50 AMERICANWAY
NOVEMBER 15 2008
G A M B L I N G
and amateur sports, fromwomen’s basket-
ball toNASCAR racing. If you follow a par-
ticular college teamor conferenceall season,
you can know the players and matchups
better than the bookies. “You may know
substantially more about a team than we
do, whenwe are setting lines for 100differ-
ent collegebasketball teams.Thebestway to
win is to gain expertise in a particular con-
ference or sport,” he says. Aglaring example
is soccer, which just returned to theMGM
Mirage sportsbooks after a longhiatus. The
reason for the departure? In one important
overseas game that was little understood in
the States, other casinos flip-flopped the fa-
vorite and the underdog, amistake that lost
themmillions toknowledgeable soccer fans.
Asaresult,bettingon thesportwascanceled
entirely for theMGMMirage sportsbooks.
“I’m a littlemore interested in soccer and
auto sports thanRobert, so youmight see a
fewmore betting options now,” says Rood,
who has served as director of the Manda-
lay Bay Race and Sports Book for the past
threeyears.Before that, he spent threeyears
working directly for Walker as manager of
the Mirage’s sports book. “Otherwise, you
won’twalk inandnoticeanythingdifferent,”
he says. “I’ve worked closely with Robert,
andwe share the same philosophy, and his
methods have worked, so we will continue
thosepolicieswehavebecomeknownfor:ag-
gressivebetting limits, friendly atmosphere,
and great customer service. Our idea is still
Where to Play
Three major casino operators,
MGM
Mirage
,
Harrah's
, and
Station Casinos
,
now control the bulk of the sports
betting, and each carefully keeps
the odds exactly the same at all its
properties, so you can no longer just
walk down the street to shop around
for odds. But odds still vary by small
amounts between casino owners, and
VegasInsider.com
posts real-time
odds from the big three, along with
those from the
Las Vegas Hilton
and
Wynn
, for comparison. More often,
visitors choose where to play based
on atmosphere or comfort. The
MGM
Grand
has skyboxes, which are popular
with groups and bachelor parties,
while the
Excalibur
sports book was
just refurbished and is very welcoming
to beginners and low rollers. Some,
like the Mirage, serve free drinks
liberally to all fans, while others,
like
Mandalay Bay
, serve only bettors.
Continued onpage 55
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