Columnist Jeff Haney: Las Vegas-style sports betting holds its ground

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002 | 10:27 a.m.

Jeff Haney's sports betting column appears Wednesday. He can be reached at haney@lasvegassun.com or call (702) 259-4041.

Aseries of recent unrelated events seems to illustrate that Las Vegas is holding its own against the offshore wagering industry -- a force that some doomsayers have predicted will make Nevada sports betting all but irrelevant.

Consider:

Boston, a longtime college basketball bettor who was profiled in Chad Millman's book "The Odds," told show host John Kelly he has grown tired of Las Vegas.

"Vegas has all the problems of big cities with none of the benefits of big cities ... meaning culture," Boston said on the program.

At first -- and second, and third -- glance, that looks like an indictment of Las Vegas.

Until you realize many other big bettors have bypassed Las Vegas altogether in favor of the offshores.

Boston still lives here for about half the year, he said. And he comes here for one reason -- to bet sports. That sure seems to indicate Las Vegas remains relevant in the sports betting world.

Even if you are a proponent of offshore betting, you'd have to assert that this incident gives the industry a huge black eye.

And for those of us accustomed to state-regulated sports betting in Nevada, the whole story sounds downright creepy.

According to the bettor, the over/under on the game was 6 goals, but the over was minus 400 and the under was plus 220 -- a huge straddle by any standard. He was particularly upset because competitive lines are supposed to be one of the strong points of offshore books.

"Why even bother hanging a line if they're going to use a straddle like that?" the local pro said.

What does this collection of items mean for offshore sports wagering?

Perhaps quite little, in the long run. Offshore betting is not going away.

But -- and here's the answer to this Question of Great Significance -- neither is Nevada sports betting.

Each industry has its target market; each will continue to have its supporters, as well as its detractors.

Also on the board at the Palms are a series of head-to-head matchups and a number of creative proposition wagers related to the weekend of racing at LVMS. Among them:

Each prop features 49 individual players plus a field (all others) option.

Among the favorites to win baseball's home run crown are Sammy Sosa (3-2), Barry Bonds (5-2) and Ken Griffey Jr. (8-1). Corey Koskie is a 275-1 long shot.

Favorites to win the most games include Randy Johnson (5-1), Pedro Martinez (6-1), Las Vegan Greg Maddux (7-1) , Curt Schilling (7-1) and Mark Mulder (8-1). Omar Daal is a 150-1 shot.

For more information or to register, go to vegasinsider.com.

My sincere thanks to all those who made it a real pleasure to write this column for the past 2 1/2 years.