Columnist Jeff Haney: Odds are Burton will threaten to repeat as champ

Wednesday, March 1, 2000 | 9:58 a.m.

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

Defending champion Jeff Burton is a 7-2 favorite to make another appearance in Victory Lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, according to odds posted this week at the Imperial Palace sports book.

Burton, a 6-1 shot in last year's race at LVMS, commands the shortest price in Sunday's CarsDirect.com 400 -- the most heavily bet motor sports event of the year in Las Vegas sports books.

"I would say the handle on the race is comparable to a major pro football game, a matchup between two elite NFL teams on a Sunday," said Jay Kornegay, sports book director at the Imperial Palace.

Since its inception three years ago, the Winston Cup race at LVMS has eclipsed the Daytona 500 as the sport's No. 1 betting event.

"The thing about Daytona is that the odds are up there for a much longer period of time," Kornegay said. "But because this race is a Las Vegas event, and because of the matchups and props, this one is bigger."

Kornegay said the handle on the local NASCAR race is growing each year.

"We anticipate writing more action this year than we did on the other two, and we did more the second year than in the inaugural year," he said.

The situation is similar at Bally's and Paris, according to John Avello, director of race and sports operations at the properties.

"We always have a pretty good write on Daytona," Avello said. "But that's the second-biggest race in town for us. The biggest is (this) weekend, and we're really looking forward to it."

The favored Burton is followed by Mark Martin (9-2), Dale Jarrett (9-2), Jeff Gordon (5-1) and Bobby Labonte (6-1) at the IP, which lists prices on 33 drivers in addition to a 40-1 field bet.

"Jarrett has just run great at this track," IP sports supervisor Jackson Meeker noted.

But the early action at the IP was coming in on the two Dale Earnhardts -- Junior (40-1) and Senior (15-1).

At Station Casinos sports books, Jeff Burton opened at 3-1, heading a list of 49 drivers (no field bet). In the featured matchup, Burton is minus 120 against Martin (even money).

The Stations also offer a variety of creative props on the race, including an over/under on the number of caution flags (4 1/2, over minus 140) and pick the winning car number (1-22 is plus 130; 24-99 is minus 150).

Mandalay Bay offers some value for Jeff Burton backers, listing the defending champ as a 4-1 second choice along with Jarrett, behind 7-2 favorite Martin. Mandalay Bay pairs the Burton brothers in one of its matchups (Jeff is minus 150, Ward plus 110), and is also taking bets on which make of car will win the race (Ford 5-9; Pontiac 7-5; Chevrolet 2-1).

"I'm looking for a great season in NASCAR," said Mandalay Bay sports book director Gene Kivi. "You have Tony Stewart coming off a rookie-of-the-year season, so people are expecting bigger things from him, and you also have some other young lions like Earnhardt Jr. coming up, along with veterans like Gordon and Martin."

* COHEN VERDICT: Supporters of Jay Cohen believe he did not get a fair shake Monday when federal jurors in New York found him guilty of eight counts of illegal Internet wagering.

Cohen, 33, an owner and operator of Antigua-based sports book World Sports Exchange, was convicted of illegally accepting wagers over the Internet and phone lines in the first trial of its kind.

Cohen attorney Ben Brafman of the law firm Brafman & Ross, P.C., thinks the verdict -- which hinged on the old "Interstate Wire Act" of 1961 -- will be overturned on appeal.

"We recognize that the legal instructions provided to the jury by the court left them no choice but to return a verdict of guilty," Brafman said. "We believe the instructions were clearly wrong."

Attorney Melinda Sarafa, who worked with Brafman on the case, added: "On behalf of the firm, we believe Jay is a law-abiding individual who did not intend to violate the law."

Cohen contended the United States government has no jurisdiction over an operation that is fully licensed by another country, in this case Antigua.

An appeal likely won't be heard for at least six months. Meanwhile, it's business as usual at World Sports Exchange (www.wsex.com). According to Reuters news service, World Sports Exchange handles more than $100 million in sports bets each year.

* FIGHT GAME: Felix Trinidad is about a 2 1/2-1 favorite around town to defeat David Reid in Friday's super welterweight title bout at Caesars Palace. At Mandalay Bay, "will go" 10 rounds was bet from minus 140 to minus 200, with "won't go" bettors taking back plus 150. ...

In the main event of Saturday's card at Mandalay Bay, Paulie Ayala has been bet from a minus 800 favorite to minus 1200 against Johnny Bredahl (plus 800) in a bantamweight championship bout. "Will go" 10 is minus 150; "won't go" is plus 110. ...

In an April 29 heavyweight title bout at Madison Square Garden, the Imperial Palace has Lennox Lewis a minus 240 favorite against challenger Michael Grant (plus 190).

* NOTABLE: Northern Ireland golfer Darren Clarke, who won the Match Play Championship by upsetting Tiger Woods in the final on Sunday, opened as a 60-1 long shot at the Regent sports book in Summerlin. On the morning of the championship round, Clarke was a plus 300 underdog against Woods (minus 400). ...

Coming off his victory in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream, High Yield emerged as a 6-1 favorite to win the Kentucky Derby (May 6) in Mandalay Bay's futures book. High Yield was previously listed at 40-1. ...

The Vegassports Wire show broadcast daily at 8 a.m. on KENO 1460-AM and hosted by Tim Trushel can now be heard online at www.Nevadaprepsports.com. Log on to the audio broadcast section of the website to listen to the show live or archived, as each day's show is saved on the site.