Then One Day...: 40 Years of Bookmaking in Nevada - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Chris Andrews began his “unofficial” career in sports betting when he was a kid in Pittsburgh. His uncle, Jack Franzi, is a legend among bookmakers and wiseguys. Chris launched his “official” career in the sports betting industry as a ticket writer in Las Vegas in 1979. He rose quickly through the ranks and became the director of the sports book at the Club Cal Neva in Reno at the age of 25. He’s now the sports book director at the South Point in Las Vegas.

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I saw innumerable systems bettors at the Cal Neva, but one pair of fairly young gamblers showed up during the 1982 baseball season.

The Minnesota Twins were coming off a dismal season, going 41-68 (.376) in the strike-shortened 1981 campaign. They’d also been last in the American League in attendance and their television revenues were minimal. The projections of the Twins being the worst team in baseball were coming true, with only mild competition from other quarters.

In mid-May, two guys came in to the Cal Neva, one in his early 30s, the other in his late 20s. They were only interested on betting one team, the Twins.

They put up the limit of $2,000 on their first bet and when I moved the number, they asked if they could get $3,000. No problem. I moved it again and they bet another $2,000. They never looked at any other games. They were polite and cheery, got done with their business, and were on their way.

The Twins lost that night, but the next day, these two bettors came in with the exact same m.o. The Twins lost again, yet there they were again the next day. This was three days in a row and, needless to say, this wasn’t what ordinary customers were looking for. I had to probe a little. “Do you guys mind if I ask you what you’re doing?”

The older one answered. “We’ll tell you as long as you promise not to screw around with the lines.”

“That’s an easy one,” I said. “I have no trouble getting as much action as I want back on the other side.”

“Well,” the older one again did the talking. “We’re going to keep betting the Twins every day. We know they have to win sooner or later and they’re big dogs every day. We keep pressing our bets, so when they do win, we’ll get all our money back and then some.”

The two had big smiles on their faces like they just figured out how to print money legally.

“That makes a lot of sense,” I said. “The only problem is you might run out of money before they actually win a game.”

The guy looked me right in the eye (honest to God, I’ll never forget this if I live to be 1,000 years old) and said, “The last thing we gotta worry about is running out of money.”

I just shrugged my shoulders and said, “Okay.”

The Twins lost again. And again. And again.

True to their word, the two guys were in every day and pressing. Some of my customers told me they were brothers from an oil family in Texas. They figured the two somehow got into Daddy’s money and figured out a “can’t-lose” scheme that would make a bit of dough for themselves and put the money back as soon as they made their profit.

Meanwhile, the Twins’ losing streak hit 17 games. The brothers were there for at least 14 of the losses. On June 4, the Twins finally won. But the brothers weren’t around.

The next day, there they were again. “Can you believe it?” They were incredulous. “The one day we couldn’t make it, the Twins finally win?” It really was unbelievable, like a scene from a bad movie. Their clothes were disheveled and their hair was greasy and messed up like they were coming off a night of some serious drinking. The word I got was they had to go back to Texas to pick up more money. I never found out if they ’fessed up to Daddy at that point or not.

The Twins then lost another five straight, and the brothers were there for every one of them. When the Twins won again, they were gone. This time for good. They disappeared, never to be seen by me (at least in person) again.

I’m not exactly sure how much they blew, but it had to be well over $300,000 and probably closer to $500,000. And that was just at the Cal Neva.

The two brothers are probably back in the family’s good graces by now. I’m sure they have a laugh at their folly in an earlier life, thinking how they had a scheme that couldn’t possibly backfire, but of course did. They’re probably on a yacht or in a mansion, sipping Dom Perignon and wondering whether to have the crab, the lobster, or both for dinner.

Heck, the older one might even be thinking about the eight years he spent in the White House.