Miamidolpjins Hockey Betting News

<< Kiprusoff, Flames welcome Ducks to town
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After a slow start to the season, Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff is helping his team climb up the standings. Calgary will try to rebound tonight against the Anaheim Ducks at Pengrowth Saddledome. The Flames lost four of

<< Coyotes visit Avs in Denver
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After having a six-game point streak halted, the Phoenix Coyotes get right back to work tonight in a road test against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center. The Coyotes entered last night's game with Edmonton having

<< Panthers welcome Preds to Sunrise
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams coming off shutout wins get together tonight, as the Florida Panthers play host to the Nashville Predators at BankAtlantic Center. The Panthers began a three-game homestand on Sunday with a 3-0 victory over

<< The Top 10 Bowl Best Bets (Part Two)
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Most of the "must-see" bowl games arrive after New Year's Eve, beginning with five games on New Year's Day followed by six more before the BCS Championship contest on January 8. However, there is one ma

Celtics aim for 19th straight win vs. Sixers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtics executive director of basketball operations and general manager Danny Ainge probably hasn't stopped smiling since watching his creation win the NBA title over the summer. Ainge pulled all the strings to get Kevin G

Seattle's Schmid picks Schmetzer as top assistant >>
Renton, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid picked Brian Schmetzer as his top assistant coach Monday night. Schmetzer, 46, joins Sounders FC following seven seasons as the head coach of the Sounders' United Soc

Arsenal's Fabregas likely to miss four months >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas has been ruled out for up to four months with the knee ligament injury he picked up against Liverpool on Sunday. The Spanish midfielder may now be out of action until the

Celtic confirms deal with Dundee goalie Zaluska >>
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic has confirmed that Dundee United goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska has signed a pre-contract agreement with the club and will join Gordon Strachan's side at the end of this season. The 26-year-old Pol

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.