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Exclusive To WagerOnFootball.com - Sport Books Review
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Own Rob Gillespie will appear here with his weekly
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Rob Gillespie, President of Bodog
Sportsbook, Casino and Poker, has been involved
in sports wagering and gambling since he was a young
child. Whether it was playing five-card stud with
his dad's Navy buddies or running a sportsbook out
of his high school locker, Gillespie has always
had a knack for the gambling game.
Jan 1st:
Orange Bowl, Florida State -2 vs. Miami
Low scoring game, especially the 2nd half, where
the only score was a Miami field goal to take a
16-14 lead, when FSU lined up for a go ahead field
goal with 5 ½ minutes to play. Florida State
needing a field goal to win against Miami…are
you kidding me? Sure enough…wide right…again!
The year ended with no Florida team ranked in the
Top 10 for the first time in years.
Jan 1st: Rose Bowl, USC -7 vs. Michigan
Jan 4th: Sugar Bowl, Oklahoma -7 vs. LSU
USC wins 28-14, LSU wins 21-14, the BCS cries. Sports
fans call for a playoff system. This is the reason
Bodog offered the NCAA $50 Million to let us host
a game between Auburn and USC this year.
Feb 1st:
Super Bowl XXXVIII, New England -7 vs. Carolina
Bettors who played the under 19 in the first half
were robbed. Scoreless game with just over 5 minutes
left in the half and Carolina looking harmless deep
in their own end. Then a turnover leads to a quick
New England score, Carolina goes 95 yards for a
TD in 2 minutes, the Patriots then go 88 yards for
a score in 50 seconds, and finally Carolina gets
a last second field goal after a short kickoff and
20 yard draw play. First 26.5 minutes - no points.
Last 3.5 minutes - 24 points! And then to rub it
in, the 3rd quarter is scoreless…tough beat.
Apr 3rd:
Final Four, UConn -2.5 vs. Duke
The most expensive, meaningless basket in NCAA history.
The match-up between titans UConn and Duke was extremely
heavily bet, with heavy action on the favored Huskies.
Duke had a 75-67 lead with 3:28 to play but UConn
stormed back with an 11-0 run to take the lead 78-75.
Duke goes for the tie and missed and has to foul
with just 3 seconds left. Okafor makes one to give
UConn a 4-point lead, a sure win and what appears
to be the cover, but Chris Duhon hits a meaningless
3 with just 1 second on the clock that the TV coverage
doesn't even really mention. ESPN estimated that
the shot resulted in $30 million dollars changing
hands! Our phones lit up with people wondering if
the basket counted as it was apparently several
minutes before the network showed the actual final
score.
Apr 10th:
The Masters
Phil Mickelson gets the monkey off his back in dramatic
fashion with a 72nd hole birdie putt to win the
Masters and his first major. One Bodog employee
remarks that if Mickelson can win a major, maybe
the Red Sox could win a World Series. It was a mixed
result for books, some reported not having much
action on Phil as he was playing well and so the
odds were low given his inability to win a major,
while others reported taking lots of money on him.
No truth to the rumor that the course will be changed
to favor righties after lefties win in consecutive
years.
Apr 25th:
NBA Playoffs. Home Dogs Take a Beating, So Does
the Book.
Indiana -8.5 at Boston, 90-75
Lakers -3 at Houston, 92-88
New Jersey -5.5 at New York, 100-94
San Antonio -5 at Memphis, 110-97
In football, the house frequently does as well
or as poorly as the home dogs that do that day.
It isn't quite as strong a correlation in basketball
but there is a link…
It is very rare for home dogs to go 0-4 ATS on
a single day, and that isn't usually good for the
house, but when those are the only four games, it
is a real disaster for books. That is our worst
NBA day on record. On the flip side, our best day
was in January when home dogs went 4-1 ATS, including
a couple of straight up wins. In college hoops,
our best day of the regular season ever, had home
dogs go 7-1 ATS.
June 8th:
NBA Finals, Game #2, Detroit +8 at LA Lakers
Despite a big win in game #1, the line actually
moves against Detroit as bettors play for the bounceback.
Detroit held a 6-point lead with 47 seconds left
and the announcers were talking about how bad it
looked for the Lakers in the game and the series
with games 3-5 in Detroit. Shaq gets a layup and
free-throw to cut the lead to 3 and the Pistons
miss a shot with 16 seconds left. Kobe hits a tough
3 with just ticks left and force OT where the Lakers
go on to outscore the Pistons 10-2 and push the
sides. It was as good as a beat for those in on
the Pistons as they were up 6 and getting 8 with
less than a minute to go, but revenge was sweet…
June 15th:
NBA Finals, Game #5, LA Lakers +2.5 at Detroit
Bettors loaded up on LA in games four and five,
expecting the mighty Lakers to figure out the Pistons
and take the series back. It never happened and
the Lakers get beat badly 100-87. Books cash in
on the 'upset', the Pistons owner collects his second
Championship that month (he also owns the Tampa
Bay Lightning who won the Stanley Cup 8 days before;
see dictionary under "having a very good week"),
and the break-up of the Lakers powerhouse begins.
Sept 18th:
LSU +2 at Auburn
Defending champs LSU (according to the BCS at least)
missed an extra point on an early TD and that was
a difference in a 10-9 loss. Auburn goes on to a
perfect season but doesn't get the same chance to
play for the national championship that LSU did
the previous year despite having lost a game!
October 12th - 20th:
ALCS, NY Yankees at Boston Red Sox
The Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the ALCS. The 'Curse
of the Bambino' looked to be in full effect with
the Red Sox high priced pitching staff having surrendered
32 runs through 3 games. In game 4, the Yankees
squander a 4-3 lead in the 9th and leave the bases
loaded in the 11th. Ortiz hits a game-winning home
run in the bottom of the 12th to keep Sox fans'
hope alive. It didn't seem like a huge deal at the
time, as they still had a 3-1 lead. In game 5, the
Yanks blow a 4-2 lead in the 8th and Ortiz makes
them pay in the 14th. Again, it still looked good
for the Yankees as they only had to win one of two
home games to win the series. Boston never lets
the Yankees get a chance, cashing in on early leads
of 4-0 and 6-0 and leaving the Yankees as the team
looking cursed. The World Series almost became secondary
(and expected) as the Babe Ruth theory is finally
put to bed!
Nov 21st:
The NFL's Black Sunday
Favorites went 11-3-1 on the day and books got buried.
Road favorites were 5-0 during the day and players
loaded up on the Packers on Sunday night in Houston
as the 6th road fav of the day. The Texans had a
13-3 lead going to the 4th quarter but gave up 13
points to force a push and deny the house any chance
of revenge. New England threw gas on the fire on
Monday night as they won and covered in Kansas City
as a road favorite to make the home dogs a dreadful
0-6-1 ATS on the weekend. Books got beat so bad
that at least two publicly traded books had to issue
profit warnings to shareholders. There were rumors
of smaller books being in trouble, but books rallied
with their best month in several years in December
to dispel those rumblings.
Dec 20th:
Books Get Revenge. New England -10 at Miami
This is one of the games that made December so good.
The book had a good Sunday and bettors were chasing
a little on Monday night with the heavily favored
Patriots. It looked like all of Sunday's profits
would be given back when the Pats scored a TD with
4 minutes left to make it 28-17. The hapless Dolphin
offence rallied for two remarkable touchdowns in
less than one minute, including a 4th down desperation
pass to the end zone, to win 29-28 and give the
house the biggest win of the year.
And there you have it. All things considered 2005
has some pretty big shoes to fill, but I'd like
to believe that in sports - in any sport - you never
know what can and will happen. Anything and everything
is possible, and that's what makes this industry
so exciting for the fans and the books. Happy New
Year!
 
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Sportsbooks Ratings Guide ranked by our Sport Books
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