Football Sport Book Betting

26/01/08

Football good for European integration, says Platini

25.01.2008 - 17:58 CET | By Teresa Kuchler

UEFA president and former French football star Michel Platini has made an passionate plea for preserving the exclusivity of football and sport across EU regulations, arguing the game is a vital cog in the process of social and cultural integration across the continent.

Addressing the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based 47-member human rights body, on Thursday (24 January), Mr Platini urged legislators to respect the specific nature of European sport and underlined the key role of federations, such as his own, in promoting inclusion and participatory democracy in Europe.

"European sport has always been a powerful catalyst for social and cultural integration. Millions of children from all parts of the world have become and continue to become European by kicking a ball around a muddy pitch in our towns or countryside before going to school," the former footballer from Lorraine said.

"Grassroots sport is an extraordinary catalyst for ethnic intermixing and integration. Football in particular is a welcoming, protecting and integrating sport," he added, praising in particular the thousands of volunteer sport workers across Europe

"99% of clubs and sports organisations in Europe are non-profit-making, and form part of a pyramidal structure which keeps sport democratic and transparent," he said.

Mr Platini however admitted that many social problems, such as violence, were unfortunately also a part of sport, in particular football.

"Society has also passed other scourges on to the world of sport: money-laundering, match-fixing, illegal betting, racism and xenophobia, doping, child trafficking."

The UEFA president told the Strasbourg assembly that he wants to set up a European sports police force to help law enforcement authorities deal with the criminal activities that surround sport, and will try bring up the idea with French government in order to develop legislation in this regard during France's six-month EU presidence, which starts in July.

Last year, justice commissioner Franco Frattini said he would push for the creation of police teams to help curb fan violence at football events before the 2008 European Championship in Switzerland and Austria.

The commissioner said he could imagine multinational teams of people dedicated to preventing violence at sporting events across Europe.

Keep football away from competition laws
In Strasbourg, Mr. Platini also repeated earlier statements that if professional sport was treated as just another business, all sporting activity would ultimately be viewed through the "terribly distorting prism of competition law."

In June of last year, the commission presented a both eagerly-awaited and dreaded strategy on sport in Europe. Awaited because Europe can do much to support sport, but dreaded because the sports world feared what EU rules it would have to adhere to in the future.

The commission's white book on sports addresses, among other topics, the sensitive question of whether EU anti-monopoly rules should be applied to football and other sports with a large influence over European economic, social and political life.

Brussels has traditionally not had any influence over sport.

EU competition law and internal market rules apply to sport only insofar as it constitutes an economic activity, while sport organisations and member states' governments have the primary say over general sporting affairs.

The question is, however, whether they will enjoy the same range of autonomy after a new EU treaty is approved by the 27-nation bloc in 2009.

According to the new Lisbon Treaty, the EU's executive body will gain a "direct, complementary" say in the sporting sector, providing it with the possibility of making legislative proposals.

But even if the commission has stated that the world of sports can no longer count on special favours from Brussels, it has restrained from proposing concrete legislative measures, referring to "self-regulation", and suggesting the compatibility of sport rules with EU rules should be tried on a case-by-case basis.

Football clubs have dejectedly stated that they worry there would be an endless string of cases fighting over the approval of decisions such as those concerning player purchases and transfers.

04/01/08

Offshore gambling guru tells about life

By: ADRIAN SAINZ - Associated Press

MIAMI ---- He learned at the knee of his bookmaker father in New York, took street bets in his teens and partied with Las Vegas high rollers. He made millions as a self-proclaimed offshore sports gambling "pioneer," flirted with Internet gambling and was pinched by the FBI.

That's the story of Steve Budin, who saw his life come crashing down when he was arrested in 1998 in the first U.S. prosecution of Internet sports betting.

His life is detailed in his book, "Bets, Drugs and Rock & Roll." Released in early October, the book has been among the most popular sports books on Amazon.com.

It shows the birth of offshore sports gambling, which by the early 1990s left behind the street bookies for a system where bettors could pick games from their home, making calls to a sports book in Central America with credit card in hand.

"Even though we were offshore sports book pirates and pioneers, we lived like rock stars. We were wrapped up in the middle of an MC Hammer video in the '80s," the quick-tongued Budin said from his downtown Miami office.

"We had the big houses and big pools and the tons of people and the parties. But don't get me wrong. We work very, very hard, 16 hours a day."

Gambling on sports became a much-discussed issue this year when former NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to felony charges for taking cash payoffs from gamblers and betting on games he officiated. Sports gambling is essentially illegal in every state but Nevada, where sports books in Las Vegas casinos attract gamblers from around the world.

In addition, there are many sports books in foreign countries that provide credit card processing and allow people to make bets over the Internet.

Budin went to high school in Miami, where he began building an affluent client list, plying an illegal sports gambling trade by tapping his New York financial connections and using charm and street smarts.

"You don't go to college and major in being a bookie," Budin said. "... The people that you're going to deal with are the type of people that work on the street, and those aren't nice people."

By the time he was in his 20s, Budin decided to enter the legitimate gambling world, so he began conducting gambling junkets for high rollers in Las Vegas, where the vices mentioned in the title of his book proliferate.

One of his clients told Budin that he had a license to begin sports betting in Panama for residents of that country, an effort that failed miserably. But Budin's vision led him to the idea of offering telephone bets for U.S.-based gamblers in a friendly foreign country where laws and politicians permitted such activity.

He secured some money from investors he calls his silent partners and refers to only by aliases "Bo" and "Donnie." He moved his operations to Costa Rica, and SDB Global began fielding telephone sports bets from U.S.-based bettors.

"Part of the reason why we made the whole offshore movement was to transition the business and take it from a shady street business and make it the Wal-Mart of sports betting and bring it to the masses in a way that they had never been given it before," Budin said.

The enterprise took off, making Budin a multimillionaire. By 1998, several years into his offshore gambling business, SDB Global was clearing a profit of $10 million a year.

As Internet technology improved, Budin started preparing to take bets in cyberspace rather than the phone, a move he expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars. He had a goal of taking sports gambling to the Web in March 1998.

That's when the U.S. government stepped in before he could ever take one Internet bet. Budin and more than a dozen others, including his father, were charged with conspiracy for allowing thousands of people to bet on professional and college sports events, breaking a 1961 law making it a crime to use interstate telephone lines for gambling, and advertising their services on the Internet.

Then-Attorney General Janet Reno said at the time that the Internet was "not an electronic sanctuary for illegal betting."

Father David Budin pleaded guilty while Steve Budin's prosecution was deferred in lieu of $2.5 million in fines, the son said. Some defendants fought the charges, while others remain fugitives.

Steve Budin was forced to start over, and today he has a successful Web site where he sells sports gambling tips for $20 a pop.

One industry observer, Russ Hawkins, says Budin's claims of being a pioneer are just bragger's words. Hawkins, chief executive officer of majorwager.com, a sports gambling information Web site, said other offshore sports books existed before Budin's and he did nothing new.

"He's a lot of talk," Hawkins said. "He's trying to make money on a book. He's all bravado."

Brandon Lang disagrees. Lang ---- whose ability to pick football games was portrayed in the film "Two for the Money," with Matthew McConaughey playing Lang's character ---- is a friend of Budin's and wrote the foreword to the book.

"There is jealousy that runs rampant in this business," Lang said. "They mix up his confidence with conceit. He's one of the sharpest people I have ever met."

Budin laughs when he calls himself brilliant or a genius, but one can tell he's only half-joking.

He said he learned from his past and says his wife and three children ---- not illegal bets or drugs or rock 'n' roll ---- are his No. 1 priority.

"I've lived on the edge my whole life, and that's something that obviously appealed to me. Maybe the book was a little bit of therapy," he said. "I have to be close to the edge, or else it's not fun for me. I'm just not standing over it anymore. I've moved two steps back from the edge. I think that's a big growth."

18/12/07

Hill's let their runners and writers veer off course

The Sports Book Of The Year prize used to reward so much more than the predictable parade that are now honoured

December 11, 2007 12:11 AM

The bookmaker William Hill needs to refresh its act with a strategy rethink - nothing to do with Old Bailey betting trials but with its long-standing and generous sponsorship of their "Bookie prize" for the Sports Book of the Year.

The prize-winner's cheque has steadily increased to a handsome 20,000 gbp since its establishment in 1989 but just as progressively, to my mind, has the competition become more conservative, routine and predictable. Once again this year the almost oligarchic judging panel of six journalists acclaimed their latest short list as the "finest ever vintage ".

In fact, once more the list is tame, lame and samey - a post-Hornby football fan's love affair with his team, a prolix golfing prehistory, the biog of a cricket superstar, the best of football's ghosted jobs and the de rigueur specialist choice between a climber getting up and/or falling off a mountain or a sailor going round the world and/or the twist (the latter's turn in 2007).

At least this year's winner was a first-person, first-time author, Duncan Hamilton, on his years as Brian Clough's back-page Boswell on the Nottingham Evening Post, an apparently rounded monograph of English football's late, schizoid, semi-genius, provincial demigod but scarcely hinting at any shameless dealings in the transfer market. I am delighted for Mr Hamilton (and his prize bung of 20,000 gbp) - he is an excellent writer. But his is by no means the best book of the (what, six or seven?) already published on Clough - and even more relevant to this rant, nor is it, by the width of Nottingham's wide Old Market Square, remotely as good as the best book on Clough on booksellers' shelves this Christmas.

That is David Peace's riveting, excruciatingly tragicomic Cloughconfessional, The Damned United, which has been disappearing at a daily rate of knots from every bookshop in the land, thanks to that ancient and most trusty of all marketing tools - readers' excited word of mouth.

The award has been similarly illogical down the years. If Hill's prize is really for, as it boasts, "best of year" then surely the organisers should be out identifying and nominating worthy entrants - as does the Booker Prize for fiction which provides its (NB annually changed) judging panel each with up to 100 books to read before the disputation and argument begins. No end of terrific sports books are produced each year but the "Bookie" simply waits for publishers to nominate their favourites. This cosy, conveyor-belt uniformity is seriously diminishing the prize's value and appeal.

One of 2007's judges (his 10th year on the panel), John Inverdale, let slip in the Daily Telegraph the inside story of this year's judgment day that, in spite of 2007 being (you've guessed it) "probably the best short list of my decade as a judge", the panel convened at 8.30 pm - "and by 8.31pm we had decided on the winner. It was about as rewarding as an uncontested scrum." Well, John might be a dab hand at the split-second segue at a microphone, but really.

When the prize was established by the estimable John Gaustad, founder of the late, much missed Sportspages bookshops (and still panel chairman), his initial sights seemed stricter, worthier - "the great sports books are as much about life as sport," I remember him saying - every entry had to be lit-originals, no cuttings-job celeb biogs, nor ghosted books were considered. That seems to have changed.

This year, for example, how can yet another deadpan, essentially unrevealing - and easily the fifth I've come across - biography of Shane Warne be considered more worthy than Stephen Chalke's peerless, exquisitely produced The Flame Still Burns, the life of Tom Cartwright, former champion bowler and prince of coaches: prizeless but priceless, a mustbuy book to stand for a generation as a masterclass in period, place, political and sporting philosophy? Is it that the Warne is published by a famous London publisher and the Cartwright by an author-self-publisher in the sticks?

Rant over. My own surprise of the year: reading, spellbound, at one sitting an unputdownable 400-page revelation - on snooker. Black Farce and Cue Ball Wizards: The Inside Story of Modern Snooker is by the Guardian's onliest Clive Everton, one-man evangelist for, and custodian of, the integrity and honesty of that game of many colours and characters - and how: champs, chumps and charlatans, real goodies and very, very baddies. It's just out - so, surely, dead-cert to be 2008's Sports Book of the Year!

Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian News and Media Limited 2007.

10/12/07

Offshore Gambling 'Pioneer' Details Fall

By ADRIAN SAINZ - Nov 25, 2007

MIAMI (AP) - He learned at the knee of his bookmaker father in New York, took street bets in his teens, and partied with Las Vegas high-rollers. He made millions of dollars as a self-proclaimed offshore sports gambling "pioneer," flirted with Internet gambling, and was pinched by the FBI.

That's the story of Steve Budin, who saw his life come crashing down when he was arrested in 1998 in the first-ever U.S. prosecution of Internet sports betting.

His life is detailed in his book, "Bets, Drugs and Rock & Roll." Released in early October, the book has been ranked among the most popular sports books on Amazon.com. It shows the birth of offshore sports gambling, which by the early 1990s left behind the street bookies for a system where bettors could pick games from their home, making calls to a sports book in Central America with credit card in hand.

"Even though we were offshore sports book pirates and pioneers, we lived like rock stars. We were wrapped up in the middle of an MC Hammer video in the 80s," the quick-tongued Budin said from his downtown Miami office.

"We had the big houses and big pools and the tons of people and the parties. But don't get me wrong. We work very, very hard, 16 hours a day."

Gambling on sports became a much-discussed issue this year when NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to felony charges for taking cash payoffs from gamblers and betting on games he officiated. Sports gambling is essentially illegal in every state but Nevada, where sports books in Las Vegas casinos attract gamblers from around the world.

In addition, there are many sports books located in foreign countries that provide credit card processing and allow people to make bets over the Internet.

"You don't go to college and major in being a bookie," Budin said. "The people that you're going to deal with are the type of people that work on the street, and those aren't nice people."

By the time he was in his 20s, Budin decided to enter the legitimate gambling world, so he began conducting gambling junkets for high-rollers in Las Vegas, where the vices mentioned in the title of his book proliferate.

One of his clients told Budin he had a license to begin sports betting in Panama for residents of that country, an effort that failed miserably. But Budin's vision led him to the idea of offering telephone bets for U.S.-based gamblers in a friendly foreign country where laws and politicians permitted such activity.

He secured some money from investors he calls his silent partners and refers to only by aliases "Bo" and "Donnie." He moved his operations to Costa Rica and SDB Global began fielding telephone sports bets from U.S.-based bettors.

The enterprise took off, making Budin a multimillionaire. By 1998, several years into his offshore gambling business, SBD Global was clearing a profit of $10 million a year.

Then-Attorney General Janet Reno said at the time that the Internet was "not an electronic sanctuary for illegal betting."

Father David Budin pleaded guilty while Steve Budin's prosecution was deferred in lieu of $2.5 million in fines, the son said. Some defendants fought the charges, while others remain fugitives.

Steve Budin was forced to start over, and today he has a successful Web site where he sells sports gambling tips for $20 a pop.

One industry observer, Russ Hawkins, says Budin's claims of being a pioneer are just bragger's words. Hawkins, chief executive of majorwager.com, a sports gambling information Web site, said other offshore sports books existed before Budin's and he did nothing new.

"He's a lot of talk," Hawkins said. "He's trying to make money on a book. He's all bravado."

Brandon Lang disagrees. Lang - whose ability to pick football games was portrayed in the film "Two for the Money," with Matthew McConaughey playing Lang's character - is a friend of Budin's and wrote the foreword to the book.

"There is jealousy that runs rampant in this business," Lang said. "They mix up his confidence with conceit. He's one of the sharpest people I have ever met."

Budin laughs when he calls himself brilliant or a genius, but one can tell he's only half-joking.

He said he learned from his past and says his wife and three children - not illegal bets or drugs or rock and roll - are his No. 1 priority.

"I've lived on the edge my whole life and that's something that obviously appealed to me. Maybe the book was a little bit of therapy," he said. "I have to be close to the edge, or else it's not fun for me. I'm just not standing over it anymore. I've moved two steps back from the edge. I think that's a big growth."

04/11/07

Tales of the Tigers: Martin, Brown team up for Neville football book

By Keith Prince

krpince@thenewsstar.com

Question: How many Neville football players have earned prep All-America recognition?

Answer: There are seven and the list can be found on Page 97 of an impressive new Neville football record book (covering 1931-2006) that went on sale last week at the school.

It shouldn't be a surprise that former Neville coach Charlie Brown and one of his most outstanding players, Glenn Martin, have teamed to produce a championship product.

After all, 35 years ago they played major roles in one the most electrifying stories in Louisiana prep football history when Neville won three games in an eight-day span to complete an undefeated season and win the 1972 AAA state championship.

This time Martin, named the state's defensive MVP in 1972 and now a successful businessman living in Colorado, and his former coach have combined to produce an amazingly thorough and interesting publication called "Neville Tiger Football - 1931 Through 2006."

And the best part is that fans have a chance to purchase the book at a cost of just $10 (plus handling if mailing is necessary), which is a mighty small price to pay for this much Neville (and Louisiana) prep football history.

Contact the main office at Neville for information about the publication.

Not only does the book have every Neville score, coaching records, every Tiger roster, the all-state players and even the managers, cheerleaders and homecoming courts of each year, it also includes many notes and brief biographical tidbits about some of the school's leading figures.

The book is actually a follow-up to the previous Neville Football publications edited in 1976 by former ULM director of athletics Bill Beall, whose daughter was a cheerleader at Neville in 1973.

Beall's pamphlet was entitled, "The History of Neville Tiger Football" through 1975 and Martin said the updated version "duplicates what Coach Beall did and extends it through the 2006 season."

Martin, who edited the book, said, "Many people helped complete this book. However, Coach Brown was the driving force. His desire to see an updated history of Neville football spurred us on and opened many doors. And spending time with Coach Brown again while working on the book was a joy."

Brown said, "Glenn deserves the credit for this book. Just as he did as a player, Glenn worked tirelessly on this project for over a year and his determination and persistence carried it through. I believe anyone who has followed Neville football will enjoy the book."

In Brown's own one-page recollection of Neville football from the day he "became a part of Neville High as a wide-eyed seventh grader in 1940" through 1993 when he retired after 29 years as the head coach with three state titles and a record of 262-65-5 (78.9 winning percentage), it is easy to see why this Hall of Fame coach has meant so much to Neville - and it to him.

He talks about his days as an assistant under legendary coach Bill Ruple, who led Neville to state titles in 1955, 1959, 1961 and 1962 - the last three with undefeated seasons.

Brown also talks about the outstanding support teams at Neville, such as the teachers and administration, the band, pep squad and cheerleaders, plus the parents and grandparents of his athletes.

"I can only hope that somewhere along the line we have succeeded in our main job - which is to take these young student-athletes and prepare them to become good and decent citizens for life in our community in a world today where that is certainly not a guarantee," Brown said.

In addition to the fascinating look at each Neville season, here are a few other gems contained in the book:

A hand-written letter from AD Bill Ruple to the student body just before the 1972 state championship game against Airline: "It took three times, but you finally whipped Big Brother (reference to Brother Martin, which it lost to in the 1971 semis, tied 0-0 and then beat 8-0 four days later to gain the 1972 state finals). It was a job well done.
"It was the greatest display of "guts" that I have ever seen. Being sick, weak and tired, you could have quit after the first punt that we attempted.

"You, the students, faculty, parents and fans made the difference. When we win, there is glory for everyone. When we lose, there is glory for none." (This is only a portion of the note.)

Every coach's record is provided from 1931 mentor Paul Neal through 2006 under current Tigers coach Mickey McCarty, revealing Neville to have a 602-222-14 record for a winning percentage of 71.8% in 838 games.

After coaching Neville in 1931, Paul Neal became Neville's principal for 23 years (1936-1958) until the position was taken by Sidney Seeger.

A special note is included about William (Bill) Causey and his sons. Causey played for Neville from 1931-34 and later had five sons involved with the Tiger football program.

That group included Tom, an all-state end on the 1995 championship team; Walter, an end on the 1962 undefeated team; John, a defensive back in 1967-68 and now a coach at West Ouachita; Jim, an end in 1969; and Bill, who couldn't play for medical reasons but served as a manager in 1963-64-65.

Neville's first state championship in any sport came in 1934, courtesy of the Tiger boxing team.

Some of Coach Brown's favorite axioms:
"God gives us the ingredients for our daily bread, but He expects us to do the baking."

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

"There is only one endeavor in which you can start at the top...and that is digging a hole."

There is much, much more included.

The book is a heck of a look at Neville football through the years - and here's betting it will be the source for plenty of trivia games in the future.

29/10/07

Patriots Pummel Oddsmakers as Team Scores, Wins at Record Pace

By Erik Matuszewski

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Tom Brady, Randy Moss and the New England Patriots are punishing oddsmakers and sports books as they pile up points and win games at a historic pace.

The Patriots are averaging a National Football League- leading 38.3 points a game in their 6-0 start and have covered the point spread in every game, including two wins in which they were favored by more than two touchdowns.

The team may become the NFL's first undefeated club since the 1972 Miami Dolphins and break the record for points in a season. New England's start has bettors cashing their winnings, and Las Vegas and Internet sports books cutting their losses.

"It's really shaken up the world of online sports betting when you get a team like this,'' BetUS.com spokesman Reed Richards said in a telephone interview. "It's so difficult to anticipate. You know they're going to win, the question becomes how big are they going to win? It's a weekly effort to try to figure this thing out.''

Richards said some clients of Costa Rica-based BetUS.com have won "tens of thousands of dollars'' on the Patriots and that the site's oddsmakers spend far more time researching statistics and news to determine betting lines for New England than any of the league's other 31 teams.

Usual Spread

While the spread for an NFL game is usually between three and seven points, the Patriots this week are favored by 16 1/2 points, on the road, against the winless Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins shut out the Patriots 21-0 in Miami last season.

"We couldn't remember a more than 14- or 15-point favorite on the road in years,'' said Mike Seba, a senior oddsmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which advises Nevada sports books on their betting lines. "It's definitely uncharted territory. As oddsmakers, it is tough to keep up with the level at which they're playing.''

A bettor picking a Patriots' victory collects on the wager only if they win by the point spread or more.

The Patriots are coming off a 48-27 win over the previously unbeaten Dallas Cowboys, the highest point total in 23 years for a New England franchise that's won three of the last six Super Bowls. With 230 points, New England is on pace to top the NFL season record of 556 points by the 1998 Minnesota Vikings.

Brady threw a career-high five touchdowns last week against Dallas and is the first quarterback in league history with three or more scoring passes in each of his team's first six games. The 30-year-old quarterback has 21 touchdown passes, including eight to wide receiver Moss, and might break Peyton Manning's record of 49 in 2004.

Popular Patriots

"They've been popular over the past few years, so to add the points they're putting up to the mix, they've been tough for us,'' Jeff Sherman, assistant manager of the Las Vegas Hilton Race & Sports Book, said in a telephone interview. "The public always likes to bet on a team that scores a lot of points.''

The Hilton, which says it is the world's largest sports book, has lost "quite a bit'' on the Patriots this year, Sherman said. He refused to give specific figures.

Sports books try to set the point spread at a number where they will get an even share of bets on each team, with all bettors paying a small fee for each bet. Generally, the sports books' profit comes from keeping that fee from the losing bettors.

"Regardless of what that number is this year, the public is backing the Patriots,'' said Chuck Esposito, assistant vice president at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. "This is kind of unprecedented for us to see a team that's this dominant against the rest of the NFL because in the NFL there's so much parity.''

Double Digits

The Patriots already have a 4 1/2-game lead in their division, and are the only NFL team favored to win by more than 10 points this weekend.

The New York Giants are listed as a 9 1/2-point favorite over the San Francisco 49ers, according to Las Vegas Sports Consultants, while the Cowboys are favored by the same margin over the Minnesota Vikings. New York and Dallas are playing at home.

In other Week 7 games, it's Baltimore at Buffalo, Tampa Bay at Detroit, Tennessee at Houston, Atlanta at New Orleans, Arizona at Washington, the New York Jets at Cincinnati, Kansas City at Oakland, Chicago at Philadelphia, St. Louis at Seattle, Pittsburgh at Denver and Indianapolis at Jacksonville.

Even with other games around the league, Richards of BetUS.com said his oddsmakers "live and breathe'' the Patriots.

"The Pats are really coming through for people,'' he said. "They may be the spurn of sports books, but they're making a lot of players really excited, and I think they're good for football in that capacity. It's certainly been a lot of fun for us in trying to figure it out.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 19, 2007 00:14 EDT

16/10/07

Odds are ... whatever he says

By Emily Udell, Staff writer

Have you ever wondered who puts the odds on this week's Bears game? C'mon, the Bears as three-point favorites against the Cowboys?

As director for race and sports books at Station Casinos in Las Vegas, Oak Forest native Jason McCormick is one of the brains behind those numbers.

Oak Forest native Jason McCormick is director for race and sports books at Station Casinos in Las Vegas.

The 32-year-old is one of only a handful of people who set the odds for all major sporting events, and he is one of the youngest people to hold the position.

"I take it in stride, and I'm very career-driven and want to continue to grow in the casino industry," McCormick said. "I'm privileged to be in the position that I'm in."

Nevada is the only state where sports gambling is legal, and McCormick estimates there are about 20 people who set the various betting lines.

He regularly logs 70 to 80 hours per week during football season.

"Much to my wife's chagrin," said McCormick, who has two sons, ages 2 and 7.

He often brings his work home - though not in the way that most people do - watching games and recordings of games after leaving the office.

McCormick's book recently grew larger when Station Casinos announced it would be the first to capitalize on the popularity of fantasy football by offering a betting line on players' projected fantasy statistics.

It's no surprise, he said, he wound up in a sports-related career, considering he grew up in family of sports fanatics.

"As a child, it was church in the morning, and then, get ready for a Bears game," McCormick said.

He also remembers attending White Sox openers with his dad and listening to his relatives and their friends picking drafts for fantasy baseball leagues afterward. (Though, much to his father's disappointment, McCormick became a die-hard Cubs fan.)

While growing up in the Southland, he spent as much time on the field as he did in the stands, playing a wide range of sports.

"His mother will remember driving from soccer practice and him changing into his football clothes," said Jason's father, Lee McCormick, of Palos Heights.

At Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park, McCormick played football and wrestled on the varsity team for four years.

"The way that I grew up, sports was so much of a part of what I did that putting numbers on sports was like second nature to me," he said.

Apparently McCormick also made a few wagers in his youth

His father likes to tell a story about taking his son to the racetrack to teach him about betting on horses.

"I go up to the window to make these bets, and the person looks over my shoulder and says, 'Hi, Jason,' " his father said.

The elder McCormick also said his son and a friend were abandoned by their dates while gambling at the Ho-Chunk Casino in Wisconsin after their prom.

But those who knew McCormick during his teen years said he had more than just a one-track mind - he was a good student, a go-getter and a natural leader.

"He was always more than just about the sport; he was about everyone else," said Tom Lahey, McCormick's former wrestling coach and current head dean at Andrew.

"Winning wasn't everything; being part of the program was more important. He wasn't an individual; he was more of a team player."

McCormick's collegial attitude might explain why he worked his way up the career ladder so quickly after graduating from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and why he remains down-to-Earth about his unique position.

"It's not something that you can have a power trip about," McCormick said.

"Every day is a new day, and every day hundreds of thousands of dollars can move back and forth. I love it, but it can be very stressful," he said.