Floridmarlins Football Betting News

<< Sunderland acquires Bridge on loan from City
Sunderland, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunderland acquired former England defender Wayne Bridge on loan for the rest of the season Tuesday from Premier League leader Manchester City. Bridge, 31, had played just one game in all competit

<< Phillies add Qualls to bullpen
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies added a durable arm to their bullpen by signing Chad Qualls to a one-year, $1.15 million contract on Tuesday. Qualls, whose contract includes performance and awards bonuses, went

<< Lindpere inks new contract with New York
Harrison, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York announced Tuesday that it has signed midfielder Joel Lindpere to a new, multi-year contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lindpere, 30, first joined the Red Bulls ahead of

<< Sharks try to break out of scoring slump against Blue Jackets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Goals have been hard to come by as of late for the San Jose Sharks. Hopefully the club found its scoring touch over the break and will look to turn up the offense tonight and record a fourth straight win over the Columbus Blu

Muntari swaps Inter for AC Milan in loan move >>
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan announced Tuesday that it has reached a deal with city rivals Inter Milan to secure the services of Sulley Muntari on loan for the remainder of the season. The Ghanaian midfielder has struggled to

Philadelphia trades Le Toux to Vancouver >>
Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Union traded forward Sebastien Le Toux to Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Tuesday in exchange for allocation money. Le Toux, 28, had 25 goals and 20 assists in two seasons with the Union. He was acqu

D-Backs avoid arbitration with Montero, Roberts >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks avoided arbitration with catcher Miguel Montero and infielder Ryan Roberts on Tuesday, agreeing to terms on one-year contracts with both players. MLB.com has reported Montero's dea

Chelsea signs Belgium international De Bruyne >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea signed Belgian international Kevin De Bruyne from Genk on Tuesday on a 5 1/2- year deal, but will remain with the Belgian side on loan for the rest of the season. De Bruyne, 20, made his debut for

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.