Aussie Bookies Going Broke

READ MORE: Bookies, Horse Racing

Makybe Diva won the Melbourne Cup yesterday, earning the seven-year-ole mare her third straight victory in one of Australia’s biggest races. How’d the bookies make out with a heavy favorite crossing the line first? The Electric News says “not good:”

“One (bettor) was daring enough to even place A$1million ($1.26m) on the seven-year-old mare.

“In the end, she did not disappoint. Bookmakers had to pay out more than A$85m when Diva comfortably beat off the competition to win the race for the third year in a row.

“Mr Michael Sullivan, of Darwin-based Sportingbet, who accepted the mystery punter’s bet, had to pay the punter A$3m.

“‘I thought about it, thought about the risks involved, but took the bet. This is our job, after all.

‘Builders build houses, plumbers fix drains, and our job is to take risks with favourites.’

“‘All up, she has cost us more than A$5m.’”

We bet her on a $2 show ticket, and cashed a healthy ten cent profit for the day, which we promptly tipped to the kangaroo running the window. He tipped his hat, wished us “G’day,” and we watched a flushed toilet drain in the opposite direction before throwing a koala on the barbie and heading home. Australian racing is faaaaaan-tastic.

Melbourne Cup: Mystery Punter Wins A$3M [Electric News]

Be All That You Can Be

READ MORE: Bookies, Gambling

We remember sitting in our high school counselor’s office after taking one of those tests that was supposed to determine career aptitude. He was puzzled that things like “Tobacco Company Executive” and “Beer Commercial Jingle Writer” popped up, but we knew what to make of that. We’ve always been in the business of encouraging dubiously bad habits. Maybe we should have been a bookie. Washington University’s Student Life Newspaper glamorizes our true calling:

“I used to just bet and I was losing my ass; then I became a bookie. I realized that in the long run it is set up for the bookie to win. That’s just how the system works,” said Jerry.

Maybe all this “losing our ass” stuff can take us somewhere. Anyone need to put a few bucks on the Browns this weekend?

The life of a bookie: the glories and pitfalls [Student Life]

Great Day To Be a Gambler

READ MORE: Bookies, Casinos, NFL Football, Sports Betting

Good morning. Welcome to the start of the NFL season. And with professional football, there comes mountains of money to be won, lost, burned, buried, and snorted up noses. It’s a glorious time of the year. And who better to remind us that football season is really about then USA Today, who at midnight this morning, ran a long-ass story about sports betting, casinos, and Bob Scucci. Yes. Bob Scucci again. It’s a remarkably interesting story for a newspaper read by people in McDonald’s and airports and gets us right in the mood for what lay ahead for us this fall. And it also lets us know that the bookmakers are always in control of the situation:

So goes the parallel world of sports betting in Sin City, where “wise guys” or professional bettors battle “bookies” for supremacy. And everybody makes money off “squares,” the derogatory term for amateur bettors Vegas types use only privately for fear of offending customers. In this parallel universe, real-life victories and losses on the football field mean nothing.

Football Bettors Put Billions on the Line [USA Today]

Other Events People Won Money On This Weekend…

READ MORE: Betting, Bookies, Events

· Tiger Woods proves that he is everything the Just Do It commercials have propped him up to be and more. Woods won the British Open , despite a little push from Jose Maria Olazabal and Colin Montgomerie. [SLAM!]
· Jermain Taylor upsets reigning middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins in split decision and lets the world know he’s the real deal; looks forward to rematch. [SF Chronicle]
· The New York Yankees took three out of four in the weekend series with the Boston Red Sox. Yankees are now a 1/2 game back from first. [Boston Herald]
· Harry Potter bettors that accurately predicted somebody would die in the book, were hopefully paid out before they were trampled by the wizard hat-wearing throngs of fans. [Mercury News]

Busted Bookies

READ MORE: Bookies

Nothing makes the Oddjack more sad than seeing good illegal bookmakers thrown into the clink. But with all the government scrutiny(and budget crunches and police quotas around the country), well fellas named Louie, Petey, and Victor are usually the first to go.

Man gets 21 months for illegal gambling business [Las Vegas Sun]

If a tree falls in a hockey rink and no one is there to hear it…

READ MORE: Bookies

From sports betting forum on Professional Hockey:

Anyone know where I can get the odds for the Memorial Cup games? I bet with Bowmans and they don’t seem to have anything. At least not yet. Quite surprising considering they are always yapping on the Fan590 about how big their Canadian clientele is. Thunderbuck.

Hockey Forum [Covers.com]

Are You There God? It’s Me, Oddjack…

READ MORE: Bookies

So, anybody know what’s going on with super handicapper Joe Duffy’s God’s Picks forum website? The thing hasn’t been updated since April 11, 2005 and there’s not a god in sight to help us figure out this whole Detroit/Miami debacle. We’ve signed up for his newsletter and even plopped down the $17 entry fee for their primtime knowledge. So, why can’t we just shoot a little harmless scuttlebutt with a bunch of other pokeys as well?

This is ridiculous.

However, there is a handy tidbit on the home page about an easy baseball line tonight:

ANAHEIM (SANTANA +120) White Sox (Milton)

Going against any team with a starting pitcher whose ERA is 3.20 or better on the year and with a bullpen ERA of 3.00 or less over their last 10 games is 276-261 +111.5 units. There are several systems with minimal overlapping parameters that favor the Angels in this one.

The Angles[sic] are 5-2 their last seven.

We’ll ignore the fact that he called them “Angles” and just take that as a sign to start rolling change to get in something before tonight’s game.

Chicago White Sox at LA Angels [Yahoo Sports]
God’s Picks [GodsPicks.com]
God’s Picks [GodsPicks.com Forums]

William Hill Plans to Make Everyone In Europe Go Broke

READ MORE: Bookies

William Hill has agreed to buy Stanley Leisure’s betting-shops arm for $926 million in cash. The deal between William Hill and Stanley Leisure is subject to approval by both sets of shareholders along with U.K. antitrust regulators. William Hill hopes to establish some presence in areas where it is both under represented—the northwest of England—and completely unrepresented—such as Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Stanley Leisure, which also operates 41 casinos in the U.K., has revealed that full-year profit is expected to be down on the previous year after some distinctly unpropitious horse racing and soccer results. Stanley will also look to take the lion’s share of the 17 additional casinos it expects from the relaxing of gambling laws in the U.K.

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