Ckippers Basketball Betting News

<< Hamilton seeks first win of season in bout with Winnipeg
Hamilton, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - All alone in last place in the East Division, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats again shoot for their first win of 2010 as they host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday night at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Add the team's 34-27

<< Lions host Alouettes in week three action
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In an effort to finally put to rest their weakest defensive effort of the 2009 season, the British Columbia Lions entertain the Montreal Alouettes on Friday night at Empire Field in Vancouver. British Columbi

<< Winless Eskimos pay visit to undefeated Roughriders
Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The highest scoring team in the CFL takes the field at Mosaic Stadium on Sunday afternoon, as the Saskatchewan Roughriders attempt to move to a perfect 3-0 when they clash with the winless Edmonton Eskimos in a Wes

<< Ronaldinho set to join Flamengo
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reports in Brazil suggest Ronaldinho is set to leave AC Milan and join Flamengo in his homeland. The GloboEsporte website suggests that the former Barcelona star has verbally accepted an offer to

Stamps seek 3-0 start in mid-week clash with Argos >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With their nine-game losing streak now a memory, the Toronto Argonauts try to continue their strong play on Wednesday night as they host the Calgary Stampeders at the Rogers Centre. Getting an early jump on the

Imrie signs extension with Hamilton >>
Hamilton, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hamilton striker Dougie Imrie has signed a two-year contract extension to keep him at New Douglas Park until the summer of 2013. The 26-year-old joined the Accies in January from Inverness Caley thistle

Hoffer heads to Kaiserslautern >>
Kaiserslautern, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Austria striker Erwin Hoffer has signed for newly-promoted Kaiserslautern on a season-long loan from Italian outfit Napoli. The 23-year-old moved to Serie A a year ago from Rapid Vienna, but

CFL Previews - July 14-17 - Week Three >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CALGARY STAMPEDERS (2-0) AT TORONTO ARGONAUTS (1-1) DATE & TIME: Wednesday, July 14, 7:30 p.m. (et). GAME NOTES: With their nine-game losing streak now a memory, the Toronto Argonauts try to conti

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.