Columnist Jeff Haney: Bad bets: The 10 worst things about sports betting in Las Vegas

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.

Jeff Haney's sports betting column appears Wednesday. Reach him at (702) 259-4041 or haney@lasvegassun.com.

The No. 1 item on our list of the 10 worst things about sports betting in Las Vegas is four-team parlays that pay 10-1.

This payout structure, which is found at many Las Vegas casinos, gives the house a huge advantage.

The "true" odds (assuming no vigorish) of a four-team parlay are 15-1. That is, if you started with $100 and bet and won four games, rolling over your profit each time, you'd end up with $1,600 (including your original $100 stake).

With the 10-1 payout structure, you end up with only $1,100.

While 10-1 is standard in Las Vegas, there are better options out there for parlay players: Some casinos pay 11-1 or 12-1 for four-teamers. A few casinos even have special promotions that allow you to bet parlays at a reduced vigorish of minus 105.

This list compares the various payouts on four-team parlays. It shows what $100 would pay according to the following payout structures:

odds of 10-1...$1,100

odds of 11-1...$1,200

odds of 12-1...$1,300

rolling it over four times against standard vigorish of minus 110...$1,328

rolling it over four times against reduced vigorish of minus 105...$1,453

rolling it over four times with no vigorish ("true" odds):...$1,600

FUTURE BOOK: The list of odds to win an upcoming event, such as the championship game in a particular sport. Example: "Super Bowl future book."

HOUSE: The sports book or bookmaker; whoever is booking the bet.

OUTS: Betting outlets; places to get a wager down.

PARLAY: A bet involving two or more teams in which all of the teams involved must win for it to be successful.

STRADDLE: The difference in price between the favorite and the underdog in a betting line, usually expressed in cents. Example: If the favorite is minus 145 and the underdog is plus 105, the sports book is using a 40-cent straddle.

TEASER: A specialized wager in which the sports book gives you extra value in the point spread in exchange for reduced odds. Example: In a 2-team, 6-point NFL teaser, the bettor is given 6 points in his favor in the point spread of two NFL games, but he must win both games or the bet is a loser.

VIGORISH: Or vig, for short. The bookmaker's commission. Also called "juice." On a typical straight bet, you wager $110 to win $100. That extra $10 is the vigorish. If your bet wins, you win $100 plus your original $110 for a total payout of $210. If your bet loses, you're out $110.

May 26 -- Betting the new ballparks

June 2 -- Books rooting for the Lakers

June 9 -- Casinos and the Super Bowl

June 16-- The U.S. Open golf championship

June 23-- Week 1 in the NFL

Today-- Worst things about Vegas betting Next week-- Future books for the World Series

The actor Ricky Jay, a sleight-of-hand ace, was once asked if anyone still agrees to play cards against him.

"Sure," Jay replied. "Silly people."

That retort, a lost classic in the annals of gambling lore, came to mind again and again as we were compiling our list of the 10 worst things about sports betting in Las Vegas.

1. Four-team parlays that pay 10-1

We're not anti-parlay snobs.

Recreational gamblers can have lots of fun betting parlays, and the standard odds of 6-1 on a three-teamer, though less than scintillating, are quite fair.

But 10-1 on four-teamers is another matter.

Widely offered in Las Vegas, four-teamers that pay 10-1 afford the house a staggering edge of 31 percent -- a rate that would drive even Nostrodamus to the payday loan store.

If you figure you're laying the equivalent of minus 110 on the first three legs of a four-teamer, then on that fourth leg, you're laying the equivalent of minus 175, according to an analysis in the book "Win More -- Lose Less," by Don Peszynski.

So does anyone actually play four-teamers that pay 10-1?

Sure. Silly people.

2. Mergers and acquisitions

Sports bettors who are on the ball strive to shop around at a variety of betting outlets -- known as "outs" in the lexicon -- for the best prices and most extensive wagering menus.

If the line on a football game is 3 points at one sports book, for instance, but 3 1/2 down the street, that can make a big difference to a bettor.

So while diversity and competition are treasured by gamblers, consolidation in the casino industry should be frowned upon.

For example, back in the olden days of Las Vegas -- say, 1999 -- a small area in the northwest part of town was home to three separate, distinct sports books: Texas Station, the Fiesta and the Sante Fe.

Since then, however, the Fiesta and the Santa Fe -- along with the nearby Wildfire, which also was an independent book -- have been gobbled up by the Station Casinos chain.

While Station operates a fine sports book, we do not need four of them along a 4-mile stretch of road.

Gamblers should also be hopping mad about MGM Mirage's $7.9 billion buyout of Mandalay Resort Group.

The Mirage and Mandalay Bay are both good sports books.

If one gets subsumed into the other, it'll be yet another bad beat for the betting public.

3. Customer service, Part I

(A dramatization of an actual incident)

Customer: "I'd like to sign up for your football contest, please."

Woman at counter (staring straight ahead, not moving a muscle): "You'll have to talk to a supervisor."

Customer: (Pause.) "Um, could you get a supervisor for me?"

Woman at counter (staring straight ahead, makes vague hand-waving motion): "I think there's one over there."

(It's a summer weekday; there are few customers in the book, and no one who looks like a supervisor -- in fact, no one at all -- is visible anywhere behind the counter.)

Customer (incredulous, doing a slow burn): "Look, I'm just trying to sign up for your super $1,500 football contest, the one you promote all over town and outside the casino on your big sign.

"I'm standing here holding 15 $100 bills, and I'm trying to hand ... them ... over ... to ... you ... so I can sign up for the contest. Do you think you could help me out?"

Woman at counter (staring straight ahead, not moving a muscle): "You'll have to talk to a supervisor."

Customer: (Blood pressure, already high from betting sports and sweating out games on a daily basis, goes through the roof.)

4.Customer service, Part II

(A dramatization of an actual incident -- at a different property, by the way)

Customer: "Sir, could you tell me the current price for 973 on the run line?"

Ticket writer (rude tone, as if annoyed by the question): "Whatever it says on the board, that's what the price is."

(Note: The board indicates that the price for 973 on the run line is minus 150.)

Customer: "Oh, OK. Great. I was just checking to make sure the line hadn't moved. Let me have 973 on the run line for $150."

Ticket writer (punching in the bet on his computer): "You know the price on that is minus 170 now, right?"

Customer: (Tries valiantly to refrain from throttling the guy, Bart Simpson-style.)

5. Future books with an abnormally high house edge

A casino's future book -- the list of odds to win an upcoming event such as the World Series or the Super Bowl -- typically carries a large house edge compared to other forms of sports wagering.

Even so, a house edge of 30 to 40 percent is considered competitive; 50 percent is mediocre.

A house edge of 60 percent often indicates that every team on the board of that particular casino can be found at better odds elsewhere, sometimes right next door.

6. Ties-win parlay cards

Ties win. It sounds nice, until you realize that games with point spreads of 3 points, and sometimes 7 points, are excluded: You have to choose one side of the 3 or the other, and if the final score lands on 3 it might not do you any good.

Without those key numbers working for you, the lower odds on these cards obliterate any edge you hope to gain.

Do the people who play these cards think they're scoring some kind of an advantage?

Sure. If they're silly people.

7. Low odds on parlay cards

Believe it or not, we're not anti-parlay card snobs either.

Some cards around town pay in the neighborhood of 200-1 for eight-teamers, presenting a fine opportunity for those attempting to turn a toothpick into a lumberyard.

Other cards pay about 140-1 for hitting an eight-teamer, a pay schedule that would make an alleged organized crime figure blush.

You could argue that people who play these cards deserve what they get -- a thinner bankroll.

You could also argue that this fleece-the-rubes mentality tarnishes the overall quality of the Las Vegas experience.

8. 40-cent straddles

No one this side of Curacao regularly deals 10-cent lines on proposition wagers ... and that's OK. We're not greedy.

We'll take 20-cent straddles on props. Those give the house some breathing room while offering bettors a fair shake.

Props with 30-cent straddles? Not ideal, but not "worst of" material either.

But 40-cent straddles (for instance, minus 145 on the favorite; plus 105 on the underdog) indicate plain old laziness on the part of the oddsmaker. These 40-cent straddles surface from time to time, most recently showing their ugly head during the College World Series.

If bookmaking is an art, as some have claimed, then 40-cent straddles are a mustache scribbled on the Mona Lisa.

9. 20-cent baseball lines

It's not just high-rolling baseball bettors who are harmed by 20-cent lines.

Take a smaller bettor who plays $10 three-team parlays. Let's say he wants to play the underdogs in three separate games in which the favorite is minus 135.

At a sports book with 20-cent baseball lines, our hero's parlay would pay $99.38.

Against a more favorable 10-cent line, or dime line, it would pay $113.90 -- a difference of nearly 1 1/2 betting units for a $10 player.

Fortunately this problem is easily solved: Stick with the dime line houses.

10. Heavy juice on NFL teasers

"Burning the lot" is a great, old-time slang term from the world of crooked carnivals. It describes what happens when a traveling carnival rips off a town so blatantly that the residents revolt against any other carnival that tries to set up shop in the area.

It could also describe what happens when a sports book charges a vigorish of minus 130 on 2-team, 6-point NFL teasers. (Minus 130 means the bettor is required to wager $130 to win $100.)

A couple of sports books in Las Vegas charge minus 110 on this type of teaser, a fair price. Sure, the book takes its pound of flesh in the form of a moderate vig, but the bettor still has a fighting chance.

Many other books charge minus 120. The bettor has no shot at this price. It's too much vig. These houses are essentially saying hey, if you want to lay 120 be our guest, but we really don't want or expect much action here. It's not necessarily a lot burner, though.

But minus 130? Outrageous. A burned lot. Silly people.

Coming later this summer: The 10 best things.

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