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Sports books enjoy tourney's first day
Attendance good as big games favor house
By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Johnny Avello sat in his cramped office just off the race and sports book at Bally's, surrounded by mounds of paperwork and stacks of newspapers. A bank of televisions across from his desk showed each of the NCAA Tournament games going on at the time.
Avello, the race and sports book manager at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas, didn't need the sound on to know what was happening, though. He had live sound. Bettors in the jammed sports book were sitting in the aisles with sandwiches in their laps watching the first-round games, roaring whenever a play went their way. One guy was frantically going through a trash can looking for a ticket. It was on Valparaiso, and a friend told him that Valparaiso had just beaten Kentucky.
After finally managing to salvage the ticket, the man, a twentysomething from San Antonio, his face fell. CBS flashed the score and Valparaiso, a 7 1/2-point underdog, hadn't covered, losing 83-69 to Kentucky.
Rafael slapped his friend and gave the stained ticket a permanent home in the trash.
That's the kind of day it was at sports books across town, which were brimming to capacity for the second-biggest betting event of the year, behind the Super Bowl.
"People come to Vegas for this particular event because this is the spot to be if you want to see the tournament," Avello said. "For New Year's, you want to either be in Time's Square (in New York) or in Las Vegas. For the NCAA college basketball tournament, either be there or here in Vegas. This is the place to go.
"Every year, more and more people are picking up on that. I can remember in the early '90s, it was an event, but not like it is now. We've been nonstop all day."
Not only was nearly every square inch of the Bally's sports book filled with basketball fans, the 1,100-seat showroom at the Paris was also showing all of the games -- with a portable betting window on-site -- making it a tournament junkie's dream.
The bettors, though, had a rough time much of the day. Early on, the bettors at sports books across the city were on three teams: Valparaiso; Pepperdine plus-3 1/2 against Wake Forest; and Marquette minus-5 against Tulsa. All three failed to cover and lost outright.
"We're killing them right now," Bert Osborne, race and sports book director at Coast Resorts, said early in the day.
And the house picked up another big decision at most books when Gonzaga failed to cover in a 73-66 loss to Wyoming. The public heavily backed Gonzaga, which was seeded sixth in West amid complaints it should have been as high as a third.
At Coast, the price on the Bulldogs dropped from 7 1/2 to 6.
Attendance good as big games favor house
By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Johnny Avello sat in his cramped office just off the race and sports book at Bally's, surrounded by mounds of paperwork and stacks of newspapers. A bank of televisions across from his desk showed each of the NCAA Tournament games going on at the time.
Avello, the race and sports book manager at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas, didn't need the sound on to know what was happening, though. He had live sound. Bettors in the jammed sports book were sitting in the aisles with sandwiches in their laps watching the first-round games, roaring whenever a play went their way. One guy was frantically going through a trash can looking for a ticket. It was on Valparaiso, and a friend told him that Valparaiso had just beaten Kentucky.
After finally managing to salvage the ticket, the man, a twentysomething from San Antonio, his face fell. CBS flashed the score and Valparaiso, a 7 1/2-point underdog, hadn't covered, losing 83-69 to Kentucky.
Rafael slapped his friend and gave the stained ticket a permanent home in the trash.
That's the kind of day it was at sports books across town, which were brimming to capacity for the second-biggest betting event of the year, behind the Super Bowl.
"People come to Vegas for this particular event because this is the spot to be if you want to see the tournament," Avello said. "For New Year's, you want to either be in Time's Square (in New York) or in Las Vegas. For the NCAA college basketball tournament, either be there or here in Vegas. This is the place to go.
"Every year, more and more people are picking up on that. I can remember in the early '90s, it was an event, but not like it is now. We've been nonstop all day."
Not only was nearly every square inch of the Bally's sports book filled with basketball fans, the 1,100-seat showroom at the Paris was also showing all of the games -- with a portable betting window on-site -- making it a tournament junkie's dream.
The bettors, though, had a rough time much of the day. Early on, the bettors at sports books across the city were on three teams: Valparaiso; Pepperdine plus-3 1/2 against Wake Forest; and Marquette minus-5 against Tulsa. All three failed to cover and lost outright.
"We're killing them right now," Bert Osborne, race and sports book director at Coast Resorts, said early in the day.
And the house picked up another big decision at most books when Gonzaga failed to cover in a 73-66 loss to Wyoming. The public heavily backed Gonzaga, which was seeded sixth in West amid complaints it should have been as high as a third.
At Coast, the price on the Bulldogs dropped from 7 1/2 to 6.
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