off Villanova >>
South Bend, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Ayers eclipsed his season average in
two possessions, draining a game-tying three, then burying 2-of-3 foul shots
with 1:39 on the clock, as No. 22 Notre Dame got payback for a defeat 10 days
earlier
Top-ranked Gators crush Auburn >>
Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Al Horford, Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey each
scored 17 points as the top-ranked Florida Gators rolled past the Auburn
Tigers, 91-66, at the Beard-Eaves Coliseum.
Corey Brewer added 11 points while Joak
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting