No driver has had more success in this race than Indiana native Jeff Gordon, who opened at 12/1 to win this year on Bodog’s auto racing odds. He has won the Brickyard four times, including the much-hyped inaugural race in 1994. Many thought the Brickyard race might become the signature race in NASCAR, even more so than the season-opening Daytona 500. Not only has that not happened, but this is a critical year for the Brickyard with fan interest waning even if most drivers still consider this event No. 2 to the Daytona 500.
Gordon enters the race seventh in the points standings, 65 behind leader Carl Edwards. Perhaps more important, Gordon is only 17 points ahead of No. 11 Tony Stewart. This year, only the Top 10 in points are assured of getting into the Chase for the Championship. Gordon holds several most records for this race, including wins (1994, ’98, 2001, ’04), prize winnings (more than $6 million), most laps led career (440), most times led career (30), most races led career (10), most consecutive races led (6, from 1994-99), most laps led in a single race (124 in 2004) and lowest starting position for a winner (27th in 2001).
A win today also would be notable because it would be Gordon’s 85th, which would put him alone in third in NASCAR wins. And it would be his fifth at Indy, which would tie him for most victories at the track with former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher.
Bet on the Brickyard 400 now at Bodog Sportsbook!
McIlroy took three weeks off following his U.S. Open win before teeing it up in the British Open – some criticized that move. And McIlroy really was never a factor at Royal St. George’s, only breaking 70 once on the way to a 7-over-par 283 and a finish of 25th. McIlroy teed it up again last week in the Irish Open but again managed just one round under 70 in finishing at 3-under 281 and tied for 34th.
The most interesting thing about the Irish Open was a Twitter war there between McIlroy and Golf Channel commentator Jay Townsend. “McIlroy’s course management was shocking,” Townsend said during the first round. “Some of the worst course management I have seen beyond under-10 boys’ golf competition.”
McIlroy rebuked, “Shut up! You are a commentator and a failed golfer. Your opinion means nothing.”
It was thought Townsend was criticizing McIlroy’s caddie, J.P. Fitzgerald, because Townsend later mentioned that Rory should hire Tiger Woods’ former caddie Steve Williams.
McIlroy, now No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking, will make his third start at the Bridgestone Invitational and the 11th of his career in a World Golf Championships event. He carded four rounds in the 60s at Firestone Country Club's South Course in 2010 and finished T9. He finished T68 in 2009. McIlroy's career-best result in the World Golf Championships came at the 2009 HSBC Champions where he finished 4th.
Bet on the WGC-Bridgestone now at Bodog Sportsbook!
“I don't feel a thing. It feels solid, it feels stable, no pain. That's one of the reasons why I took as long as I did to come back is that I want to get to this point where I can go ahead and start playing golf again like this.”
*Get your Tiger Woods PGA odds in the Bodog Sportsbook! Bodog be a player.
Despite Woods claiming he’s got back his swagger back, bettors should be reluctant to believe it’s back to the days of “Tiger versus the field”. Oddsmakers opened Woods’ PGA odds behind Rory McILroy at 14-1 to win the 2011 WGC Bridgestone Invitational and 20-1 to be the Round 1 leader.
Woods is coming back after taking a three-month break due to knee and Achilles injuries suffered at the Masters. During that time he also cut ties with his caddy Steve Williams. Childhood friend — and Woods’ personal hooker and pornstar provider, according to reports — Byron Bell will be his part time caddy for the time being.
The Bodog Sportsbook will be offering other cool bets like odds on whether Woods will finish in the top 10 and odds to be the top American player at the tournament.
Despite all his issues Woods is still just behind Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson with 14-1 odds to win the 2011 PGA championship.
Get your Tiger Woods PGA odds in the Bodog Sportsbook! Bodog be a player.
Back on June 12, Gordon took the 5-Hour Energy 500 at the Tricky Triangle for his fifth victory at the track, which is tied with Bill Elliott for the most at Pocono. Gordon’s crew got his No. 24 Chevrolet out ahead of Kurt Busch on a stop under caution for debris on Lap 156 of 200, enabling Gordon to streak away from eventual seventh-place finisher Juan Montoya after a restart on Lap 160. During a green-flag stop on Lap 177, the No. 24 crew again performed quickly, increasing the cushion Gordon held over Busch. Gordon would win by 2.965 seconds over Busch. That was Gordon’s 84th and last win. He remains tied with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for third on the series' all-time race winners list.
Overall, Gordon has 17 Top-5 finishes and 26 Top-10s at Pocono. His average finish is 10.3 and his driver rating of 101.3 is the fourth-best. In the past eight races this year, Gordon has finished out of the Top 10 just twice and was second at the Brickyard 400 last week.
In 24 years of twice-a-year racing at Pocono (since 1982) a sweep has occurred only six times: Allison (1982), Elliott (1985), Tim Richmond (1986), Bobby Labonte (1999), Jimmie Johnson (2004) and Denny Hamlin (2006).
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Novak Djokovic, who now holds the No. 1 world ranking, won this tournament in 2007, while world No. 2 Rafael Nadal was the champion in both 2005 and 2008. Third-ranked Roger Federer was the winner in 2004 and 2006, and fourth-ranked Andy Murray is the two-time defending champion at this event.
Those four will get a bye into the second round of the tournament, along with fifth-seeded Gael Monfils, sixth-seeded Mardy Fish, seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych, and eighth-seeded Nicolas Almagro.
Andy Roddick, the 2003 champion, has withdrawn from the tournament, as has fifth-ranked Robin Soderling; Roddick has an oblique injury, and Soderling has a sore wrist.
Over in the women's draw in Toronto the top seed is Caroline Wozniacki, who is also the defending champion. No. 2 Kim Clijsters, No. 3 Vera Zvonareva, No. 4 Victoria Azarenka, No. 5 Maria Sharapova, No. 6 Li Na, No. 7 Petra Kvitova, and No. 8 Francesca Schiavone round out the players who have a bye into the second round.
Clijsters won this tournament in 2005. Ana Ivanovic, the 2006 champion, has a tough match against Venus Williams in the first round, and a potential matchup with top-seeded Wozniacki looming in the third round. Williams is the -165 favorite for Monday's match, with Ivanovic the +125 underdog on the tennis odds.
Serena Williams, who won this event in 2001, faces Alona Bondarenko in the first round (as a big -2500 favorite) and would potentially take on Clijsters in the third round.
Get all your tennis odds at Bodog Sportsbook.
Tiger’s last major victory came at the 2008 U.S. Open, which he memorably won over Rocco Mediate on the 19th hole of a Monday playoff and playing essentially on a broken leg. Tiger hasn’t won on the PGA Tour in nearly two full years, with that last victory coming at the BMW Championship in September 2009 during the FedEx Cup playoffs. Of course Tiger’s personal life crumbled a few months later and he hasn’t been the same player since.
Last week at the WGC-Bridgestone, Woods returned from knee/Achilles’ injuries that had sidelined him since he withdrew after nine holes of the Players Championship in May. Tiger wasn’t much of a factor at the Bridgestone, a tournament he had won seven times, finishing at 1-over 281 and tied for 37th. That was only Tiger’s seventh tournament of the year. Of course Tiger’s former caddie, Steve Williams, memorably won the Bridgestone on the bag of new full-time employer Adam Scott.
The PGA Championship has been good to Tiger as he has won it four times, both in back-to-back fashion: 1999-2000 and 2006-07. His best finish since that last win was a runner-up in 2009. Woods tied for 28th last year. Ninety-eight of the world's top 100 players have assembled at Atlanta Athletic Club for Thursday's opening round. Tiger's group tees off at 8:35 a.m. ET.
Bet on the PGA Championship now at Bodog Sportsbook!
Winless so far this season, Earnhardt is holding on to 10th place in the driver standings after 21 races and only the Top 10 drivers plus two wild cards will qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup after 26 races. Earnhardt, currently at 20/1 on the NASCAR futures to win the Sprint Cup, hasn’t qualified for the Chase since 2008.
The public favorite is listed at lucrative 65/1 odds to somehow pull off a win in his #88 Chevrolet at The Glen this Sunday (1:00 pm Eastern). Earnhardt has managed to register a pair of Top 5 finishes in 11 career starts at The Glen, so he’s had traces of success at the challenging 2.45-mile road course.
Tony Stewart, with five career wins at Watkins Glen International including the 2009 race, is among the favorites at 13/2 odds, while confirmed road-course specialists Marcos Ambrose and Juan Pablo Montoya are at 9/2 and 15/2 odds, respectively. Montoya won this race last year.
Kyle Busch, the 2008 winner, and his older brother Kurt Busch are both listed at 8/1 odds, with Jeff Gordon – a four-time winner The Glen – listed alongside five-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson right behind the Busch brothers at 9/1 odds.
Kevin Harvick, the 2006 winner, is next on the list 11/1 odds, with driver standings leader Carl Edwards rounding out the top tier of contenders at 16/1 odds.
Denny Hamlin, who is trying to squeeze into the Top 10 ahead of Earnhardt, is available at 22/1 odds.
Get all your NASCAR odds at Bodog Sportsbook.
O'Meara beat Michael Allen in a playoff to take the major title in 2010, with Loren Roberts finishing in third, two strokes off the mark.
Still, O'Meara is back at 25/1 odds to get the win again this week. He currently sits in 10th place in the tour's point standings with six top-10 finishes but no wins so far this year.
Lehman, the 10/1 favorite on the golf betting odds for the Senior Players Championship, is first in those standings thanks to eight top-10 results and three victories in 14 appearances on the tour this season.
Following Lehman on the odds list are Mark Calcavecchia and Nick Price, both at 12/1. Calcavecchia is third in the points race with nine Top-10 finishes but no wins so far this season, and he withdrew from this event after two rounds last year with a knee injury. Price is fourth in the points this season with nine Top-10 results and one victory.
Olin Browne is a name to watch on the golf odds at the Bodog Sportsbook this week – he won the U.S. Senior Open Championship last month, was 11th at the Senior Players Championship last year and is second in the points with seven top-10 results. Browne is sitting at 22/1 odds to win this week.
Jay Haas is also at 22/1 odds for this week. He won the 3M Championship in Minnesota earlier this month. Other top odds for the event include Bernhard Langer (14/1), John Cook (14/1), Corey Pavin (16/1), Fred Couples (16/1) and Kenny Perry (20/1).
Head over to the Bodog Sportsbook for a complete list of the golf odds for this week.
Djokovic, who won the Rogers Cup in Toronto earlier this month, disappointed his supporters on the tennis odds at the Bodog Sportsbook last week when he pulled out of the final match in Cincinnati against Andy Murray with a sore shoulder.
Murray, who had ousted Mardy Fish 6-3, 7-6 in the semifinals of that tournament, was leading the final 6-4, 3-0 when Djokovic called it quits. Fish had previously knocked out Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, while Roger Federer fell 6-2, 7-6 to Tomas Berdych in another quarterfinal match at that event.
But despite Djokovic's sore shoulder he's still the 11/8 tennis betting favorite for the U.S. Open right now, with Nadal at 4/1, Federer at 9/2, and Murray at 5/1.
At Wimbledon, the most recent major tournament, Djokovic beat Nadal 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the final. Murray lost to Nadal in the semifinals of that event, while Federer was upset in the quarterfinals by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Tsonga is part the second tier of betting favorites at the Bodog Sportsbook heading into the U.S. Open – he's at 25/1 odds to win in Flushing Meadows. Juan Martin Del Potro (10/1) and Fish (20/1) are just ahead of him on that list, with Berdych (33/1) and Robin Soderling (40/1) just behind him.
Andy Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champ, is then a longshot at 80/1 odds. Nadal won this tournament last year, and Del Potro took the title in 2009. Federer won this event five years in a row from 2004 to 2008.
Get all your tennis odds at Bodog Sportsbook.
Johnson won the weather-shortened Barclays last week, beating Matt Kuchar by two strokes in a tournament cut to just three rounds because of Hurricane Irene. That result boosted him to top spot in the FedExCup standings.
Luke Donald, though, sits atop the golf betting odds for the Deutsche Bank Championship at the Bodog Sportsbook for this week at 12/1; Donald ended up tied for 18th place at The Barclays last week and sits fifth in the FedExCup standings. Donald was also second at the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2010.
Steve Stricker sits second to Donald on the PGA Tour odds for this week, tied with Jason Day and Adam Scott at 16/1. Johnson is at 18/1, with both Kuchar and Nick Watney at 20/1.
Day was tied for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2010, while Scott was fifth, Stricker was ninth, Kuchar was 11th, Watney was 33rd, and Johnson was 57th.
Charley Hoffman won at TPC Boston last year, finishing five strokes ahead of Donald and Geoff Ogilvy. Hoffman ended up tied for 10th place at The Barclays last week, which moved him up to 33rd place in the FedExCup standings.
Phil Mickelson (25/1), Vijay Singh (28/1), Webb Simpson (28/1), and Charl Schwartzel (33/1) sit in the second tier of contenders for this week's event, which starts on Friday. Brandt Snedeker, Charles Howell III, Gary Woodland, Ogilvy, Rickie Fowler, and Sergio Garcia are all listed at 40/1 odds.
Get your PGA odds at Bodog Sportsbook.
Dustin Johnson sits atop the FedExCup standings as the PGA Tour heads to TPC Boston this week for the second event on its postseason schedule, the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Johnson won the weather-shortened Barclays last week, beating Matt Kuchar by two strokes in a tournament cut to just three rounds because of Hurricane Irene. That result boosted him to top spot in the FedExCup standings.
Luke Donald, though, sits atop the golf betting odds for the Deutsche Bank Championship at the Bodog Sportsbook for this week at 12/1; Donald ended up tied for 18th place at The Barclays last week and sits fifth in the FedExCup standings. Donald was also second at the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2010.
Steve Stricker sits second to Donald on the PGA Tour odds for this week, tied with Jason Day and Adam Scott at 16/1. Johnson is at 18/1, with both Kuchar and Nick Watney at 20/1.
Day was tied for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2010, while Scott was fifth, Stricker was ninth, Kuchar was 11th, Watney was 33rd, and Johnson was 57th.
Charley Hoffman won at TPC Boston last year, finishing five strokes ahead of Donald and Geoff Ogilvy. Hoffman ended up tied for 10th place at The Barclays last week, which moved him up to 33rd place in the FedExCup standings.
Phil Mickelson (25/1), Vijay Singh (28/1), Webb Simpson (28/1), and Charl Schwartzel (33/1) sit in the second tier of contenders for this week's event, which starts on Friday. Brandt Snedeker, Charles Howell III, Gary Woodland, Ogilvy, Rickie Fowler, and Sergio Garcia are all listed at 40/1 odds.
Get your PGA odds at Bodog Sportsbook.
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After this weekend there are only three races left on the IndyCar calendar for 2011 – the Indy Japan 300 (September 17), the Kentucky Indy 300 (October 2), and the IZOD IndyCar World Championships (October 16). That means drivers don't have much time left to make their move in the standings.
Heading into the Baltimore Grand Prix this weekend Dario Franchitti is the IndyCar standings leader with 475 points but Will Power remains right in his rear-view mirror with 449 points on the season – and he's coming off a victory.
Power took the checkered flag in the last IndyCar betting event, the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at the Infineon road course on August 28. Franchitti settled for a fourth-place showing in that race, allowing Power to chop 21 points off his lead in the standings.
Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe finished second and third, respectively, at Sonoma, while Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais, James Hinchcliffe, Graham Rahal, E.J. Viso, and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the Top 10. Danica Patrick, fresh off her announcement that she was bolting to NASCAR next season, ended up in 21st place.
Patrick sits 12th in the current driver standings and out of contention for the series title as she wraps up her IndyCar career. Dixon trails Franchitti and Power in third place in the current standings, 75 points back of the lead. Oriol Servia (148 points back of Franchitti) and Briscoe (163 points back of Franchitti) are fourth and fifth in the points race.
Get all your IndyCar odds at Bodog Sportsbook.
Usually coming in as an expensive favorite, the -600 boxing odds on Klitschko to retain his WBC Heavyweight title are a bargain. This fight presents no standout reason to believe that Klitschko won’t dominate his smaller opponent with his long jab and straight right hand the way he has been doing for years, so the only question for boxing fans is whether Father Time has started to catch up to the longtime WBC champ or if he’s still the most dominant Heavyweight in the world.
Despite being the toughest challenger that Klitschko has faced in a long time, the boxing odds on Adamek still have him as a heavy underdog to take the title. The upset line at the Bodog Sportsbook will pay +400 if the resilient former World Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight champ can find a way past Klitschko’s jab and work his power shots for a victory. The potential for him to surprise is there, and the odds on the upset would be a good payday.
The Bodog Sportsbook is also offering an OVER/UNDER line on the number of rounds the fight will go. The line is set at 10.5 rounds, so if you think the granite chins of these two fighters will cause the fight to go the distance, a bet on the Over will pay +110. But when you consider Adamek’s power and Klitschko’s ability to wear down opponents with stinging punches, the Under 10.5 rounds bet seems to be the more favorable outcome and thus will cost -150.
Get all your boxing odds at Bodog Sportsbook.
Well, some bettors at the Bodog Sportsbook might be inclined to go with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso on Sunday instead. After all, he's the defending race champion, beating McLaren's Jenson Button and teammate Felipe Massa across the finish line in 2010. Vettel was fourth at that race.
That has Alonso tied with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton at 3/1 odds to get the win at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, just back of Vettel and his 2/1 betting line. Hamilton was involved in an accident at this event last year and didn't finish the race.
Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber, Nico Hulkenberg, Robert Kubica, Michael Schumacher, and Rubens Barrichello rounded out the Top 10 at last year's Italian Grand Prix. Barrichello is a three-time winner of the race (2002, 2004, 2009), while Alonso also won in 2007, and Vettel took the checkered flag in 2008.
And Vettel also took the checkered flag in the circuit's last race, the Belgian Grand Prix on August 28. That snapped a lengthy (for him) losing streak of three races for the Red Bull driver; he hadn't won since the European Grand Prix on June 26, finishing back of the leader in Britain (Alonso), Germany (Hamilton), and Hungary (Button).
Still, Vettel has seven wins on the season, and he holds a commanding 259-167 lead on Webber in the drivers championship with seven races to go on the year. That has him as the 1/50 favorite on the Formula 1 betting lines at the Bodog Sportsbook to win the 2011 title, well ahead of Alonso (28/1), Hamilton (28/1), Button (66/1), and Webber (80/1).
Webber is also at 13/2 to win in Italy on Sunday, with Button at 7/1, Massa at 28/1, Rosberg at 40/1, and Schumacher at 66/1.
Get all your Formula 1 odds at Bodog Sportsbook.
With just one race remaining before the postseason cutoff is made to 12 drivers, Hamlin currently sits in a Wild Card spot to advance and he returns to Richmond International Raceway for the Wonderful Pistachios 400 this Saturday night (7:30 pm Eastern, ABC) as the two-time defending champion at this event.
Kyle Busch, who leads all drivers this season with four victories in the Sprint Cup Series, is the NASCAR betting favorite to win this weekend’s race at 7/2 odds, with Hamlin listed second at 5/1 odds. Jimmie Johnson, the No. 1-ranked driver in the standings with 17 Top-10 finishes in 25 races and 873 points, is listed third at 8/1 odds, along with the winner of last week’s AdvoCare 500 race in Atlanta, Jeff Gordon.
Carl Edwards (at 11/1 odds to win the Wonderful Pistachios 400), Matt Kenseth (20/1), Kevin Harvick (14/1), Kurt Busch (18/1), and Ryan Newman (30/1) have each secured their spots already in the Chase, along with Johnson, Gordon, Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski (14/1).
Besides Hamlin, the drivers who still have a shot to advance to the Chase with the right mix of results this Saturday night include Dale Earnhardt Jr. (30/1), Tony Stewart (11/1), A.J. Allmendinger (40/1), Clint Bowyer (22/1), Greg Biffle (30/1), Paul Menard (50/1), and Martin Truex Jr. (40/1).
Johnson (twice) as well as Harvick and Kurt Busch join Hamlin as former September winners in recent Sprint Cup Series races at Richmond International Raceway. Harvick’s win came back in 2006, and a visit to Victory Lane on Saturday night would tie him with Kyle Busch at four checkered flags this season. Gordon and Keselowski also have three wins apiece.
Get all your NASCAR odds at Bodog Sportsbook.
Nonetheless, we think that sports betting should come to Atlantic City because, frankly, it’s practical and it might help lure visitors and preserve jobs — something that’s of utmost importance for our region’s economy.
The issue will be on ballots statewide in November as a referendum that we believe ought to pass.
The thing about sports betting is that the cat is already out of the bag. Under the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PAPSA), four states were allowed to offer legalized sports betting — Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana. Sports betting parlors are standard in casinos throughout Nevada. Closer to home, Delaware’s racetrack casinos began offering parlay wagering on NFL games in 2009. It has become a draw for those racinos during football season.
New Jersey could have had an exception for itself from the 1992 law, but its leaders then chose not to pursue sports betting.
Two decades later, things have changed mightily thanks primarily to the Internet and the proliferation of casinos nationwide.
Want to bet on a boxing match or the Super Bowl? You don’t need a bookie anymore. Anyone can use a computer or smart phone to set up an account with a gambling website based overseas.
The federal government has tried to crack down on this, going after three of the top online poker websites earlier this year and shutting them down. But meanwhile, at least a dozen states are exploring legalized online poker and other wagering. The District of Columbia has already approved it.
People who want to bet online will find ways to do it. If the government busts one website, they’ll find another. If it scares credit cards away from processing the transactions, people will wire money, send a check or find another way to move funds.
So it is with sports betting.
Because of the federal law, a “yes” vote by New Jerseyans in November wouldn’t allow Atlantic City’s reeling casinos to immediately start offering sports betting. But such a vote would mount more pressure on Congress to go back and reconsider PAPSA and whether it’s right to ban something in 46 states while allowing it in four, all the while ignoring that sports gambling is thriving thanks to technology the government cannot realistically believe it can control.
Legalize it, regulate it, limit it, bring in tax dollars and create jobs because of it. That’s the sensible approach.
However, top-seeded Novak Djokovic didn't look like he'd pay off for his supporters on the tennis betting odds at the Bodog Sportsbook at the start of his semifinal matchup against No. 3 Roger Federer on Saturday.
Djokovic dropped the first set 7-6 to Federer in the semifinals, then was beaten 6-4 in the second set to put himself in a big hole. The Serbian, though, managed to turn around his fortunes after that, rattling off 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 victories to win in five sets.
Nadal didn't have as much trouble against No. 4 Andy Murray of Great Britain in his semifinal matchup, winning 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 on Saturday night to set up Monday's meeting with Djokovic for the U.S. Open men's title.
Despite needing a big comeback against Federer, though, Djokovic is still pegged as the -175 favorite on the tennis odds at the Bodog Sportsbook to win the title on Monday. Nadal has been set as the +135 underdog for the match.
The tennis props market will also be buzzing for the match, with Djokovic sitting as the -140 favorite to win the first set over Nadal (+110), and the OVER/UNDER for the number of games getting played at 40.5.
Like Djokovic's chances of winning the title in straight sets? That wager is at +300, while a Nadal sweep would pay off at +500 on the tennis betting odds for Monday.
Get all your tennis odds at Bodog.
If it ever happens, legalized sports betting in New Jersey could end up being too little, too late for Atlantic City’s struggling casinos.
Nonetheless, we think that sports betting should come to Atlantic City because, frankly, it’s practical and it might help lure visitors and preserve jobs — something that’s of utmost importance for our region’s economy.
The issue will be on ballots statewide in November as a referendum that we believe ought to pass.
The thing about sports betting is that the cat is already out of the bag. Under the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PAPSA), four states were allowed to offer legalized sports betting — Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana. Sports betting parlors are standard in casinos throughout Nevada. Closer to home, Delaware’s racetrack casinos began offering parlay wagering on NFL games in 2009. It has become a draw for those racinos during football season.
New Jersey could have had an exception for itself from the 1992 law, but its leaders then chose not to pursue sports betting.
Two decades later, things have changed mightily thanks primarily to the Internet and the proliferation of casinos nationwide.
Want to bet on a boxing match or the Super Bowl? You don’t need a bookie anymore. Anyone can use a computer or smart phone to set up an account with a gambling website based overseas.
The federal government has tried to crack down on this, going after three of the top online poker websites earlier this year and shutting them down. But meanwhile, at least a dozen states are exploring legalized online poker and other wagering. The District of Columbia has already approved it.
People who want to bet online will find ways to do it. If the government busts one website, they’ll find another. If it scares credit cards away from processing the transactions, people will wire money, send a check or find another way to move funds.
So it is with sports betting.
Because of the federal law, a “yes” vote by New Jerseyans in November wouldn’t allow Atlantic City’s reeling casinos to immediately start offering sports betting. But such a vote would mount more pressure on Congress to go back and reconsider PAPSA and whether it’s right to ban something in 46 states while allowing it in four, all the while ignoring that sports gambling is thriving thanks to technology the government cannot realistically believe it can control.
Legalize it, regulate it, limit it, bring in tax dollars and create jobs because of it. That’s the sensible approach.
Prob cost more to run it then it generates revenue
Hamilton also won in China earlier this season, but Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel still overshadows his win total with six through the first 10 events on the F1 calendar.
And that's why Vettel is the big 11/8 favorite at the Bodog Sportsbook to win the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso is second at 3/1 odds on that list, while Hamilton sits third with 4/1 odds to claim the title in Budapest.
As for the other drivers with a realistic chance of finishing first on Sunday, Red Bull's Mark Webber is at 9/2, McLaren's Jenson Button is at 14/1, and Ferrari's Felipe Massa is at 33/1. Everyone else in the field is at 100/1 or greater odds to win the race.
So Vettel is the big favorite, but he's actually coming off his worst performance of the season last week in Germany, finishing fourth behind Hamilton, Alonso, and Webber. In the other three races Vettel lost this season (China, Canada, Britain) he was second.
A Red Bull driver won in Budapest last season, but it was Webber collecting the trophy and not Vettel. Alonso was second that day, Vettel was third, Massa was fourth, and Button was eighth, while car troubles kept Hamilton from finishing the race.
Hamilton, with 134 points on the season, is third in the drivers championship right now, well back of Vettel (216) but close enough to pass Webber (139) with a good performance on Sunday. Alonso (130) is in fourth place in the points race.
Get all your Formula 1 odds at Bodog Sportsbook.