Anyone fortunate enough to be fretting about their 401k?

[Awsi Dooger]

67. I lived in Las Vegas for 25 years and bet sports

From early 1984 to late 2008. I worked as sportsbook supervisor at the Horseshoe. I also worked with major betting groups. We would pool money and go around town searching for bargain lines on everything. One guy would be at home on the computer while a few of us circulated from sportsbook to sportsbook. It was a math oriented approach. Instead of picking winners we would essentially reverse the house edge in our favor, by collecting favorable numbers. That was '95 to '98 at heyday and it was the primary reason I had extra money to invest in Apple.

The Venetian is one of my favorites. I can't count how many times I dashed across the bridge to Treasure Island. That's when every sportsbook had its own numbers. I'd grab a strange number at Venetian and play it off a standard number at Treasure Island. Or the reverse.

These days the sportsbooks are not independently run any more. For example, those monitors in every Venetian sportsbook seat didn't use to be there. There was nothing in front of you except a blank counter space to hold drinks or paperwork, etc. People watched the games from those seats and had to walk to the counter to make bets. Nowadays that sportsbook is linked to others around the state and wagers can be made smack from the seats.

I realize that is convenient for tourists but it basically ruined matters for local wise guys. Instead of picking off one mistake after another from 45 independent operations, there are standard numbers everywhere in town and only perhaps 10-12 different organizations sensing out those numbers. Corporate mergers and technology ruined sports betting in Las Vegas.