Although Nevada is the only state in the
country where it's legal to place bets
on the outcome of sporting events,
large-scale
sports betting is a
relatively recent addition to the Las
Vegas scene. The first casino to open
what's called a "
Sports Book
" was the
Plaza in 1975, and
they've only become widespread since
changes in federal taxation in the
mid-1980s. Now, almost every casino has
one, and in most instances it's a
"Race and Sports Book," where
you can bet on horse-racing as well.
You might imagine that where you do
your sports betting would depend on
which casino offered the best odds. In
fact, although odds do change minute by
minute, almost all are set centrally,
and there's little variation between
individual casinos. On top of that,
mobile phones and recording devices are
banned by Nevada law from all Sports
Books, so the only way to compare odds
is to trudge from one casino to the
next.
The choice instead centers on what
sort of atmosphere you prefer. There,
the range is enormous. Some Sports Books
are high-tech extravaganzas, their walls
taken up by vast electronic scoreboards
interspersed with massive TV screens;
during major sporting occasions, they're
basically sports bars, filled by
shrieking crowds. Prime examples include
those at Caesars Palace , the Stardust
(which you can enter via a doorway
direct from the Strip), Mandalay Bay
(which boasts the biggest screen in
town), the Rio , and the Las
Vegas Hilton .
Others opt instead for a hushed,
reverential ambience, giving each
gambler a personal TV monitor to watch
their event of choice, and hand-writing
the odds with marker pens on white
boards. The Race Book at the Imperial
Palace is an especially irresistible
example, rising in tiers above the Strip
entrance. There are also those that
resemble elegant gentlemen's clubs, like
the one at Bellagio with its
massive padded leatherette armchairs.
Still others, especially at the
locals casinos in outlying
neighborhoods, seem like throwbacks to
the Victorian era, modeled perhaps on
schoolrooms or offices. Rows of gamblers
sit at long workbenches, studying poorly
printed tip sheets and form books as
they await the news from far-off
racetracks with names like Gulfstream,
Laurel, and Aqueduct.
As for what you can bet on, the
options are nearly limitless; not only
can you wager on who will win pretty
much any conceivable game, fight, or
race, you can make more specialized
bets, like predicting the combined
points total in a game (referred to as
the "over-under").
One thing all the Sports Books have
in common is the provision of free
alcohol to gamblers; there's usually
a snack bar close to hand as well.
