Columnist Jeff Haney: State board needs to unify rules on all fight wagering

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 | 9:41 a.m.

Jeff Haney's sports betting column appears Wednesday. Reach him at 259-4041 or haney@vegas.com

In the novel "The Player," June Mercator complains that every movie ends with either revenge, a chase or a contest.

Saturday night's farce at the MGM Grand had an even less satisfying ending: A no contest.

The Mike Tyson-Orlin Norris heavyweight bout was called off after one round when Tyson slugged Norris after the bell.

Had June been a fan of the sweet science, she surely would be ready to throw in the towel, just as disgusted bettors and bookmakers are after the latest Tyson fiasco.

"What did you expect?" said Jay Kornegay, sports book director at the Imperial Palace hotel-casino. "I was surprised it went through a whole round without an incident."

"I don't know how many times we're going to have to go through this, especially in Tyson fights, but also with boxing as a whole. It's always someone was robbed, or it was a bad decision ... it's something every time in boxing."

Nearly every Las Vegas sports book refunded all bets -- sides and round propositions -- when the fight was ruled a no contest, with the notable exception of host property MGM Grand.

The MGM refunded all bets on the winner of the fight, but its handling of prop bets is causing confusion among gamblers who made their wagers at the MGM.

Under MGM house rules, a no contest is paid off as a draw, which was a 25-1 shot Saturday. Because the draw was a winner, situational props such as "Tyson by knockout" and "Norris by decision" were considered losing tickets.

"Won't go" bettors also cashed their tickets at the MGM while "will go" bettors were losers, even though other books refunded these wagers (the over/under on rounds Saturday was 4 1/2). Customers hoping for refunds were told to file complaints with the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

The MGM isn't being dishonest -- after all, its house rules are clearly stated. But it is easy to understand the frustration of a gambler who lost a "will go" bet at the MGM while his buddy who made the same bet somewhere else got his money back.

The Gaming Control Board has stepped in before to make sure all sports books are on the same page. For instance, its regulation that bets can be taken only on "athletic contests" effectively outlaws props on MVP balloting, Oscar winners and the like.

If guidelines for boxing wagering also were standardized, perhaps the confusion that followed Tyson-Norris could be avoided in the future.

Although we may never see another bout end quite like this one did, a couple of regulations would certainly be helpful.

First, a draw and a no contest are completely separate outcomes and should not be lumped together.

And second, boxing rules state that if a bout ends on a foul before four rounds are completed, it's a no contest. Both "will go" and "won't go" wagers should be refunded. It's like a rainout in baseball. They don't pay the under if a game is called with the score 1-0 in the third inning.

If a bout happens to end on a foul after four rounds are completed, they go to the scorecards. There's a winner, a loser, an over and an under. There is, in short, a contest.

* WORLD SERIES WAGERING: Even when two popular teams such as the Braves and Yankees square off, betting interest in the World Series lags far behind king football.

"It's not even close," said Kitt Langvad, race and sports supervisor at Arizona Charlie's. "The amount of action we get on a World Series game isn't even half of what we do on a decent NFL game."

Langvad said the action coming in on the Series is mostly Yankees money. New York went off as a small favorite to win the Series at most books around town.

"We always get a lot of action on the Yankees," Langvad said. "I'd say it's high on the Yankees, but not out of line."

At the Imperial Palace, Kornegay said the amount of World Series tickets he writes depends on the rest of that particular day's sports schedule.

"In Game 1 (Saturday night), there was still a lot of football going on, so I'd say the handle was about the same as an average college game," Kornegay said.

"In Game 2 (Sunday night), the sports world revolved around the World Series, so it was more comparable to a pro football game."

Bettors at the IP fared especially well in Game 2, Kornegay added, cashing in on the Yankees and the over (seven runs).

* FOOTBALL NOTES: NFL favorites snapped the underdogs' hot streak in Week 7, at least temporarily. Favorites covered the spread in seven games, while dogs covered in six. There were seven unders, six overs and a push. ... One key win for books came in the Dallas-Washington game. The Cowboys opened as 2- or 3-point favorites, were bet down to pick 'em and beat the Redskins 38-20. ... UNLV opened an 8-point underdog on the offshore line for its game Saturday at New Mexico. Betting on the Rebels is not permitted in Nevada.

* WHO'S NO. 1? Great Britain-based bookmaker Bowman International has posted a line on who will be named ESPN's Athlete of the Century. Bettors can choose between Michael Jordan (minus 145) and Muhammad Ali (plus 125).

* CONTEST WINNERS: One contestant went 16-1 this past week to capture the entire $15,000 weekly prize in the Stardust hotel-casino's free All-American Football Contest.

In the Stardust Invitational handicapping tournament, boxing expert Al Bernstein went 3-4 to defeat Canadian sports analyst Michael Pomer, who went 1-6. Jimmy Rotunda faces fellow Las Vegas handicapper Greg Daraban at 9 p.m. Friday at the Stardust.