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PrintOdds & Ends is BTB’s look at sports betting stories making headlines both in newspapers and on the Web. We also analyze futures odds, prop bets and provide you with nuggets that could be of interest to either your brain or bankroll.
Las Vegas sportsbooks often get criticized for their unwillingness to offer the expansive variety of lines, props and futures that are so prevalent at offshore shops.
Well, it’s time to score a rare point for Vegas.
Jeff Sherman, an oddsmaker at LVH SuperBook, has been posting point spreads and totals for nearly every NBA Summer League game since play began last week. The NBA’s exhibition slate features 80 games, with the bulk of ‘em being played at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center through July 22.
To our knowledge, there isn’t a single offshore hanging numbers on these “meaningless” games played mostly by players who will never see a minute on an NBA floor.
“When I told people I was putting these numbers up, they thought I was crazy,” Sherman told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I know some people are having fun with this. It’s an opportunity for people to wager on it and go watch it if they want. The handle has been picking up each day, and I know more people are talking about it.”
Sherman told the R-J he is following every NBA beat writer on Twitter and feels comfortable releasing lines because he’s familiar with the majority of the players, many of whom he watched play in college.
Limits are $1,000 on sides and $500 on totals.
Count Chris Webber, a former NBA player who now serves as a TV analyst, among those who don’t think there should be lines on summer league games.
“Nobody should be betting on a summer league game,” Webber told the R-J. “It’s like going to a pickup game and betting on a team just because of how you like them in the warmup line.”
UPDATE: 5Dimes began releasing lines on Summer League games today.
PADDY POWER EXEC GOES ‘UNDERCOVER’
William Reeves, soon-to-be Head of Operations at Paddy Power, will be featured in tonight’s episode of Undercover Boss, which airs in the U.K. and has also been televised in the U.S.
The show’s premise is a simple one: An executive from a major company goes undercover to discover how the business works and, most importantly, how it can be improved. Generally, the CEO will visit all levels of the company to discover inefficiencies or worker problems.
So, what’s in store for Paddy Power?
After revealing his true identity, the hard-working employees who worked alongside William are rewarded with promotion and holidays while other employees are given training and better working conditions including a major redesign of the workspace in company’s call centre by leading design experts Landor Associates.
Odds of this episode being as good as the one that featured Todd Ricketts, part owner of the Chicago Cubs? 25-to-1.
ODDS & ENDS
- Should Las Vegas sportsbooks have a more liberal comp program? It’s the debate that never ends. Some books award free drinks to players who bet $300 or more on games, while others merely require a betting slip.
- Speaking of things that never end, how about the Twitter influential debate, which now features the likes of a half-dozen industry folks and plenty of observers looking to witness a trainwreck.
- The LVH and Cantor Gaming have both released NFL regular season lines. In an odds compare, we discovered that 13 games have a difference of two or more points, including the Ravens-Browns matchup in Week 4.
- Most interesting line offered by the LVH in its college football Games of the Year? How about USC -3 vs. Oregon. Previously, the Golden Nugget installed the Trojans as a 6-point favorite.
- Worth noting: 5Dimes opened UNLV’s college football win total at 4.5 (under -180) while they can be found at 3 (over -135) at Las Vegas books. There is absolutely zero chance the Rebels win 5, so that looks like an attractive middle opportunity for those who want to root for 4-9 (13-game season).
