For
months people have been asking for it and when it finally arrived
at Gambler's Book Club in mid-September, half the shipment was gone.
BUZZ DALY'S PLAYER'S GUIDE TO SPORTS BOOKS (128 pages,
magazine, $7.99) could have sold at twice the price with no griping
by appreciative customers. I hope all players will recognize the
time and effort Daly put into this eighth annual edition, so to
elucidate for those who aren't familiar with this work, let's get
down to business, see what it contains and you'll understand my
enthusiasm for the product:
Daly lists (in
alphabetical order) five dozen of the Las Vegas sports books and
tells you their address, phone, the name of the director and the
location of the facility in the casino. He follows with hours of
operation, the number of betting windows, how many seats are available
to players, whether there's a no-smoking section, how many TV screens
there are and whether phone accounts are available. At what time
are the lines posted? He lists betting limits for sides and totals
for colleges and pros, what day parlays cards are available and
whether Monday night game promotions exist. He also answers questions
such as: Does the sports book offer halftime bets or first-half
bets?
Hungry? Wonder
where the nearest food is available or whether drinks are free or
how far the nearest restroom is? Want to know where to park or whether
to choose valet? Daly lists it all, including a final section where
he comments on items such as catering to locals or if there's a
particular "atmosphere" a player might enjoy; the "friendly" factor
and other conveniences ("cash your winning ticket any ANY Leroy's
location").
The hard-working
Daly supplies the reader with a package of information on offshore
gaming, profiling some operations while interviewing those who operate
others. There's a nice tribute to the late great linemaker supreme
Bob Martin who passed away in March.
Another marvelous
one-of-a-kind section concentrates on offshore operations. Here,
Daly and staff profile 47 operations, from ABC Islands to Wager
World Wide, in the following categories: Licensed by whom (usually
the country or countries listed), year founded, toll-free number,
local number, whether live customer service is offered, their internet
address and email address.
For each sportsbook,
you can quickly see the account-opening procedures (including whether
a credit card, bank check or Western Union wire is acceptable) and
the payouts, which include minimum and maximum bets allowed by phone
and via the Internet.
Are money lines,
first half bets or halftime bets offered? What about "if" bets?
Daly tells you if you can bet "reverses" and if "action points"
are available. Next he tells if horse racing wagers are available,
what kind of baseball line is established and what day football
lines are posted. If special promotions exist (like 7-point teasers
or signup bonuses for example), they're listed.
Those interested
in "referral bonuses" will find out how they're rewarded, and the
comments section can be enlightening if you wonder if an establishment
merged with another of there's no "juice" certain days or even if
"cross-sport" parlays are available.
A final section
for each operation tells you if the establishment has an online
casino and what games are offered, what the website is, if the casino
and sportsbook are integrated, the category of software with the
site involved and comments which include telling you "download not
required."
As he's done
in past editions, the tireless Daly supplies bettors with timesaving
chart, designed for easy reference in alpha order from the Aladdin
to the Wild Wild West in Las Vegas. These charts show for example,
Off the Board Parlays offered by each sports book. What is the minimum
bet and how many days do you have to collect (the deadline)? It
varies from 30 days to 120 days believe it or not. What are the
odds on 2/2
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