‘Gamble On’ 193 Highlights: Four Legs And A Puncher’s Chance

Podcast features Rich Strike on strike, the Kansas-Missouri divide, Hall of Famer Chris Andrews
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Over the course of nearly four years and nearly 200 episodes, Gamble On has established itself as the leading gaming industry podcast, delivering news and analysis as well as interviews with the most influential names in gambling every week.

Episode 193, posted on May 19, 2022, features an interview with South Point Sportsbook Director Chris Andrews, a member of the 2022 Sports Betting Hall of Fame induction class. Like an inordinate number of Las Vegas’ top bookmakers, Andrews is a native of the Pittsburgh area, and he spoke on the podcast about how much the sports betting menu has evolved since he first started in the business more than 40 years ago.

“When I first started, we booked baseball, football, and basketball — [only] point spreads. Totals were like this brand new thing,” Andrews said. “Then we started doing things like first halves and second halves. At the time, moneylines were almost unheard of.”

Listen to “193: Derby and Preakness betting, Missouri blows it, bookmaking with new Hall of Famer Chris Andrews” on Spreaker.

Andrews’ money quotes

On his earliest days “behind the counter,” when he started running parlay cards in school in fifth grade, Andrews said, “It was highway robbery, the lines we put out. Ties lose, and pick’em games would be -3 on both sides. It’d be -7 and +6, -13 [and] +10. We never paid one card in two years. … So, we weren’t bookmaking as much as robbing.”

On new-school sportsbooks limiting the amounts customers can bet: “I’ve seen some guys technically get down to cents. One guy showed me his app. He wanted to make a bet, they said you could bet 35 cents. That’s insane, but that is the way a lot of the business is going. But like I said, let’s see where they are in 10 years. I don’t know where they’ll be, because I don’t think that’s the right way to operate this business, and I don’t think it’s sustainable in any way, shape, or form.”

On the value of a retail sportsbook in an increasingly mobile world: “It’s funny, I talk to some guys, naturally, and they say, ‘Mobile is kinda cool, you can bet from anywhere, but really all it does is kinda just change the number on your computer screen.’ If you come in and make a bet, whatever you bet — $100, $1,000, whatever — and you come in and cash your ticket, well, it’s nice getting that green stuff in your hands. It’s a whole different feeling.”

On receiving a bone marrow transplant in 2019 that saved his life, and how it added to the emotional impact of getting the call to the Hall: “It changed my perspective on a lot of things. When you look death in the eyes and survive … you realize what’s important and what isn’t in life. And I think I’ve definitely had that perspective since that time. … Before I had the transplant, I probably had no more than about two months to live. I was going downhill fast. But the transplant worked, and I’m here.”

Rich Strike: ‘I choose not to run!’

Podcast hosts Eric Raskin and John Brennan broke down the historic Kentucky Derby and the decision made by 80/1 longshot winner Rich Strike’s handlers to skip this Saturday’s Preakness, which led Brennan to suggest the powers-that-be in horse racing spread out the Triple Crown races so trainers don’t have reason to skip a race.

“They’re stuck on this archaic schedule from 40 years ago, when it doesn’t have to be,” Brennan said.

Raskin, acting as the voice of the extremely casual horse racing bettor, said, “The only thing that makes me care about the outcome of a race is if a horse has a chance at the Triple Crown — which is always possible heading into the Kentucky Derby, almost always possible heading into the Preakness, and occasionally possible heading into the Belmont. So, as the mega-casual fan, I find it supremely disappointing that Rich Strike won’t run the Preakness. … In terms of betting, too, I’m sure handle would be a lot higher if Rich Strike is in there and people are trying to decide, ‘Well, he was 80 to 1 for the Derby, now he’s, what, 8 to 1, is that a good bet? How do I handicap him?’”

Brennan also had some fun with a mixed sports metaphor as he reflected on his first experience being able to bet on horses with fixed odds at Monmouth Park in New Jersey: “I got 100-to-1 odds locked in no matter what, which is crazy in a race with only seven horses. I mean, if my guy has four legs, I figure he’s got a puncher’s chance, right?” Brennan’s horse finished … well, we’re not sure if the horse has quite finished the race yet. “My horse had four legs, but, well, they didn’t move very fast,” he quipped.

Gamble rambles

  • Last week brought the news that Kansas has officially legalized retail and mobile sports wagering, while Missouri has officially missed its window to legalize in 2022. “I find the Missouri situation oddly fascinating,” Raskin said. “It’s such an outlier state at this point in that the will is obviously there, it’s surrounded by states that have legalized, and it looks from the outside like one person is gumming up the works. … [State Sen. Denny Hoskins] obviously has a ‘my way or the highway’ kind of attitude, and it’s clear to me that Missouri would have legalized by now if not for Hoskins overplaying his hand.”
  • May 14 was the fourth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s PASPA ruling, so Raskin and Brennan speculated on what state-by-state legalization will look like another four years from now. Brennan predicted that 48 states (all but Hawaii and Utah) will have sports betting in 2026, and Raskin responded, “If that’s the line, I guess I have to take the under. But not by much.” Raskin set the line for states with regulated online casinos four years from now at 10.5.
  • Closing thoughts: Brennan wrapped up the podcast with his insights on the LPGA not going all-in on embracing sports betting.

Photo: Mitch Stringer/USA TODAY

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