Azardinals Horseracing Betting News

<< Deutsche Bank extends sponsorship through 2012
Norton, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Deutsche Bank has exercised a two-year option to remain as the title sponsor of the PGA Tour playoffs event at the TPC Boston through 2012. The Deutsche Back Championship debuted in 2003, marking the return o

<< Cane Pace kicks off Triple Crown series
Freehold, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pacing's Triple Crown gets started on Labor Day with the running of the $300,000 Cane Pace at Freehold Raceway. Eight three-year-old pacers have been entered for the one-mile stakes. The Triple Crown

<< A's P Braden leaves game
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden left Thursday's start against the New York Yankees with cramping on a hot day at Yankee Stadium. Braden exited in the sixth inning with Oakland trailing, 1-0. T

<< Celtics roll the dice with West
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat may have dominated the offseason headlines, but the Boston Celtics are still the top dogs in the East. After taking the Los Angeles Lakers to seven games in the NBA Finals last season, the v

Wozniacki rolls into third round in Flushing >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki was an easy second-round winner Thursday at the 2010 U.S. Open. The 2009 runner-up Wozniacki double-bageled Taipei's Kai-Chen Chang 6-0, 6-0 in a mere 47 minutes at Ashe

Sabathia domiantes as Yanks sweep A's >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CC Sabathia became baseball's first 19-game winner with a one-hitter over eight innings as the Yankees completed a four- game sweep of Oakland with a 5-0 win. Sabathia (19-5) now has a streak of 21 unbe

Penn St prez welcomes Nebraska crossover game >>
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -Penn State president Graham Spanier likes the revised Big Ten football schedules that include a regular high-profile game with Nebraska.The conference announced Wednesday new divisional alignments and schedules for football

Nike to alter uniform ad that upset mine activists >>
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -West Virginia University says Nike will modify the graphic in a promotional ad for a new football uniform that depicts a mountaintop removal mine.A statement issued late Thursday from Nike said the same thing WVU said earlier

Academy Award Betting Odds for Best Picture Offer Great Value

If there is any category that is not an obvious win for any one nominee in this year's Academy Awards, it would be for Best Picture.  Sure the Departed is a 5/7 favorite, but that's hardly anything when we look at Helen Mirren and her "out-of-reach" 1 to 40 odds (which means you would win a whopping $1 for every $40 bet).

For value, take a look at MySportsbook.com Oscars betting odds on my personal favorite, The Queen - a remarkable 12 to 1 long shot.  The film hasn't won any pre-awards for Best Picture (compared to The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine), but there is a tremendous following and it is a strong enough film to warrant a surprise win.

TV Guide advises Oscar watchers should be cautioned not to discount the  drama "Babel" with its strong social themes about overcoming communication gaps among people of different cultures.

"While 'Babel' lost several guild awards to 'Sunshine' and 'Departed,'  it still enjoys loyal support, and historically Oscar voters favor dramas with social messages over comedies like 'Sunshine' and violent crime movies like 'Departed'."

"It hasn't done well in the guilds, which means there isn't much industry support," said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com, "But several critics are expecting it to win, and that gets my attention." Babel had 7 to 2 odds at press time.

Who is to say independently produced Little Miss Sunshine won't be this year's Crash.  Last year, Crash won for Best Motion Picture, shocking those who bet on gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, as the favorite to win. 

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.

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.