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Do You Know a Bookie?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by LanceyHoward, Oct 30, 2016.

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  1. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    I watched a SportsCenter where Scott Van Pelt was doing his Bad Beats segment. Which I found boring because I never bet on sports.

    I read all these articles about how betting drives a lot of interest in sports. Maybe it is because I live a sheltered and boring life (I don't know any drug dealers either) but if I wanted to make a bet I would not know where to go. And I don't know anyone who admits to betting heavily on sports.

    So my question is, how much do you think gambling drives interest in spectator sports in this country?
     
    LanceyHoward, Oct 30, 2016
    #1
  2. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    There's no Santa.
     
    JC, Oct 30, 2016
    #2
  3. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    Every city I've lived in, I've known a few guys who "take action". Usually it's been someone connected with a bar that I've been in.

    Say some magic word to a bartender, he nods, turns around, reaches up to the top of the display behind the bar and, magically, a parlay card appears with the week's games.

    I have a mule who lives in a ramshackle weekly apartment just north of the Stratosphere. He graduated MCL from college with me as a chemical engineer. His wife died in a car crash a decade ago and he got a 7-figure insurance and settlement payout. Drives a truck around town for health insurance but usually has about $25k a week on football games.
     
    exmediahack, Oct 30, 2016
    #3
  4. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Known quite a few. It's a wonderfully stealth world of communication and action.
     
    Songbird, Oct 30, 2016
    #4
  5. Amy

    Amy Well-Known Member

    I dated one. I met him through the woman who managed the bar where I was waitressing. He was busted for tax evasion a few years later.
     
    Amy, Oct 30, 2016
    #5
  6. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    Several.
     
    bigpern23, Oct 30, 2016
    #6
  7. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    You've worked in bars too, right?
     
    YankeeFan, Oct 30, 2016
    #7
  8. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    One huge change over the last two decades are the offshore gambling sites on the Internet. A lot of guys I know who used to bet with a bookie, now run their fun money through online sites. There is still a bit of a wild west feel -- you make a deposit (you can use a credit card, although the DOJ tried to make it difficult for Visa/Mastercard, etc. to process the charges for a while, but it seems to have gotten easier again) -- and with some of the fly-by-night sites, you really don't know if you will get your money back if you happen to win something. I have never known anyone who got stiffed, though. Just read stories. You just need to know the people sitting with your money are shielded by a place like Panama or Curacao.

    The best bookie story I know: A friend used to bet football every Saturday when he was in college. He found the local bookie his freshman year. He'd even go over and have breakfast with the crew of guys the bookie hung out with on the weekends. It got to be all chummy. My friend's sophomore year, one night he gets stopped on the street for walking between bars with an open container of beer. The town the college was in had started cracking down and was making examples to try to rein the college in. So my friend had to go to court.

    The morning in court, the judge is calling the cases one by one, and he is acting like a hanging judge. Throwing fines at everyone and giving stern lectures, even threatening jail for silly things. My friend is waiting for his turn, and out of the corner of his eye, he sees the security guard / court cop, and it is his bookie's brother. They make eye contact. The judge just finishes yelling at another kid and handing down a fine, and they call my friend. Before he steps forward, the guard walks over and whispers something in the judge's ear.

    My friend gets up, the judge asks what he has to say for himself, and my friend says, "Your honor, I am sorry. I know I was wrong. It was bad judgment, and I am embarrassed by my behavior. It will never happen again."

    The judge says, "OK. Case dismissed."
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2016
    The Big Ragu, Oct 30, 2016
    #8
    Ace, Batman, I Should Coco and 1 other person like this.
  9. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    Restaurants, yes, but oddly that's not where I know them from. A couple people I know used to take bets in HS/college. Small time stuff, but they eventually got backed by a guy, if ya know what I mean, and they handle bigger action now.

    This guy has connections to Vegas and such, and a network that helps them minimize risk. They're in New England, so for instance when everyone is putting action on the Pats, they work with their guys in, say, Miami to balance the action so they don't get killed when the Pats win.

    My guys are still relatively small time, but they operate under a surprisingly enormous umbrella.
     
    bigpern23, Oct 30, 2016
    #9
  10. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    I have no earthly idea how to gamble on sports.

    If I ever tried, I'd be like those guys from Office Space when they looked up money laundering in the dictionary.
     
    MisterCreosote, Oct 30, 2016
    #10
    Flip Wilson, Batman, UPChip and 3 others like this.
  11. franticscribe

    franticscribe Well-Known Member

    There was a bookie who hung out at the bar I worked in through college. Owner didn't mind. The bar is long since gone, and I have no idea where he moved on to. Never really sought one out, but based on that experience assumed that they can be found at local dives if you ask around.
     
    franticscribe, Oct 30, 2016
    #11
  12. three_bags_full

    three_bags_full Well-Known Member

    I know a guy. If anyone is interested, I can put you in touch with him.

    And, yes, that's the only reason I watch the NFL. Or the Big 12.
     
    three_bags_full, Oct 30, 2016
    #12
    SnarkShark likes this.
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