Waeeiors Basketball Betting News

<< Report: Blazers fire GM Pritchard
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers have reportedly fired general manager Kevin Pritchard. The Oregonian newspaper reported team owner Paul Allen made the move less than an hour before the NBA Draft was set to begi

<< Report: Celtics forward Wallace to retire
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Celtics forward Rasheed Wallace has reportedly decided to end his NBA career after 15 years in the league. Speculation was building that Wallace would retire after the Celtics lost to the Los Ang

<< Kerr in 3-way tie for lead at LPGA Championship
Pittsford, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cristie Kerr shot a four-under 68 to earn a share of the lead Thursday after the first round of the LPGA Championship, the year's second major. Playing in the afternoon, Kerr carded five birdies and one bog

<< Wizards choose Wall with No. 1 pick
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Wizards selected Kentucky point guard John Wall with the first overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-4 Wall, the first Kentucky player selected No. 1 overall, completed his first colleg

No. 21 pick Brackins headed to Hornets after trade >>
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -Iowa State forward Craig Brackins has been taken with the 21st overall pick in the NBA draft and is headed to the New Orleans Hornets through a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder.Brackins was the product of one of two selection

NHL owners agree on penalties for blindside hits >>
LOS ANGELES (AP) -NHL owners unanimously agree that blindside hits to the head will now result in a major penalty and ejection for offenders.The vote took place Thursday at the league's board of governors meeting, held one day before the NHL draft.T

Grizzlies draft South Florida's Jones at No. 25 >>
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -The Memphis Grizzlies have taken South Florida guard Dominique Jones with the 25th pick, their second selection in the first round of the NBA Draft.The 6-foot-5, 216-pound Jones left college after his junior year. He was a first

Blazers take Williams of Memphis with 22nd pick >>
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -The Portland Trail Blazers have selected Memphis swingman Elliot Williams with the 22nd pick in the NBA draft.Williams averaged 17.9 points, 4 rebounds and 3.8 assists with the Tigers last season as a sophomore after transferrin

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

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.