Sports Betting: Who’s Got Your Action?

READ MORE: Bob Scucci, Bodog, Sports Betting

We’ve been all over the Bob Scucci beat lately, but with football season kicking off it’s probably no coincedence we keep seeing articles about Bob, the Stardust Sports Book, and the traditional setting the first lines of the week by Scucci for the upcoming NFL slate. We did find this article from The Casino City Times interesting, as it confirms that the Vegas action has been taking a back seat to offshore sports books for a few years now:

“Offshore betting has gotten so big, so expansive, that it’s hard to ignore their existence,” Scucci said. “Their popularity has grown so much it’s really incredible. I think they were a blip on the radar 15 years ago, and today they are a major, major source of big money.”

The numbers are impossible to ignore. Offshore sports books combined for an estimated handle of $76.6 billion in 2004, compared to a handle of $2.08 billion in Nevada. At least five offshore books alone took in more money in sports wagers last year than the entire state.

Don’t miss the short profile of BoDog in the article either, especially this quote from Canadian ex-pat and BoDog founder Calvin Ayre:

“I thought, `This is a good idea. I’ll get to live in the tropics and when the dust all settles, I’ll have a couple million dollars.’ That’s not even a good month for me anymore. Bodog has killed my expectations, turning into more than I ever even contemplated.”

The projected sports book handle for Bodog this year is $1.2 billion. That figure does not include the casino and poker rooms, which will help push the projected handle to $6 billion.

Sports Betting: Guess Where Big Bettors Spend Their Money [Casino City Times]

Day in the Life of a Sportsbook

READ MORE: Bob Scucci, Casinos, Sportsbooks

Sports bookie stories are, for the most part, rather boring. But Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel does a more than serviceable profile on Bob Scucci, chief race and sports book manager at the Stardust Casino. (The one problem—he spells his name “Succi”. Look for Wetzel to have a tinfoil wrapped dead fish on his doorstep tomorrow.)Sure, it gets busy this time of the year. But it’s interesting to see just how much his job depends on him setting the right line each week on a football game. (The Stardust lines traditionally are issued first, so, if he gets a lot of action on one team and an injury happens, well, he’s kind of fucked.) However, since Scucci has been at the helm since 1989, he’s obviously doing pretty good. He’s no A.J. Benza, though.

The Man Behind the Odds [Yahoo Sports]