Jeff Haney tells football bettors which group of casinos is offering the area’s best reduced-vigorish promotion

Friday, July 20, 2007 | 7:23 a.m.

The city's best reduced-vigorish promotion for football bettors will be returning this season, giving gamblers an opportunity to wager on sides, over/unders and even parlays at a fairly deep discount.

The "half-vigorish" special at the Stratosphere and related properties will again be offered on Thursdays from 5 p.m. to closing, company officials said at a football-betting media conference at the Stratosphere.

Here's how it works: Bettors can risk, or "lay," minus-105 (meaning $1.05 to win $1) on all NFL and college football games on that week's board each Thursday instead of the standard minus-110 ($1.10 to win $1).

The promotion, which effectively reduces the house's advantage by about half, applies not only to straight bets on individual teams, but also to over/unders, or "totals." Reduced-vig promotions at other casino properties typically exclude totals, college games or both, making them less attractive for bettors. ( "Vigorish" refers to the house's cut of the action, or commission, on a bet.)

What's more significant , bettors can make parlays at the reduced-vig price anywhere up to an eight-leg parlay at the Stratosphere. As a result, during the promotion the Stratosphere properties are in effect offering bonus payouts on off-the-board parlays.

For example, a three-team parlay usually pays off at odds of 6-1 in Las Vegas sports books. But parlaying three teams at the reduced vigorish of minus-105 would pay out at better than 6.4 to 1.

"In years past, we've been communicating to people that we have this (special offer), but we want more and more people to become aware of it," said Robert Jaynes, race and sports book director at the Stratosphere.

The promotion has drawn not only typical sports bettors who make wagers in the $20 to $100 range, but also higher rollers placing $1,000 three-team parlays, Jaynes said - "and we want to see more of them."

The half-vig special is part of a deep menu of football betting options rolled out by the Stratosphere that also includes:

The reduced-vig special and the other promotions are available at the Stratosphere, Arizona Charlie's Decatur, Arizona Charlie's Boulder and the Aquarius in Laughlin.

The early opening lines were a big enough hit with bettors that the Stratosphere had to implement a lottery system to determine who was permitted to bet first, Jaynes said. He expects to open two betting windows for early-line wagering this season, up from one window last year.

"It is popular, and it's not just 'wise guys,' " or sharp, professional-level sports bettors, Jaynes said, pointing out that smaller recreational bettors also like to partake. "We try to make it so that there's so much up there (on the betting board) for people each week that as they're cashing their tickets they'll want to make more bets right away instead of walking out with their cash."

Jaynes said he also strives to post point spreads on some games that are unique to his properties, rather than copycat or "cookie-cutter" lines - those identical to nearly every other sports book 's .

"If we can make different numbers, I think that draws business in, too," he said.

Teaser bettors will also find good prices at the Stratosphere properties, notably the highly sought-after - and rapidly disappearing from Las Vegas - minus-110 on two-team, 6-point NFL teasers.

"I still have it (at minus-110), and I'm not going to change it unless someone tells me I have to," Jaynes said.