 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|
Taking a gamble Las Vegas seeing rise in bets on NASCAR
Updated: Wednesday February 21, 2001 12:42 PM
By Mike Fish, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Hey, race fans, your sport has definitely arrived. Let's see. NASCAR just inked a TV deal to die for, something in the neighborhood of $2.8 billion over six racing seasons. It's spreading roots deep in mainstream America, or so advertisers believe. And it's rife with enough cheating and backyard bickering to plant a smile on Vince McMahon's well-tanned face. But if you need evidence of the stock car boys hitting it big, look at the odds-makers in Las Vegas being moved to write a betting line on NASCAR -- from odds on the Daytona 500 to who's got the best shot of walking away with the Winston Cup trophy. You can even bet who'll finish higher in the 500, Dale Earnhardt Sr. or Rusty Wallace. And they're targeting the race crowd. On the jammed highways circling Daytona International Speedway, a truck has been making the rounds, lugging a large signboard advertising an Internet gambling site -- based offshore, presumably. A quick read and you catch the drivers and their Daytona odds. The sport's sanctioning body doesn't have a problem with any of it, and sees it as just further evidence of NASCAR's acceptance. "It's part of the lifestyle in America," NASCAR president Mike Helton said of gambling. "A lot of people bet on sports. To be involved in something with the other major sports brings a certain amount of energy, along with the fact that we've made it." The "big four" major league sports do all they can to distance themselves from sports wagering, which is illegal in all states except Nevada. They all have rules against betting, specifically athletes wagering on their sport (re: Pete Rose and major league baseball). NASCAR drivers and crew members can get down a bet on a race, so long as they do nothing "detrimental" to the sport. None of the major sports leagues has a franchise in Nevada, though NASCAR has a tour stop in Las Vegas next month for the CarsDirect.com 400. "We keep our eyes open to make sure it doesn't encroach on our sport, to make sure there's nothing rigged or fixed," Helton said. "There's nothing in the rulebook that says you can't bet on a race. But overall, you can't do anything that is detrimental to the sport." For now, gambling insiders say, wagering on NASCAR is tiny part of the almost $3 billion bet annually in Vegas, light years from college and pro football and yet a bit ahead of the country clubs sports of golf and tennis. Chris Chavez at Las Vegas Sports Consultants, a group that sets odds and lines for the majority of Nevada sports books, was the only odds-maker handling NASCAR until recently. Now, a few major Las Vegas hotels have brought in their own in-house racing experts. The only time Chavez ventures to a race track is when NASCAR brings its show to Las Vegas, yet he still has a strong feel for the sports and its drivers. "When I'm putting it all together, I look at past performances at the particular track," Chavez said. "You have Daytona and Talladega with the drafting and restrictor plates. You have the short tracks, the road courses, mile tracks, the different banking. So I look at past performances of particular drivers and how they did at, say Daytona last year. Some of these guys may only been here three or four times, so they don't have as good a shot as Dale Earnhardt Sr. or Bill Elliott. "As the season goes on, you look more and more at their previous performance. Sometimes these drivers get on a little roll. A good example last year was Dale Earnhardt Jr., winning a race, coming in second and then winning an all-star race. You've got to adjust the odds accordingly." Like with the Notre Dame and the Dallas Cowboys football teams that have a large fan base, Chavez explained the opening Vegas line on NASCAR factors in the popularity of drivers like Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt and Elliott. Chavez said he typically lowers the opening odds on them by as much as 20 to 30 percent, confident their loyal fans will bet them no matter what. "Bill Elliott hasn't won since '94, and I send him out on average 20 to 30-1 depending on the track, and he always gets money," Chavez said. Jeff Burton is his favorite this year for both Daytona (4-1) and the Winston Cup (7-2). The other top choices for the 500 are defending champ Dale Jarrett (9-2) and Earnhardt Sr. (5-1). The two young popular favorites are Tony Stewart, third favorite to win the Cup at 5-1, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (50-1). "Tony Stewart is the Jeff Gordon of four or five years ago," he said. "He gets all the ink, good or bad. With Dale Jr., he's getting like the old man. He gets a lot of play because of the name." The young Earnhardt caught a glimpse of Vegas' affection for NASCAR during a stop in the desert city last year. "It's cool when you walked in the casinos and see what the odds on you are," he said. "They get pretty intense. I guess it bodes well for the sport." Earnhardt fought the urge to get down a bet on the race, saying he and his crew stuck to the slot machines. Next time, might he consider betting himself? "No, I've seen in the past a lot of people go to jail for that," he said. "I'm not much of a gambler."
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
