Thursday, January 23, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Unsafe bet

Illegal sports betting dwarfs Las Vegas sports book action

By Bob Shemeligian

Arguably the world's second oldest practice, sports wagering dates to earliest recorded history. Today, Nevada is the only state where it's legal to bet on sports. But if you don't think sports betting is thriving everywhere, you're probably crazy enough to bet the Houston Texans to win the Super Bowl next year.

Speaking of the Super Bowl, Sunday's game promises to draw about a $70 million handle in Nevada casinos, says Art Manteris, vice president of race and sports book operations for Station Casinos. And nationwide? "Oh, man, I have no clue," Manteris says.

Officials believe wagering in Nevada makes up less than 3 percent of all sports bets throughout the nation. And so, illegal wagers on Super Bowl XXXVII likely will exceed $2 billion.

"It's huge," says Cory Aronovitz, owner of the Casino Law Group and an adjunct professor of gaming at the John Marshall School in Chicago. "The Super Bowl is the mother lode for sports bettors. Priests, nuns, precinct captains--they all bet on the Super Bowl. I wouldn't be surprised if Leach has a bet on the game."

Aronovitz is referring, half-jokingly, to Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, who is sponsoring a bill that would outlaw the use of credit cards, checks and electronic fund transfers to pay for online betting transactions. The so-called Leach Bill, which in October passed the House by a voice vote, also would give law enforcers more muscle to shut down web gaming sites--especially those that handle sports bets.

Web sports betting sites--all headquartered outside the United States--are already considered illegal by the Justice Department and by law enforcement agencies throughout the country.

"There is no legal Internet wagering in the United States," says Gary Orton, deputy chief of the Nevada Gaming Control Board's Enforcement Division. Orton says the board has received complaints from gamblers throughout the nation who have been defrauded by online sports betting services and online "sports information services" that offer to book bets.

Still, there are countless other offshore online betting services that, at least for now, do make good on bets. The problem, according to regulators, is knowing which service is more honest than others.

But one thing's for sure, illegal sports betting is a thriving enterprise. Consider, for example, that despite the increasing popularity of professional sports, especially the Super Bowl, and the explosive growth of cable and satellite sports channels, sports wagering in Nevada casinos has actually decreased in recent years from about $2.46 billion in 1996 to $2.1 billion last year. The likely explanation: competition from online sports betting.

"I don't have the numbers to quantify it, but the timetable makes sense," says Frank Streshley, senior analyst for the state Gaming Control Board.

Sometimes, you don't need numbers to understand the obvious, Aronovitz says.

"A lot of these bookies have left the corner bar in the Bronx, put on a Hawaiian shirt and set up shop in Antigua," he says. "Betting is an American pastime. Today, every college kid has a computer. They don't know bookies. They don't want to make a bet with someone who might break their legs. So they bet in cyberspace."

Still, there are many bookies throughout the nation who do business the old-fashioned way.

"There's plenty of illegal bookmakers all over the country," says Lem Banker, the world's most famous sports bettor and handicapper. "There are more bookmakers in Manhattan than in the entire state of Nevada."

Banker is the son of an illegal bookmaker. His late father, Benjamin Banker, took wagers in the back room of the family business, a candy store, in Union City, N.J. Lem Banker gained fame in the 1970s and '80s when he picked 13 Super Bowl winners in a row, beginning with the 1972 Dolphins. (This year, incidentally, he thinks the Raiders will defeat the Buccaneers in a low-scoring game.) A longtime resident of Las Vegas, Banker says bookies do two things that casinos and many online services won't do: They take bets over the phone, and they offer credit.

"If you bet in a casino, you have to put the money up front," Banker says. "Most people don't like to put their hands in their pockets. They'd rather wait until the game is over, and they usually come up short."

Indeed, the Gaming Control Board has worked several cases involving illegal bookmaking operations in recent years.