Back in the day, I had the opportunity to work with Scott Schettler at the Stardust Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. I ran the casino, and Scott ran the book — and the book was really a big deal. If someone wanted to get down for real money in Vegas, they came to the Stardust. 

Of greater importance, the book created the energy and drove the action for the whole casino, understanding that there is a real advantage to a casino being full of people with money in their pockets who like to gamble. I was not bothered when someone won in our sportsbook, for we had many other options for them in our store, and they had money, and they were feeling either smart or lucky.

On the organizational chart, Scott reported to me, but that fiction only existed on the organizational chart. I determined that I could best serve the company by staying between Scott and the corporate folks and also Scott and the Nevada Gaming Control Board. In Scott’s managerial development, he never read that book about winning friends and influencing people. 

I defined my role as creating an environment where Scott could do his thing, and I would handle the nonsense. I had been around corporate structures and government bureaucrats enough to understand that Scott would lose these battles. He was too honest and straightforward, so my goal was to steer him clear. I would handle the suits, thus allowing Scott the freedom to hang and move numbers.

Scott would not suffer fools and had little patience for people he considered in his way. He was, however, very smart, very loyal, and a brilliant bookmaker — and I learned a great deal from him. I was also honored to be able to give the introductory speech for his induction into the Sports Gambling Hall of Fame this year, and I am blessed to have him as a former associate and dear friend.

Some lessons one learns are simple, and Scott’s sports betting library offered such an example. Scott came to me with a plan to turn an area near our sportsbook into a sports library. The space he wanted to use had once been a hallway and a closet, so we had it cleaned up, painted, and hung a sign on it, and the Sports Library was born. 

Scott would make things available like the Gold Sheet, newspaper articles, a Daily Racing Form, weather reports, whatever — and pin them on the wall of the library. Scott’s logic for doing this was quite simple. He argued that we needed the bettors in our book to have two things for our business to be successful: a bankroll and an opinion. While we were not willing to provide the bankroll, we were happy to provide materials to shape an opinion.

Time and time again, I would watch someone enter the library, and then head to the counter. Scott was right. We just needed a person with a bankroll and an opinion.

Scott was not the first person to understand that information could provide the cheese for the sports betting traps. Another Stardust alumnus, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal (who once took the Fifth

The Stardust had 11 pay phones located immediately outside of the book entrance. This was before mobile phones, and it was illegal to be on a phone and see the numbers on the boards. I was told by the phone company representative that our 11 pay phones were the highest revenue-producing phones in the entire U.S. I always thought that Lee Pete was partially responsible for that distinction.

With the repeal of PASPA, the provision of sports information has exploded, and much of this is obviously related to the sizable growth of legal sports betting. This information is provided in a variety of formats. We have the touts, the ex-jocks, sports journalists, professional bettors, social media, and the always credible “a guy I know.” Also, to provide a brilliant flash of the obvious, this article is a part of that effort to supply content that attracts bettors.

Many of these efforts involve a fairly high degree of suspension of disbelief. The touts generally fall into this category in that if they are such great pickers, why do they not just earn through betting? 

I was always fascinated by Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. During his tenure with CBS on the show NFL Today, from the mid-’70s until the late-’80s, he would predict the scores of games. The reason he predicted scores was over the concern that communicating betting spreads via television across state lines would be contrary to the law. The betting public knew, however, that he was communicating his opinion on the spread and the total by announcing his prediction of the final score.

It has always been my opinion that Mr. Snyder earned that job because he had developed a perfect betting name, had a great look and sound for his role on television, and, apparently, during this time, there were not a lot of fact-checkers around exploring his background. I suggest this for the word on the street in Vegas back in the day was that Mr. Snyder often struggled with solvency.

In and around Vegas, there are a lot of people who are better at talking trash than collecting cash.

Another issue that always made me laugh is the ease with which someone can be a betting expert through the media. When these folks make a prediction, that is that. When we hung a number, however, a person might place a briefcase of cash on the counter. That was a big deal, for in the books I was affiliated with, I had the profit and loss responsibility for the outlet.

In other words, when we hung a number, people fired at it, and in my world, they were trying to take away my job security and bonus. There was no upside to being bad at our jobs, and the results were pretty immediate.

Even today, when I see the talking heads on the television picking winners, I would love to drop a briefcase with 50 large on the desk and say, “I’ll take the dog.” I think some would faint. As I have suggested, there is a universe separating a person from stating an opinion on television or some other media and the reality of actually hanging a number, and it is all about having skin in the game.

A subset of this genre is the retired athletes who provide commentary on sports. I am not suggesting that these people do not understand sports, but that is a different thing than understanding betting.

When we saw current or former professional athletes show up in Vegas wanting to bet, we threw out the welcome mat and not a “closed” sign. We generally saw this as soft play. They can talk about zone presses, blitz packages, and the like, but become less vocal on topics related to the math of line movements and closing numbers. In other words, while they were smart at sports, they were also often fans, and being a fan can hurt a serious bettor. And, if you don’t want to believe me about the softness of this play, you can check with Wayne Nix.

The difference between understanding sports and understanding betting is an important issue for bettors in today’s world. At least, that is the way I see it. People who make their living hanging numbers would much prefer to see their customers all dressed in different team colors than wearing polo shirts from Ivy League colleges. Sports fans make booking sports a very viable economic activity for the books — which is not so much the case with the math and market-savvy folks.

But this last group is valuable because a book can learn from them.

Word-of-mouth data is also weak in the betting world. It is probably important to note at this time that the sports betting space is heavily occupied by men, and when it comes to sports betting, men often lie.

For the record, the lying isn’t limited to betting. For instance, in polling about men’s driving skills, 80% of men claim to be better than average. From my own experience, this tendency to misrepresent the reality of things is even worse in betting. So, while everyone you know is a winner, or at worst even, well, all those billions being won by the industry must come from some folks that none of us know.

In much of betting today, it seems that the books only want to deal to the rubes. In my day, we wanted all of the available action, but if you are going to deal to it, you’d better understand markets and how to process information.

That is not to suggest that people close to sports should not be feared. As the character Gordon Gekko noted in the film Wall Street: “If you are not inside, you’re outside.” So it is in sports, and non-public information is a clear and present concern for market distortions that can be quite profitable for the person who possesses generally unknown facts. I would also suggest that this is a topic that many people who are new to betting do not fully appreciate, especially in politics and regulation, either in its subtlety or scope. 

During my time when I was involved with books, especially at the Stardust, the worst days were when we were not sure that a contest was on the square, for we did not like unnecessarily limiting a contest. We were especially concerned when we were not clear on the source of the money.

I do believe that bettors should work to collect all of the information they can before placing a wager. Well-known sports bettor Gadoon Kryollos, a.k.a. “Spanky,” once asked me what it was like to be present in the Stardust book when the action was heavy. My response was that what we were doing was continually collecting data. This included the size of bets, sources of bets, time of day, day of the week, who was in the room, rumored injuries, potential feints, beard action, weather, and so on.

Sometimes, the smallest thing could cause us to alter our position. When one runs a book, one pays attention to everything.

During my most recent visit to Las Vegas during G2E, I escaped the brilliance of the self-proclaimed sports betting wonders at the conference to visit two books for which I hold a great deal of respect. One was Circa, and the other was South Point. If a person is a student of betting, it is almost mandatory that they frequent these facilities to see what is going on. Plus, you can meet with their leadership and, in a very small meeting, have a large number of years of experience in the art. For an old-school guy like me, that is an enjoyable day — plus, they speak my language at these places.

My favorite person at Circa is Jeff Benson, who, while young, is triple sharp at the business and an old soul. Whenever I hang out with Jeff, I learn things. He is always terribly respectful of us old guys, even if, at heart, Jeff is a smart-ass.

After stopping by Circa, I called my friend Vinny Magliulo of the South Point Race and Sports Book and asked if I could meet with him. Every time I meet Vinny, he seems to tell me a different job title, but let it be said, he has a ton of experience in the bookmaking business and is a legend in Las Vegas and beyond. He is also an important reason that the South Point is the South Point. I also believe that his changing job titles are not changes but additions, and if he put all he did down on paper, he would need a very large business card.

Aside from always enjoying my time with Vinny, I was a bit curious as to the circumstances of Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN) leaving South Point after a six-year engagement. While Vinny chose not to answer that question, he did tell a funny story that after VSiN left, Michael Gaughan, owner of the South Point, walked into the office where Vinny, Jimmy Vaccaro (another inaugural member of the Sports Gambling Hall of Fame), and Chris Andrews, the South Point book’s director, all hang out. Mr. Gaughan announced to the group that they were the new executive producers of the South Point Studio — while staring at Vinny.

The evolving menu of the post-VSiN era by South Point Studio offers shows on sports betting, betting on horses, and special features that coincide with special events on the sports and racing calendar (Breeders’ Cup, Ryder Cup, etc.). It also features a show called Punch Lines, where the “Punch” stands for humor, and the “Lines” stands for betting analysis. It is hosted by the very animated Frank Nicotero, who refers to himself as a long-term comedian and a lifelong sports fan.

All of the sports betting shows offer guest appearances by the deep leadership talent of South Point management (Vinny, Jimmy, and Chris are all still standing after more than 140 years of combined betting experience), plus sports analysis offered by the very sharp Alexandra White.

Vinny welcomed me down to South Point and suggested that I sit through one of the new shows they were offering named Sports by the Book (understanding that the studio forms a boundary of the book). I agreed, and when I showed up at South Point, Vinny ushered me into the South Point Studio, and the show started. He and Jeff Parles were the talent (with a bit of a humorous cameo by bookmaking legend Jimmy Vaccaro, who walked through the closed studio looking lost and ostensibly trying to find the hotel spa).

Jeff has a broadcasting background in sports, is quite comfortable in front of a mic, and knows sports. He also shows up prepared. Vinny has a ton of years in the bookmaking business and is certainly a legend in the betting world. When Jeff says something about a game, Vinny often responds like a bookie. He becomes somewhat reflective and then discusses where the game opened and where it seems to be trending, if it is attracting play, the nature of that play, and other things that are on the mind of a bookmaker. 

If you watch Vinny’s expressions, I believe you can even spot where he is a bit concerned — understanding that Vinny has had a long career of being responsible for the profit and loss details of betting operations. Again, when your experience in sports betting is in environments where you have skin in the game, you relate to these discussions with a bit more reflection and thought.

In my talking with Vinny, he mentioned that he was criticized from time to time for making the betting customers smarter with the shows. He suggested that smarter players were of importance to the sustainability of the industry, for, after all, the easy play will burn itself out. He likes seeing many of the same players year after year after year in the book.

Vinny understands that 11 is a bigger number than 10. Vinny also understands that once information becomes public, it is already dated.

I would highly suggest that regardless of a person’s competence in betting, they should check out the South Point Studios shows. They are fun and provide information — and if Vinny, Jimmy, or Chris are on the air, you will hear some important insights from people who understand that sports betting is about a great many things besides sports.