Books reap success from low-scoring game

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, April 2, 2002 | 11:02 a.m.

Before the NCAA men's basketball tournament started, the odds on Indiana to win the national championship at the Imperial Palace were 100-1.

As it turned out, Maryland fended off the upstart Hoosiers 64-52 Monday night.

But even if the fifth-seeded Hoosiers had pulled off the upset of the top-seeded Terrapins, the folks at the Imperial race and sports book wouldn't have grimaced too much.

"Surprisingly, there wasn't much action when Indiana was 100-1," Imperial Palace race and sports book supervisor Dan Malak said. "There wasn't much money on it at all.

"Not a lot of people had any faith in Indiana."

After Indiana upset defending champion Duke to reach the elite eight, the Imperial Palace adjusted the odds on Indiana to win it all to 20-1.

Still, there weren't many takers.

The Imperial Palace and Gold Coast each made the most money on the game's total wagers.

At most casinos, the total points scored for the game opened around 148.

By the end of the evening, it moved two points higher at many places.

"If the game would've gone over we would've been hurt," Gold Coast supervisor Dave Harris said. "Betting on both sides was pretty even.

"We were ahead this year compared to last year. Business was really good; a lot more people came in compared to last year."

Indiana wasn't the long shot that would have cost either casino much money; however, folks at the Imperial Palace were keeping a close eye on Oregon and Kent State once the tournament started.

"We would've lost on Oregon or K. State if they won," Malak said. "We had Oregon at 100-1 before the tourney started and because they won the Pac-10, we had decent action on that. Kent State was 300-1.

"Even just a little bit really hurts you because you can get a lot of liability on them. Plus neither team would've met in the semis so if one of them made it to the finals, it would have been hard to sell off the liability. We would have had to really skew the money line."

The Imperial Palace also fared well on a number of prop bets including how many total points and rebounds scored by different Indiana and Maryland players, how many total 3-pointers for the game and which team would be the first to score 20 points.

One bettor won a large wager by betting the "under" on whether or not either team would lead by more than 15 1/2 points.

He and the folks at the Imperial Palace had to wait until the final few seconds ticked off the clock before getting the final outcome.

"At the end of the game, (Maryland's Juan) Dixon let the shot clock run down and threw the ball at the ref," Malak said. "Most people by that time had already won or lost.

"It was something I had to keep my eye on because I knew we had that one large bet."