Vhargers NCAA Football Betting News

<< Kehl extends contract with Dortmund
Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Borussia Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl signed a one-year contract extension Tuesday with an option for a second year. The 32-year-old Kehl's contract was set to expire after this season, but has now

<< West Brom signs Dawson to new 3 1/2-year deal
West Bromwich, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - West Bromwich signed defender Craig Dawson to a new 3 1/2-season contract Tuesday with a club option for a fourth season. The 21-year-old Dawson joined West Brom in 2010 from Rochdale, but was loa

<< Inside the CFL: All or nothing
Hamilton, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's a quote that can come back and bite you. "The (Hamilton) Tiger-Cats are on the threshold of being the type of team to win the Grey Cup." Those words came from Hamilton general manager Bob O'Billovich at

<< Johnson to sit next two games for Atlanta
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson will miss the team's next two games because of a knee injury. The Hawks had initially stated Tuesday that Johnson would be listed as doubtful for Wednesday's game at

Radwanska, Ivanovic advance; Bartoli exits Dubai >>
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska and former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic moved on, while sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli was a first-round upset victim Tuesday at the $2 million Dubai D

Gasquet wins Open 13 opener >>
Marseille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French crowd favorite Richard Gasquet was an easy first-round winner Tuesday at the Open 13 tennis event. The fifth-seeded Gasquet rolled past Japan's Go Soeda 6-0, 6-2 in 63 minutes on the indoor hard

Up the backstretch: Turf horse took to Golden Gate's artificial track >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A 3-year-old colt that had never won a race except on the grass came away Saturday with a key victory on a synthetic surface. The change in surfaces for Daddy Nose Best proved to be beneficial for him to win

Bologna extends unbeaten run against Fiorentina >>
Bologna, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alessandro Diamanti and Gaston Ramirez both scored in the first half as Bologna followed its shocking win over Inter Milan with a 2-0 win over Fiorentina on Tuesday in Serie A. Bologna shocked Inter Milan,

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.