Sports Betting: Past, Present and Future -Part 4
By Jeremy Martin
DocSports.com
This is the last section of a four-part seriesby Jeremy Martin that looks at the history of sports betting andwhere the industry is headed in the future. To reach Jeremy e-mailhim at Jeremy@docsports.com
In the 1980s Roxy Roxboroughemerged as a major force in the sports gambling world and he helpedusher in the technological revolution. Roxborough brought legitimacyto the industry as he portrayed an image of the businessman, asopposed to the street corner bookmaker type that had dominatedsports betting for so long. While most other oddsmakers beforehim bet into their own lines, Roxy believed that practice wasa conflict of interest and he stopped wagering completely whenhe started making the lines.
Roxborough, who learned the trade duringhis formative years in Vancouver, B.C., got his start at the ClubCal-Neva casino in Reno where he was hired because of his penchantfor setting solid numbers on baseball 'totals' (the late BillDark from the Del Mar turf club was credited with inventing thetotals concept in sports wagering). Roxborough soon gained a strongreputation throughout the industry and he eventually signed alucrative contract with the Stardust in the early 1980s to settheir opening line.
Las Vegas Sports Consultants,Inc., which is what he called his odds and information service,eventually acquired 90 percent of the sportsbooks in Nevada asits clients. Roxborough took advantage of new technology thatwas available and used it to provide his customers with - notonly lines - but also updated injury and weather information.
According to Roxy, before LVSC was founded, ifa bookmaker wanted to know what the weather was like in Clevelandthey would have to call up a contact there and get the informationvia the telephone. "We became a clearinghouse for informationby checking on injury rumors and getting weather reports,"he says. "[Sports book] managers could call one place andget it all."
Before LVSC was founded, most oddsmakers kepttheir information in loose-leaf notebooks. They would copy thousandsof box scores into these notebooks for future reference. Roxboroughwas the first one in the industry to use a computer and electronicsfor the storage and transmission of data. As a result of thesetechnological advances, the sports books were able to increasetheir offerings to the public. Due in large part to Roxborough'snew computer-generated power ratings, the betting rotation expandedsignificantly.
"When I first came to Las Vegas in the early1970s, there weren't that many college football games that youcould bet on each week - there were like 15-20," he remembers."People didn't even book college basketball until after Jan.2 [when the college bowl games were completed] and there wereonly 60 or 70 teams that appeared regularly [in the rotation].The demand for the business to get bigger and the computerizationallowed us to follow more teams and offer more reliable odds."
When Roxborough started LVSC in the early 1980s,it was a one-man show. By the time he sold the business in 1996,the company had grown to be worth millions of dollars and it employeda full staff of employees. LVSC is still around today and is stillthe source of the numbers for most of the sportsbooks in Nevada.
The proliferation of the sports schedule and theresulting increase in handle created the need for bigger and bettersportsbooks. The Las Vegas Hilton 'SuperBook' opened in 1986 andthe book at Caesars Palace was reinvented around the same time.The Mirage, designed by casino mogul Steve Wynn, opened in 1989and was then considered the most extravagant hotel - and sportsbook - in Las Vegas. Vaccaro, who had previously helped open booksat the Royal Inn and the Barbary Coast, was sought out by Wynnto help him develop and run the books at the Golden Nugget, locatedin downtown Las Vegas, and at the Mirage. Vaccaro is often consideredthe last of the old-school bookmakers in Nevada as he took hugeaction and didn't turn away the professional bettors.
"We had the highest limits," Vaccarosays about his days at the Mirage before he left bookmaking in1996 to pursue other interests. "I was never questioned aboutbig wins or losses. [Wynn] knew that if the place was to be runproperly, that you [couldn't] squirm when you lose. We never refuseda bet." During his peak at the Mirage, Vaccaro says he wastaking in 25 percent of the betting handle for the entire state.
Present and Future
Nevada sports books have been in a steady declineover the past decade. According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board,revenues have dropped six out of the last seven years across thestate. It is no secret that this can be attributed in part tothe massive growth of the offshore industry.
But critics of Nevada sports betting - and LasVegas in particular -- point to other factors as well. The consolidationof the casinos by corporations has created an atmosphere wherethere are only a handful of sports books releasing their own numberswhile the rest are just satellite offices of their main book.This reduces the opportunity to shop around for numbers and increasesthe attractiveness of offshore books where a wide variety of pointspreads are available on a wide array of sports.
Some say that the government has over regulatedthe industry and that cash transaction reports requiring big playersto identify themselves have scared off many of the larger bettors.Others say that sports book managers are in constant fear of theirjobs and that, as a result, they are not willing to take any risk- as opposed to the old-style bookmakers in Las Vegas who tookany bet and relied on the strength of their numbers.
While the Stardust had the distinction of settingthe 'opening line' for several decades, many offshore books releasetheir numbers even earlier on the Internet. The rest of the offshoreindustry - and even some Las Vegas bookmakers - often follow thelead of these offshore books when setting their initial numbersafter they have been flattened out by the professional bettors.
"At that time we catered to our players andwe didn't fear players," says Rosenthal of his time as abookmaker in Las Vegas. "We welcomed them. We were very consciousof customer service. Today, it is the reverse. It's not only ashame, it borders on being counterproductive to the state andthe individual properties. I think the offshore industry, in 2004,is closing in on any industry in the world. The demand, the interest- speaking of the public - from a global standpoint is skyrocketingand will only get bigger."
Scucci is one who disagrees with the assessmentthat Las Vegas will continue to decline. In fact, he says thathis profit margin has increased at the Stardust since the offshorebooks have become popular. He points to the record $81.2 millionthat was bet statewide on the 2004 Super Bowl as proof that LasVegas is still a force in the industry (Nevada books won a record$12.4 million on the big game).
"There's no doubt that [the offshore industry]took a big portion of our business," he says. "However,a lot of that business was the very shrewd, very sharp action.So, in terms of handle, yes. It took a lot of our handle away.But did it take a lot of our [profit] away? Probably not. We havehad more people in the book than ever and we are writing moretickets than ever.
"The people who say Vegas won't take a betare the ones that want to cherry pick a particular game wherethey have some advantage over a soft line. Go ask the guys atthe Mirage how many $100,000 bets they take or at Caesars wherethey take $300,000."
"The reason Las Vegas is still doing greatis that gambling is social and people would rather do it withother people," adds Roxborough. "When you walk intoa sports book you know that if there are 25 people in there thatyou have something in common with all 25 of those people, eventhough they are strangers."
The sports book is one of the only gambling venuesin a hotel where the casino actually has a chance to lose moneyover the course of a year, although the 11/10 vig usually ensuresa small profit margin. But the casinos have lost big in the past.Rosenthal points to Super Bowl XIII, which had Pittsburgh wasfavored over Dallas, the defending champions of the NFL. Due toheavy action on both sides, the line on the game went as low as-3 ½ and as high as -4 ½. Pittsburgh won the gameby four points and the Stardust lost $1 million by getting 'middled'on the game. A big loss in the Super Bowl can have disastrouseffects on a book's football season and, thus, its overall profitsfor the year.
Although it is possible for sports bettors towin over an extended period of time, only a small portion of thepopulation can actually achieve this feat. Banker, who some sayhas regularly earned a six-figure annual income in Las Vegas atthe expense of the sports books, issues some words of warningfor anybody interested in attempting to bet sports professionally:"You have a better shot at becoming a rock star or a moviestar than being a successful sports bettor."
Despite the government's attempts to stifle sportsbetting, all signs point to its continued growth. Gambling islegal in almost every state in some form; whether it's casinos,horse racing, OTBs or government-run lotteries. As gambling interestand growth in general increase everywhere most feel that sportsbetting will follow suit. As a recreational activity that hasbeen around since long before our country was founded, it doesn'tappear to be going away anytime soon. "The people have spoken,"concludes Scucci. "They like it. They want sports betting.That's not going to change."
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