The race and sports book at the Red Rock Casino looks like most in Las Vegas, with plenty of comfortable seats, huge televisions and large boards showing results, point spreads and over-under totals for different games.
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<!--PRINTER FRIENDLY ARTICLE-->[FONT=verdana,arial]April 12, 2009
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[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Levine: Trip to Vegas reveals that sports books are no big deal[/FONT]
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COMMENTARY
By JASON LEVINE [/FONT]Over the past few weeks, colleague Brad Myers has written about sports betting from the perspective of a frequent visitor to Las Vegas, the national headquarters of legal wagering.
My wife and I made our first trip to Vegas a couple of weeks ago and in the process I got my first taste of legal sports betting.
First off, sports betting is by no means the focal point of any major Vegas casino -- slot machines are. So, in one sense, Delaware is ahead of the game.
A typical sports book is off to one side of the casino floor and features a wall of big TVs surrounding a couple of mammoth TVs. The main section of TVs shows all sorts of sports. When we were there, bettors watched anything from NCAA basketball to Reds spring training baseball.
Another section of TVs is devoted to horse and harness racing, including the Delaware tracks.
Then there's the huge tote board listing games, point spreads and over-unders. With their green and red electronic type, they reminded me of mammoth train station schedule boards. Like Amtrak, there's no guarantee you're going to get where you want to go.
Most of the sports books feature comfortable seating. Had I been in Vegas alone, I might have spent several hours sitting and watching games on the big screens. None of the books I saw were all that crowded, even during NCAA play. Lest you want to blame the economy for the poor attendance, rest assured the main casino floors, and the city in general, were plenty busy.
(By the way, don't feel sorry CBS castoff Billy Packer. He and Bobby Knight teamed up to appear at the Wynn casino during the week we were in Vegas. What they had to say, I have no idea.)
After several days of casing the scene, I decided to place my bets.
While my wife was shopping, I made my way over to Mandalay Bay's sports book. Again, big screens, comfy chairs, huge tote board.
While most of the chairs were empty, there was a line to place bets, the first one I had seen in Vegas. After a minute or two, I was up. Part of me expected the teller to be ornery and intolerant of neophytes who couldn't talk the talk.
But, like most every other customer service worker in Vegas, the teller I encountered was friendly and completely understanding of my lack of understanding.
First off, you don't ask for a team, you ask for a number. Every team or prop bet has a number assigned to it. Once the teller helped me figure out the numbers, I was good to go. Mandalay Bay has a $10 minimum, though other Vegas casinos will take $5 bets.
I placed four $10 wagers -- two for me, one for Brad and one for another coworker. I got the UConn men to win the NCAAs and the Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup, both at 4-1. I took two Super Bowl flyers, one for Brad's favorite NFL team, Tampa Bay, to win at 35-1 and the other at 40-1 on the Bills.
It all took less than five minutes and left me, well, slightly underwhelmed. It was enlightening, but I expected to feel more of a sense of temptation. Instead, I've come to realize that between NCAA bracket pools and fantasy sports, my thirst for sports wagering (whether for money, pride or both) is already regularly sated.
If and when Delaware gets sports betting, I suspect, like I did, many will try it once. Getting them to come back enough to make the whole thing a true money maker may not be such a sure bet.
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