The Nevada Sagebrush

As Nevada students turn 21, they begin to bask in the privileges that go along with officially being an adult. Obviously, the thrill of being able to purchase liquor and go into nightclubs and bars remains at the top of the list, but legally gambling in casinos is another bonus.

Though slot machines and table games exist in other states, Nevada is unique in that it is the only state in the United States that has legalized sportsbooks. Though some long-time bettors may try to convince you that they have a sure-fire system for counting cards or handicapping keno balls, sports-betting is the best way to make money in a casino.

With a little sports know-how and the ability to conduct a little pre-game research, you too can be a “sharpie,” and I’m not talking about the marking pen here. A “sharpie” is a bettor who cashes more tickets than he throws away and makes a significant amount of disposable income through a little luck combined with sports-betting knowledge.

THE POINT SPREAD

The most common form of sports-betting is betting with or against the points.

This is especially popular now that we are well into college and pro football seasons. When you look at the board or at a parlay card, there are two teams listed. The team that has a minus sign with points after is the favorite. The underdog is the other team.

If you bet on the favorite, the team must win by one more point than they are favored by in order for you to win your bet. If you bet on the underdog, that team can lose by less than the point spread or win outright and you will win.

Here’s a local example: On Saturday, Nevada was a nine-point favorite against Utah State at kickoff at the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino. The sportsbook managers who set the lines expected Utah State to lose by at least 10 points. Nevada won the game but only by three points (35-32).

If you had bet on Nevada with the point spread you would have lost, but if you took Utah State you would have won easily. If Nevada had won the game by exactly nine points, you would have gotten a refund. This is known as a push. Depending on which Northern Nevada casino you were in, Nevada was anywhere from an eight-and a-half-point favorite to a 10-point favorite. The half point prevents you from pushing.

OTHER TYPES OF BETS

TEASERS — Available in six, six-and-a-half and seven points, teasers give you a lower payoff but give you more points to play with. This means the bettor has six or more points added to the total he or she has to beat in order for his or her bet to be successful.

If you had teased Nevada Saturday by seven points, the Wolf Pack would have only had to win by two. Since the Wolf Pack won by three, you would have won that part of the teaser. Teasers must be at least two legs off of the board or three legs off of cards.

HALF BETS — In football and basketball (in some casinos), you are able to bet on either the first half line and total or the second half line and total.

In Saturday’s University of Colorado/University of Kansas football game, CU led the game at halftime 24-10. Kansas, who was a nine-and-a-half-point favorite for the game, was a five-point favorite to win the second half.

Though CU hung on to win 34-30, Kansas outscored CU 20-10 in the second half, easily covering the halftime line.

RUN LINES — Available in baseball, run lines offer a higher payoff than money lines if a baseball favorite wins by more than one run.

You can also bet on the underdog to lose by one run and it will pay if they lose or win outright.

PARLAYS

Though straight betting has the best odds (11 to 10), parlays are probably the most common way to bet. A parlay is a bet of two or more teams and totals.

You can lay down as little as $3 and make hundreds or even thousands of dollars if all of the legs of your parlay come in.

Parlays of up to eight legs are available off the board and parlays up to 20 legs are available off cards. Football parlay cards are available at Reno area casinos on Wednesdays. The main difference between betting off the board and betting with the parlay cards is that the spreads are set on the cards. They do not change. The spreads on the board can change constantly depending on how much money goes a certain way.

In 2003, I hit a six-leg parlay that I spent $21 on. The ticket cashed for $1,576 and had a college football game, a total from a baseball game, a basketball game and three hockey games on it. The fewer legs, the better your odds are for a payoff, but your payoff will be less.

TIPS ON HOW TO BET

Read a sports page or look at sports Web sites like espn.com or covers.com every day. It is important to keep up with player injuries or suspensions. You don’t want to be surprised on game days.

Read all the in-house casino rules. Since baseball has many weather-related delays and postponements, casinos have rules on how long a game can go. Even if you think you may have lost, a weather-shortened game can give you a refund.

Betting with your heart can be dangerous. I know we’re close to San Francisco and there are lots of dedicated Golden State Warriors and Oakland Raiders fans around, but those teams have been brutal for years. Betting on them to cover spreads or win outright constantly is not intelligent.

Don’t get discouraged if you are on a bit of a losing skid. There are games every day so you can always start a fresh winning streak.

Try to find the hot teams. The University of Idaho football team is having an awesome season and has covered every game this year. The Denver Broncos were not expected to win more than four games this year by many so-called experts. They have been a bettor’s dream, covering each week and winning money line bets four times as underdogs already.

And, most importantly, don’t bet more than you can afford to lose! Sports betting is supposed to be fun. But don’t spend your rent money, because there is no such thing as a sure lock.

PROPOSITION BETS

These are specialty bets that are offered by casinos on football games. Most casinos will offer “prop” bets for the Super Bowl, NFL conference championship games and the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game.

Club Cal Neva offers “prop” bets for every NFL Monday Night Football game. Here are some examples they had for Monday night’s Denver Broncos/San Diego Chargers matchup:

Total receiving yards by Brandon Marshall (Denver) and Vincent Jackson (San Diego).

Casinos can be very creative with their “prop” bets on Super Bowl Sunday and the scenarios vary from place to place. The bets are laid out in various money line amounts.

THE MONEY LINE

A common misconception is that the point line is the only way to bet football.

In last year’s Super Bowl, Pittsburgh was favored by seven points over the Arizona Cardinals, but won by only four points. However, if you had taken Pittsburgh to win on the money line, you would have won your bet.

A favorite like Pittsburgh would have been about a minus-300 money line. So that would mean that you would have to lay down $30 to win $10. Obviously, that’s a lot of money to lay down, but Pittsburgh could have won by any score and you would have won your bet.

The real benefit to betting money lines is for betting on the underdog.

Let’s say you wanted to bet the Cardinals in that Super Bowl. Since they were a seven-point underdog, their money line would have been plus-280. That means $10 laid down would have won $28.

TOTALS

Another way to bet that is available for all four major sports (football, basketball, baseball and hockey) is betting totals.

You are using your research to find out whether you think the game will be high-scoring or low-scoring. You can either bet over the total or under the total.

When Nevada football played the University of Nevada, Las Vegas two weeks ago, the total of the game was set at 56 by the Peppermill. Nevada dismantled UNLV 63-28.

If you add up scores for both teams you get 91 total points. This game went way over.

If you bet the under in this game, you were out of luck early in the third quarter. If you bet over in the game, you would have already been a winner when Nevada took a 42-21 lead as the total points equaled 63 at that point.

FUTURES BETS

These are available in all sports. The bets are for a team to win it all and are put up before each season starts and updated throughout the season.

For example, at the beginning of July, the Peppermill had the Denver Broncos at 50 to 1 to win the Super Bowl when they were not expected to have a good season. A $10 bet would win $500.

Going into Monday’s game, the Broncos were 5-0 and had dropped to 7 to 1 at the Peppermill. The Tennessee Titans, who were expected by many experts to contend for the Super Bowl, were 5 to 1 in mid-July at the Peppermill. With a brutal 0-6 record, the Titans are now 999 to 1 at Peppermill.

CELL PHONES AND SPORTSBOOKS

For years, it was a gaming violation to operate a cell phone in a sportsbook. If you were in view of the lines, technically you could be transferring numbers across a state line, which is a violation of Nevada gaming law.

Thankfully, the policy was rescinded in summer of 2008. To me, it seemed like kind of a senseless law since pay phones are still in most casinos, oftentimes around the corner from the sportsbook.

In 2007, an elderly lady was walking through the vicinity of the Bellagio sportsbook in Las Vegas when her phone rang. When she answered it, she was tackled by two security guards. The lady didn’t know the rule and subsequently pressed assault charges against the Bellagio.

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