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05/28/2010 - Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Horses of the Year Point Given and Azeri, along with Best Pal and retired jockey Randy Romero, have been elected to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame. The four will be inducted during a ceremony to be held on Friday, August 13.
Point Given was Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Male for 2001. The colt won the San Felipe Stakes and Santa Anita Derby. As the favorite, he was fifth in the Kentucky Derby but was able to win both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Point Given, ridden by Gary Stevens, also won the Haskell and Travers. Trained by Bob Baffert, Point Given retired with nine victories in 13 career starts and earnings of $3,968,500.
In 2002, Azeri won the Breeders' Cup Distaff and was named Horse of the Year and Champion Older Female. She again was voted Champion Older Female in 2003 and 2004. When she retired, she had won 17 of 24 races and was the all-time leader in earnings among females with $4,079,820.
In a seven year racing career, Best Pal earned $5,668,245 with 18 wins in 47 starts. In 1992 he won the Santa Anita Handicap and the following year took the Hollywood Gold Cup.
Randy Romero won 4,294 races and had earnings of $75,264,198 in a 27 year career. He was the regular rider of two-time Champion Filly Go for Wand and the undefeated Personal Ensign. Personal Ensign, who died in April, won the 1989 Eclipse Award as Champion Older Female.
The four new members were elected in the contemporary category by the 182 members of the Hall of Fame's voting panel. The Hall of Fame's Historic Review Committee will announce its selections on Wednesday, June 9, completing the Class of 2010.
<< Many early entries will likely go undrafted
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -A record wave of college basketball players have left school early for the chance to get paid by the NBA - despite the league's uncertain labor situation.For some, like Kentucky's John Wall and Ohio State's Evan Turner, it's p
<< Hurricanes agree to one-year deal with Tlusty
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes have agreed to terms
with forward Jiri Tlusty on a one-year contract worth $500,000.
Tlusty was acquired by the Hurricanes from Toronto last December in exchange
for the rights to
<< UConn basketball charged with eight violations
Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Connecticut has received a
notice of allegations from the NCAA in regard to possible recruiting
violations in the men's basketball program.
UConn officials and the NCAA have be
<< Carmona, Indians open road series in the Bronx
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last time Fausto Carmona stepped on the mound at new
Yankee Stadium, the Indians' offense erupted in a record-tying performance.
Given how Cleveland's offense struggled in its last game, the club hopes its
hurler
Astros place Norris on DL >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One day after announcing that Bud Norris
will miss his next scheduled start, the Houston Astros placed the right-hander
on the 15-day disabled list with bursitis and biceps tendinitis in his right
arm.
Hurricanes agree to terms with D Harrison >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes announced Friday an
agreement with defenseman Jay Harrison on a one-year, $500,000 contract.
In 2009-10, Harrison set career highs with 38 games played, one goal and five
assists f
Lahm named Germany's captain for World Cup >>
Berlin, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defender Philipp Lahm was named captain of
Germany's World Cup team by coach Joachim Loew on Friday.
Lahm, 26, becomes the youngest captain in German national team history. He is
taking over the role from
Franchitti quickest in Indy Carb Day >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion
Dario Franchitti topped the speed charts in Friday's Carb Day -- the final
practice session for the Indianapolis 500.
Helio Castroneves, the pole sitter, led
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.
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