Jeff Haney visits the Gambler’s Book Shop, where football bettors are loading up on information as the season nears

By Jeff Haney (contact)

Friday, Aug. 17, 2007 | 7:29 a.m.

Sports bettors in Nevada legally wagered a record $1.1 billion on football last year, according to the Gaming Control Board.

From late July through the NFL's opening night, Howard Schwartz swears , he sees almost all those bettors when they stop into the Gambler's Book Shop to load up on preseason football reading - and gambling - material.

If this summer's heightened activity is an indication, another record handle could be in store for Nevada's casinos, Schwartz said.

"In my 28 years in the business I've never seen anything like it," Schwartz, proprietor of the Gambler's Book Shop, said at the 43-year-old Las Vegas institution at 630 S. 11th St. near downtown.

Annual season preview publications - both mainstream and point spread-oriented - have been selling briskly, Schwartz said, along with so-called "workbooks" designed to track the 2007 season as it unfolds. Workbooks also include features such as past performances against the spread, and suggested power ratings for teams and individual players.

Schwartz, in a unique position to gauge the mood of sports bettors, figures an oddball combination of Ben Bernanke and Barry Bonds fatigue has left his customers more than ready for some football.

"They're fed up with baseball, with talk about steroids" and a tainted home run record, said Schwartz, adding that recent Wall Street turmoil might be playing a role. "I think when the stock market goes down, enthusiasm for sports betting goes up."

It helps that the Gambler's Book Shop stocks the best selection of preseason football material, Schwartz said, especially when you consider not only the usual national magazines, but also the niche gambling publications issued by local handicappers and authors.

Among the notable publications for this season, as spotlighted by Schwartz:

Steele earns plaudits for concentrating on football, and football alone, rather than delving into handicapping other sports.

"He's a year-round guy, which is rare in this business," Schwartz said. "Steele's not like one of those baseball players who hits the banquet circuit after the season and puts on 30 pounds. He's more like Carl Yastrzemski, who would start working out immediately once the season ended."

"There are those who believe history will repeat itself," Schwartz said. "I guess they think the ghost of Christmas past will guide the ball over the goal post."

"All of this stuff still doesn't guarantee you're going to hit 60 percent against the spread," Schwartz said. "But the cautious, disciplined players will be ahead of the game with their bankrolls."

This being Las Vegas, however, caution and discipline are sometimes eclipsed by, um, certain eccentricities among gamblers.

It's not uncommon for Schwartz to encounter customers looking for tips on how to bet sports based on players' birthdays, zodiac signs or those all-important "biorhythms."

"I'm surprised some of these people aren't busted out by the end of the exhibition season," he said.