Sports Betting’s Infancy: Believe it or not, in the 70’s few major casinos had sports books. Sports betting took place in dark, dingy, technology-free storefront operations with sporting names like Churchill Downs, Rose Bowl, and Del Mar. As televised sports rocketed in popularity in the early 1980’s, the major casinos realized that if they didn’t offer sports betting themselves, their customers would go elsewhere to get their sports fix. Although some were reluctant, the major properties all put in sports books.

Sports Betting’s Growth: Las Vegas was clearly the place to be for sports bettors in the 80’s and early 90’s. While illegal bookies in the hinterlands would take your 11-10 pointspread bets, other propositions first took root in Vegas. Innovations like totals, teasers, money lines, halftime wagers, five-or-more team parlays, futures, and proposition bets were treats that most bettors could enjoy only on their visits to the desert. Sports-oriented tourists, even those with three or four bookies back home, would step off the plane, head for the sports book, and salivate at the menu of wagering choices.

As the popularity of sports betting grew, some properties saw their race and sports books as entities that could actually attract patrons. To this day places like the Mirage, Caesar’s Palace, the Hilton, and newer properties like Bellagio have magnificent sports books, with numerous big screen televisions and comfortable surroundings. Other properties became known for having an extensive menu of creative propositions (Imperial Palace), enhanced parlay odds (Las Vegas Club), and a large menu of wagers (the Stardust). Limits were high, as places like Caesar’s Palace, the Mirage, Binion’s Horseshoe, and Little Caesar’s would take enough action to satisfy all but the most aggressive heavy hitters.

Pro Player’s Paradise: The high limits of the 80’s coincided with a period of weakness in the linemaking process and mismanagement in the sports books. Deep-pocketed organized betting groups known as syndicates would use a network of agents to bet heavy on one side of a game in every major sports book in town instantaneously. The syndicates that proved to be successful would move lines substantially. Often these lines would then be pushed further by followers eager to get in on a good thing. The groups learned to use the line moves to their benefit. To keep the world on their toes they would bet a college favorite heavily at –2½, which combined with the action of the followers could drive the line up to 5 or 6. The syndicates would then bet twice as heavy on the underdog, which was the original side they liked anyhow. By betting the other side first on occasion, they were able to create and extra couple of points of value on the side they actually liked in the first place while creating middles in the process.

One didn’t have to be part of the syndicates to profit from the line movement. Vegas veterans tell of football and especially basketball middles of three to five points being regular occurrences. With technology and communications not what they are now, players in the sports book would see a game move and run across the street to beat the line move there. Eventually the line would move all over town, giving the player the luxury of having juicy middles working in his favor with regularity in football and hoops. Similarly, line moves offered baseball bettors the opportunity to crossbet or scalp, taking guaranteed profits out of money line differentials. Weak and varying lines in the player’s golden age afforded sports bettors the opportunity to make a living in a handicapping-free environment.

Line Tightening: One of the factors that led to the enormous success enjoyed by betting groups in the 80’s was the use of computers. These groups were far ahead of Las Vegas in embracing technology. Much of the big winning done by the groups was a result of simply having better power ratings based on crunching numbers involving current performance statistics, results of previous games, home field edge, etc. By the early 90’s Las Vegas caught up with the players in their use of technology, as the linemaking process incorporated similar methods to those used by the major betting groups.

Another line-related chink in the armor of the professional player is the growth of technology and communications. Driving around Vegas to shop different lines simply isn’t a worthwhile pursuit any longer, as every sports book employs a live odds feed to see what the current odds are both in Nevada and globally. When a line moves at the major houses the minor houses know of it almost immediately. While in the past the line may have moved based on money bet, the line often moves today at a sports books simply because it has been bet elsewhere. This is known as moving a line “on air”.

Player’ hatin’: The atmosphere of Las Vegas has changed in recent years and the sports betting environment is substantially different from the freewheeling days of the 80’s. Both the government and casino have cracked down on the sports betting marketplace through actions that have experienced Vegas players out of their element in a way only a recently thawed Austin Powers could appreciate.

The biggest change involves how casinos are owned and managed. In the past casino operators were often crusty, old-school gamblers who enjoyed the give and take between the bettor and the house. They respected and understood the sports bettors. They also understood that the sports book was an attraction to keep their guest in the house so they could grind them away at the tables. The bull market of the 80’s and 90’s offered unprecedented opportunities in taking companies public. Casinos are now almost universally owned by corporations, whose officers must answer to stockholders. Individual owners who can just manage their house as they see fit are virtually extinct in the gaming business.

While table games and slot machines have built in profit margins, corporate ownership does not enjoy assigning space to a sports book, which can operate at a very slim profit margin if the players are sharp. Corporate ownership demands a profit from every area of the casino, so they just take steps to restrict limits and ban certain sharpies from the sports book. Just as rooms for $30 and free shows are a thing of the past, so are some of the opportunities in the sports book. Corporate managers understand the need of having a sports book, with its relatively low margins, but that doesn’t mean that they have to like it. They would much rather have a row of blackjack tables, or better yet, an employee-free bank of slot machines, than have to waste space and resources on the sports book.

This attitude from ownership has led to changes with many sports books doing everything they can to increase their hold. This is generally done using a combination of discouraging sharp play and encouraging square play. In an attempt to rid themselves of informed players, some sports books have lowered limits, particularly limits on telephone accounts, which tend to attract the most informed action from players who are shopping for lines both in Nevada and elsewhere. The encouragement of square play involves the widespread distribution of parlay cards, with their 30%+ hold percentage, as well as instituting a 40-cent line or worse on money lines and other propositions.

Various state, local, and federal authorities have chipped in over the years with intrusive ordinances that have increased the paperwork and identification requirements for phone accounts and large cash transactions. They outlawed cell phones, computers, and other forms of communications in the books. Additionally, “messenger betting” or the use of runners to place wagers for groups and syndicates is now illegal. Governments and the sports books have done what they can to make things extremely difficult for anyone looking to supplement or earn their living betting legally on sports in Nevada.

The effects on tourists and smaller players: The squeezing of professional bettors doesn’t affect most tourists or Nevada residents who play for low stakes. As football draws significant square action from tourists, which offsets wise guy activity, big money can still be wagered on the sports at most larger properties. The real obstacles to the serious player and to the groups are now in place for the daily sports, as limits, especially on totals, are often laughably small. While basketball and baseball limits don’t cramp the style of a typical football bettor, the current environment of sports betting in Nevada speaks volumes about the casinos’ disposition toward the player. This attitude trickles down through management and staff and eventually reaches the sports book patron. While the sports books have never been places Miss Manners would feel comfortable, it is my experience that the sports books of Las Vegas are a less enjoyable experience than they once were.

Bettors are better off at home: The environment of the sports books isn’t the only thing that has driven serious players away. The explosion of communications and technology now enables a satellite owner to watch numerous college games and every NFL game in the privacy of his own home. It enables the bettor to access real time statistics and injury information on the internet, which is critical for halftime wagers. It allows bettors to sit in a comfortable chair and affords the opportunity to use a telephone without being hassled by a security guard. It enables the player to check different sports books via telephone and the interent to get the best pointspread as opposed to having a single line to choose from. The tools, technology, environment, and amenities are all superior for the player in the privacy of his own home, another contributing factor to the Vegas disadvantage.

Offshore: the new capital of sports betting: Bettors have discovered there are other sports book options. For years there have been sports books in Antigua, Costa Rica, Canada, Curacao, and other environs eager for their business, some of which will take significantly larger wagers than are available in Las Vegas. In recent years European and Australian operators, some of whom had a significant presence in their homelands for decades, have begun booking American sports, though the Anglos tend to suffer from the same “fraidy-cat” syndrome as corporate Vegas. There are now dozens of sports books with betting menus as extensive as any in Las Vegas. All of the major operators are licensed to takes wagers in the countries where they operate, providing good jobs and tax revenues.

Pick your offshore books wisely: It is imperative that you only play with books that have been around long enough to earn a reputation for good service and financial stability. We have done thorough and exhaustive research to find those books. For information on and reviews of the top offshore sports books click here.