46 AMERICANWAY
NOVEMBER 15 2008
G A M B L I N G
will be his protégé and right-handman, Jay
Rood.TheworkplaceWalker is turningover
toRood amounts tomission control forLas
Vegas sports betting. But it’s not reminis-
cent of NASA; it looks like any other office
inAmerica, except that instead of following
bondpricesorbuildingwebsites, staffersare
hunchedovercomputerswatchingbetspour
in.Formore thanadecade, a sizableportion
of all thewagerson sports inLasVegashave
begun the sameway:withWalker (andnow
Rood) setting the odds, or, as Walker calls
it, hearkening back to the predigital days of
hand-operated signs, “hanginganumber.”
VEgAs
hasalwaysbeencloudedinmystique,
but fewoperations aremoremisunderstood
than thesportsbook.Thereareseveralprev-
alent myths: One is that like in blackjack,
you’re playing against the casino and thus
at a disadvantage. Or, conversely, that as in
poker, you’re playing against other bettors
and that the house, making its profits on
commissions, cravesbalance, so setsbetting
lines to ensure equal amounts ofmoney are
wagered on both teams. Other myths state
that the city is crawling with professional
gamblers whomake their living by beating
the sports books, that well-informed ama-
teur sports fans can actuallybeat thehouse,
and that many Vegas insiders consider the
sportsbook thebest bet in the casino.
Amazingly, every one of these “myths” is
true, to varyingdegrees. In a perfectworld,
Walker wants half the money bet on each
side, which would leave him in a no-lose
situation,withaguaranteedprofit from the
commission takenoneachbet, calledvigor-
ishorvigor juice. (Thehouseaveragesa4.5
percent profit margin in sports wagering.)
But this is impossible, since many bettors
wait until the last minute to place wagers,
sometimes six-or even seven-figurewagers.
Fans tend to bet on “their” team, so with
more popular teams from larger markets,
like the New York Yankees, the only way
Walker can equalize wagering is by chang-
ing the odds in favor of their opponent.He
does just that but only to a small degree.
If he changes them too much, his casinos
become the target of Vegas–based profes-
sional gamblers and syndicates waiting to
pounce on skewedodds. Suchopportunists
oftenuseanonymousbettors toplacemaxi-
mum bets simultaneously, and at the last
minute, at all his casinos, potentially taking
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