Wsteelers Football Betting News

<< Report: Garland headed to Cleveland
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians have reportedly agreed to a minor league contract with veteran pitcher Jon Garland. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the pact includes an invitation to spring training if the

<< Randy Moss apparently planning a comeback
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Randy Moss is apparently planning a comeback. Moss decided to retire last August after 13 NFL seasons and told an audience on UStream.tv Monday about trying to return for 2012. He just turned 35

<< Speir completes Western Carolina coaching staff
Cullowhee, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Western Carolina first-year head football coach Mark Speir has completed his coaching staff by adding defensive coordinator responsibilities to linebackers coach Curtis Walker and naming Steve Sisa the defensive

<< Packers make changes to offensive staff
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy announced a few changes to the club's offensive staff on Monday. Jerry Fontenot will move from running backs coach to tight ends coach for 2012, while Ben

Rangers on the verge of administration >>
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending Scottish Premier League champions Rangers confirmed on Monday that the club has filed a notice of intention to the Court of Session in Edinburgh to appoint administrators. The club

Villa's Dunne to miss two months >>
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne is set to spend the next two months on the sidelines after sustaining a broken shoulder in Sunday's 1-0 defeat against Manchester City. Dunne suffered the injury

Udinese suffers double injury blow >>
Udine, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Udinese confirmed on Monday that midfielder Mauricio Isla and striker Antonio Di Natale will both miss the next few weeks after sustaining injuries in the club's 2-1 win over AC Milan. Isla has tallied t

Sandusky can have contact with grandchildren >>
Bellefonte, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky can have contact with most of his grandchildren and will have a local jury when his child sex abuse trial begins in May. Sandusky is under electronic m

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.