Preface from my book "WE WERE WISEGUYS AND DIDN'T KNOW IT"
A history of Las Vegas (LV) race and sports betting has never been accurately portrayed, not in print or on screen. Most books are about how to beat the bookie. Attempts at recording a history of Las Vegas race and sportsbooks and people and events surrounding them, for the most part, end up as cookie cutter, secondhand accounts. Recent authors and media have mostly just regurgitated what someone told them. Due diligence has been minimal.
In compiling these pages, it was difficult to capture what I saw and experienced without it feeling like a biography. It is, however, a biography of the caretakers of sports betting in Las Vegas and Nevada. This book is not about me. I'm just a conduit between the stand alone storefront race and sportsbooks of the 1960s and 1970s to the high-tech, mega books of the 1980s and 1990s and into today. I rubbed elbows with the best handicappers and odds makers, the Gaming Control Board (GCB), and the Outfit (mobbed up guys). I was bookie to the best and sharpest sports bettors in Las Vegas throughout that evolution. Too many of the characters and events that actually mattered and had an impact have been overlooked in favor of self-promoters and lazy journalism from the sidelines. The haunts that could portray an accurate history of Las Vegas sports betting have all been bulldozed and except for a few of us, the characters are gone also. I got my elbows dirty in those places, and I have incredible memories to share. Those people and places have to be remembered. I consider it my duty, a labor of love, to make certain someone gets it down. It was a Las Vegas even Hollywood can't reproduce.
Today’s Las Vegas Strip is home to impressive, high-tech betting venues that don’t give a hint of what and who "brought them to the dance." Their amenities are outstanding as each outdoes the other with more and bigger TVs, digital odds boards, contests, and pizzazz. Today’s sportsbooks main purpose is to entertain hotel guests so they don’t leave for another one. Keep them in the hotel so they’ll play slots and go up against table games with a much bigger hold percentage wise than their sportsbook does. At the bottom of the list of reasons hotel/casinos make heavy investments in a sportsbook nowadays is to actually book sports.
True bookmaking is close to extinct in today’s Las Vegas. Of course, you can bet on games, but if they think you’re half smart and liable to win, your wagers might be limited or even refused. Today’s sportsbook personnel have no qualms about refusing wagers and some even enjoy the phony power trip.
It’s a 180 from early LV when the sole reason to have a sportsbook, stand alone or in a hotel, was to book the games, to take bets. Simulcast horse racing wasn't here yet. Those sportsbooks were Spartan with meager amenities. The draw was the action (booking and betting). Bookmaking in its pure form packed those books. They were venues that brought willing bookies and eager bettors together. Who cared that the race
A history of Las Vegas (LV) race and sports betting has never been accurately portrayed, not in print or on screen. Most books are about how to beat the bookie. Attempts at recording a history of Las Vegas race and sportsbooks and people and events surrounding them, for the most part, end up as cookie cutter, secondhand accounts. Recent authors and media have mostly just regurgitated what someone told them. Due diligence has been minimal.
In compiling these pages, it was difficult to capture what I saw and experienced without it feeling like a biography. It is, however, a biography of the caretakers of sports betting in Las Vegas and Nevada. This book is not about me. I'm just a conduit between the stand alone storefront race and sportsbooks of the 1960s and 1970s to the high-tech, mega books of the 1980s and 1990s and into today. I rubbed elbows with the best handicappers and odds makers, the Gaming Control Board (GCB), and the Outfit (mobbed up guys). I was bookie to the best and sharpest sports bettors in LV (Las Vegas) throughout that evolution. Too many of the characters and events that actually mattered and had an impact have been overlooked in favor of self-promoters and lazy journalism from the sidelines. The haunts that could portray an accurate history of Las Vegas sports betting have all been bulldozed, and except for a few of us, the characters are gone also. I got my elbows dirty in those places, and I have incredible memories to share. Those people and places have to be remembered. I consider it my duty, a labor of love, to make certain someone gets it down. It was a Las Vegas even Hollywood can't reproduce.
Today’s Las Vegas Strip is home to impressive, high-tech betting venues that don’t give a hint of what and who "brought them to the dance." Their amenities are outstanding as each outdoes the other with more and bigger TVs, digital odds boards, contests, and pizzazz. Today’s sportsbooks main purpose is to entertain hotel guests so they don’t leave for another one. Keep them in the hotel so they’ll play slots and go up against table games with a much bigger hold percentagewise than their sportsbook does. At the bottom of the list of reasons hotel/casinos make heavy investments in a sportsbook nowadays is to actually book (take wagers on the outcome of a game). True bookmaking (taking wagers on the outcome of a game) is close to extinct in today’s Las Vegas. Of course, you can bet on games, but if they think you’re half smart and liable to win, your wagers might be limited or even refused. Today’s sportsbook personnel have no qualms about refusing wagers and some even enjoy the phony power trip.
It’s a 180 from early LV when the sole reason to have a sportsbook, stand alone or in a hotel, was to book the games, to take bets. Simulcast horse racing wasn't here yet. Those sportsbooks were Spartan with meager amenities. The draw was the action (booking and betting). Bookmaking in its pure form packed the books. They were venues that brought willing bookies and eager bettors together. Who cared that the race
A history of Las Vegas (LV) race and sports betting has never been accurately portrayed, not in print or on screen. Most books are about how to beat the bookie. Attempts at recording a history of Las Vegas race and sportsbooks and people and events surrounding them, for the most part, end up as cookie cutter, secondhand accounts. Recent authors and media have mostly just regurgitated what someone told them. Due diligence has been minimal.
In compiling these pages, it was difficult to capture what I saw and experienced without it feeling like a biography. It is, however, a biography of the caretakers of sports betting in Las Vegas and Nevada. This book is not about me. I'm just a conduit between the stand alone storefront race and sportsbooks of the 1960s and 1970s to the high-tech, mega books of the 1980s and 1990s and into today. I rubbed elbows with the best handicappers and odds makers, the Gaming Control Board (GCB), and the Outfit (mobbed up guys). I was bookie to the best and sharpest sports bettors in LV (Las Vegas) throughout that evolution. Too many of the characters and events that actually mattered and had an impact have been overlooked in favor of self-promoters and lazy journalism from the sidelines. The haunts that could portray an accurate history of Las Vegas sports betting have all been bulldozed, and except for a few of us, the characters are gone also. I got my elbows dirty in those places, and I have incredible memories to share. Those people and places have to be remembered. I consider it my duty, a labor of love, to make certain someone gets it down. It was a Las Vegas even Hollywood can't reproduce.
Today’s Las Vegas Strip is home to impressive, high-tech betting venues that don’t give a hint of what and who "brought them to the dance." Their amenities are outstanding as each outdoes the other with more and bigger TVs, digital odds boards, contests, and pizzazz. Today’s sportsbooks main purpose is to entertain hotel guests so they don’t leave for another one. Keep them in the hotel so they’ll play slots and go up against table games with a much bigger hold percentagewise than their sportsbook does. At the bottom of the list of reasons hotel/casinos make heavy investments in a sportsbook nowadays is to actually book (take wagers on the outcome of a game). True bookmaking (taking wagers on the outcome of a game) is close to extinct in today’s Las Vegas. Of course, you can bet on games, but if they think you’re half smart and liable to win, your wagers might be limited or even refused. Today’s sportsbook personnel have no qualms about refusing wagers and some even enjoy the phony power trip.
It’s a 180 from early LV when the sole reason to have a sportsbook, stand alone or in a hotel, was to book the games, to take bets. Simulcast horse racing wasn't here yet. Those sportsbooks were Spartan with meager amenities. The draw was the action (booking and betting). Bookmaking in its pure form packed the books. They were venues that brought willing bookies and eager bettors together. Who cared that the race and sportsbooks were on the worn out side? Gone also are sportsbook personnel who understood the concept of bookmaking. We’ve been weeded out. It works against you in today’s Las Vegas to have had previous bookmaking experience, especially street experience. It will keep you from getting hired.
A history of Las Vegas (LV) race and sports betting has never been accurately portrayed, not in print or on screen. Most books are about how to beat the bookie. Attempts at recording a history of Las Vegas race and sportsbooks and people and events surrounding them, for the most part, end up as cookie cutter, secondhand accounts. Recent authors and media have mostly just regurgitated what someone told them. Due diligence has been minimal.
In compiling these pages, it was difficult to capture what I saw and experienced without it feeling like a biography. It is, however, a biography of the caretakers of sports betting in Las Vegas and Nevada. This book is not about me. I'm just a conduit between the stand alone storefront race and sportsbooks of the 1960s and 1970s to the high-tech, mega books of the 1980s and 1990s and into today. I rubbed elbows with the best handicappers and odds makers, the Gaming Control Board (GCB), and the Outfit (mobbed up guys). I was bookie to the best and sharpest sports bettors in Las Vegas throughout that evolution. Too many of the characters and events that actually mattered and had an impact have been overlooked in favor of self-promoters and lazy journalism from the sidelines. The haunts that could portray an accurate history of Las Vegas sports betting have all been bulldozed and except for a few of us, the characters are gone also. I got my elbows dirty in those places, and I have incredible memories to share. Those people and places have to be remembered. I consider it my duty, a labor of love, to make certain someone gets it down. It was a Las Vegas even Hollywood can't reproduce.
Today’s Las Vegas Strip is home to impressive, high-tech betting venues that don’t give a hint of what and who "brought them to the dance." Their amenities are outstanding as each outdoes the other with more and bigger TVs, digital odds boards, contests, and pizzazz. Today’s sportsbooks main purpose is to entertain hotel guests so they don’t leave for another one. Keep them in the hotel so they’ll play slots and go up against table games with a much bigger hold percentage wise than their sportsbook does. At the bottom of the list of reasons hotel/casinos make heavy investments in a sportsbook nowadays is to actually book sports.
True bookmaking is close to extinct in today’s Las Vegas. Of course, you can bet on games, but if they think you’re half smart and liable to win, your wagers might be limited or even refused. Today’s sportsbook personnel have no qualms about refusing wagers and some even enjoy the phony power trip.
It’s a 180 from early LV when the sole reason to have a sportsbook, stand alone or in a hotel, was to book the games, to take bets. Simulcast horse racing wasn't here yet. Those sportsbooks were Spartan with meager amenities. The draw was the action (booking and betting). Bookmaking in its pure form packed those books. They were venues that brought willing bookies and eager bettors together. Who cared that the race
A history of Las Vegas (LV) race and sports betting has never been accurately portrayed, not in print or on screen. Most books are about how to beat the bookie. Attempts at recording a history of Las Vegas race and sportsbooks and people and events surrounding them, for the most part, end up as cookie cutter, secondhand accounts. Recent authors and media have mostly just regurgitated what someone told them. Due diligence has been minimal.
In compiling these pages, it was difficult to capture what I saw and experienced without it feeling like a biography. It is, however, a biography of the caretakers of sports betting in Las Vegas and Nevada. This book is not about me. I'm just a conduit between the stand alone storefront race and sportsbooks of the 1960s and 1970s to the high-tech, mega books of the 1980s and 1990s and into today. I rubbed elbows with the best handicappers and odds makers, the Gaming Control Board (GCB), and the Outfit (mobbed up guys). I was bookie to the best and sharpest sports bettors in LV (Las Vegas) throughout that evolution. Too many of the characters and events that actually mattered and had an impact have been overlooked in favor of self-promoters and lazy journalism from the sidelines. The haunts that could portray an accurate history of Las Vegas sports betting have all been bulldozed, and except for a few of us, the characters are gone also. I got my elbows dirty in those places, and I have incredible memories to share. Those people and places have to be remembered. I consider it my duty, a labor of love, to make certain someone gets it down. It was a Las Vegas even Hollywood can't reproduce.
Today’s Las Vegas Strip is home to impressive, high-tech betting venues that don’t give a hint of what and who "brought them to the dance." Their amenities are outstanding as each outdoes the other with more and bigger TVs, digital odds boards, contests, and pizzazz. Today’s sportsbooks main purpose is to entertain hotel guests so they don’t leave for another one. Keep them in the hotel so they’ll play slots and go up against table games with a much bigger hold percentagewise than their sportsbook does. At the bottom of the list of reasons hotel/casinos make heavy investments in a sportsbook nowadays is to actually book (take wagers on the outcome of a game). True bookmaking (taking wagers on the outcome of a game) is close to extinct in today’s Las Vegas. Of course, you can bet on games, but if they think you’re half smart and liable to win, your wagers might be limited or even refused. Today’s sportsbook personnel have no qualms about refusing wagers and some even enjoy the phony power trip.
It’s a 180 from early LV when the sole reason to have a sportsbook, stand alone or in a hotel, was to book the games, to take bets. Simulcast horse racing wasn't here yet. Those sportsbooks were Spartan with meager amenities. The draw was the action (booking and betting). Bookmaking in its pure form packed the books. They were venues that brought willing bookies and eager bettors together. Who cared that the race
A history of Las Vegas (LV) race and sports betting has never been accurately portrayed, not in print or on screen. Most books are about how to beat the bookie. Attempts at recording a history of Las Vegas race and sportsbooks and people and events surrounding them, for the most part, end up as cookie cutter, secondhand accounts. Recent authors and media have mostly just regurgitated what someone told them. Due diligence has been minimal.
In compiling these pages, it was difficult to capture what I saw and experienced without it feeling like a biography. It is, however, a biography of the caretakers of sports betting in Las Vegas and Nevada. This book is not about me. I'm just a conduit between the stand alone storefront race and sportsbooks of the 1960s and 1970s to the high-tech, mega books of the 1980s and 1990s and into today. I rubbed elbows with the best handicappers and odds makers, the Gaming Control Board (GCB), and the Outfit (mobbed up guys). I was bookie to the best and sharpest sports bettors in LV (Las Vegas) throughout that evolution. Too many of the characters and events that actually mattered and had an impact have been overlooked in favor of self-promoters and lazy journalism from the sidelines. The haunts that could portray an accurate history of Las Vegas sports betting have all been bulldozed, and except for a few of us, the characters are gone also. I got my elbows dirty in those places, and I have incredible memories to share. Those people and places have to be remembered. I consider it my duty, a labor of love, to make certain someone gets it down. It was a Las Vegas even Hollywood can't reproduce.
Today’s Las Vegas Strip is home to impressive, high-tech betting venues that don’t give a hint of what and who "brought them to the dance." Their amenities are outstanding as each outdoes the other with more and bigger TVs, digital odds boards, contests, and pizzazz. Today’s sportsbooks main purpose is to entertain hotel guests so they don’t leave for another one. Keep them in the hotel so they’ll play slots and go up against table games with a much bigger hold percentagewise than their sportsbook does. At the bottom of the list of reasons hotel/casinos make heavy investments in a sportsbook nowadays is to actually book (take wagers on the outcome of a game). True bookmaking (taking wagers on the outcome of a game) is close to extinct in today’s Las Vegas. Of course, you can bet on games, but if they think you’re half smart and liable to win, your wagers might be limited or even refused. Today’s sportsbook personnel have no qualms about refusing wagers and some even enjoy the phony power trip.
It’s a 180 from early LV when the sole reason to have a sportsbook, stand alone or in a hotel, was to book the games, to take bets. Simulcast horse racing wasn't here yet. Those sportsbooks were Spartan with meager amenities. The draw was the action (booking and betting). Bookmaking in its pure form packed the books. They were venues that brought willing bookies and eager bettors together. Who cared that the race and sportsbooks were on the worn out side? Gone also are sportsbook personnel who understood the concept of bookmaking. We’ve been weeded out. It works against you in today’s Las Vegas to have had previous bookmaking experience, especially street experience. It will keep you from getting hired.
