Columnist Jeff Haney: Class action

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004 | 9:40 a.m.

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

Listen closely as students file into room 106 of UNLV's Beam Hall, and you'll detect a distinct undercurrent flowing through the routine chatter, a steady thrum like the clacking of chips in a poker room.

Gambling talk.

A couple of guys debate how many favorites covered the point spread in the National Football League over the weekend. Others have an animated conversation about college football wagering. Someone else sets odds on whether the evening's guest speaker will show up, given that there's a big baseball game on television.

Sure, this is Las Vegas, where it's common for betting phraseology to seep into the vernacular, but still ... it's pretty thick tonight for a college lecture hall.

Then, the instructor's opening line to the students erases any doubt. This is not your typical night class.

"Be honest now," he says in a stern tone. "How many of you had the Titans on Sunday? And if you played the Titans, was it because you were influenced by their performance in the Monday night game?"

Welcome to "Sports Betting: How to Win Betting on Football," a class offered by UNLV's educational outreach program and the only course in the country designed to sharpen students' skills at the sports book betting windows.

The six-session class, which is not for academic credit, has been meeting once a week for the past month, and it is scheduled to conclude next week. Among the guest speakers have been an oddsmaker, a professional gambler and a sports book operator. Topics have included bankroll management, the best places to wager, and how the betting line is constructed.

The idea was a hit

Taught by Henderson resident Stephen Nover, the course drew enough interest this fall that plans are in the works to bring it back next semester, perhaps expanding its scope from football to other forms of sports betting.

"I was surprised by how many people signed up," said Nover, a former sports writer who handicaps sporting events for the gaming Web site Covers.com. "I was expecting maybe 20 people."

Instead, it was literally standing-room only for the first couple of nights, as 62 students packed a class that was supposed to be capped at 60. Although a small handful dropped out, 50-plus students filled the room even on a night that the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees were clashing in Game 7 of the American League playoffs.

"We thought it would be an interesting topic, and it turns out it obviously was," said Michelle Baker, UNLV's educational outreach program coordinator. "We are thinking about doing it again."

Among the dropouts were a couple of absolute beginners, Nover said, and one self-styled professional gambler cultivating a Mr. Vegas image, complete with sunglasses at night.

"I believe he may have been a pro bettor because he asked a lot of sharp questions," Nover said. "But he was one of those know-it-all guys. I'm kind of glad he stopped showing up."

Those who remained represent a broad spectrum of ages, some avid gamblers, others more casual. As in any sports book in town, males make up a decided majority.

"It's a good range," Nover said. "They're mostly what I would call 'sharp recreational' gamblers."

Many in the class demonstrated their acumen by asking a series of pointed questions of the evening's guest speaker, Stardust sports book director Bob Scucci -- who did indeed show up despite the history being made at Yankee Stadium.

"If you bet the Seahawks against the Cardinals this week, you'll be paying a big 'tax' on Seattle," Scucci told the class. "The raw number on that game would be about 4 1/2 points; instead the Seahawks are favored by 6 1/2, and it might be 7 by game day.

"The reason is that no one in the public wants any part of the Cardinals. There will be a lot of wise guys (professional gamblers) taking the Cardinals, because they know they're getting a couple extra points, but that's OK with us because all the public money will be on the Seahawks."

Postscript: The line did steam to 7, and the Cardinals -- and the wise guys, and the sports book -- won the game outright.

Information equals interest

Scucci wasn't overly concerned about the students using their newfound knowledge to bring down the house at the Stardust. Stealing a page from the Sy Syms playbook, he figures an educated consumer is his best customer. As with other gambling instructional seminars -- such as those on video poker sometimes offered at local casinos -- the information might be valuable, but it's just a starting point, leaving a virtual lifetime of homework for an astute gambler.

"If we ever put up what's called a 'soft line' (a betting line that's wrong in the eyes of professional gamblers), it could expose us to a hit of $50,000 to $100,000 on one game," Scucci said in his presentation.

"The professional bettor's advantage is that he can run down the whole list of games and pick and choose which ones he wants to bet. He can pick out the lines the linemaker made a mistake on. Granted, he still has to win the game, but he has effectively reduced the house edge."

At the end of class, students swarmed the podium and kept Scucci busy for a while, picking his brain.

Steven Smith, 45, a Citizens Area Transit bus driver, said he was inspired to take the class by a friend who once made a five-figure score on a football parlay card.

"I wanted to get a better grip on researching statistics, especially for the purpose of betting pro football," Smith said. "With a lot of this information, I think I knew it in the back of my mind; I just needed to pay more attention to it."

Another student would give his name only as "Ed," as many serious gamblers treasure their privacy as if it were a hot tip on a big long shot.

"I like the way Stephen brought in a variety of experts from all different fields (of gambling), giving us the perspective of everyone from an oddsmaker to a sports book director," said Ed.

Vincent Cassiddy, 33, said he moved to Las Vegas in part because of the city's sports betting tradition and signed up for the class to fine-tune his handicapping skills.

"I'm originally from Detroit, which is a strong sports town, and I knew how big sports betting was in Vegas," he said.

Nover took a similar sports betting class at UNLV in the early 1990s that was taught by the late Marty Mendelsohn, and revived the concept this year after pitching the idea to Baker, of the university's educational outreach department. "I've come full circle," he said.

Does this belong in a college?

Although educational outreach is self-supporting and independent from the main institution at UNLV, Nover said, he did hear grumblings from some administrators that a public university should not sanction a class on how to gamble better.

He fielded several off-the-wall questions as well, Nover said. Someone asked him if he was worried that unsavory characters would take the class and use information gleaned from it to influence the outcome of sporting events.

Nover, who treats sports betting as an intellectual pursuit, reacted with bemusement to such inquiries.

"I really don't think Richard Perry is going to come in and take my class," Nover said, referring to the notorious game fixer and hot tub enthusiast.

Cassiddy said he had no qualms about UNLV offering a class on sports betting.

"This is a gambling town," said Cassiddy, a college student who also works with the state Democratic Party. "And this class talks about sports betting in an informative way that helps out the betting customer. It's definitely not an environment that encourages betting your whole paycheck or anything like that."

No one would think to blame a wine tasting class for promoting alcoholism, Nover said, or point the finger at a fine-dining course for causing an obesity epidemic. He sees his class much the same way.

"It's just a group of people who like betting on football and are trying to get a little better at it," Nover said.

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