Wwcavs Soccer Betting News

<< NL East: With playoffs in sight, Braves make a switch at short
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It appears as though the Atlanta Braves got tired of waiting for Yunel Escobar. The Braves dealt the 27-year-old shortstop to the Blue Jays on Wednesday in a five-player trade that sent 33-year-old Alex Gonzalez to the Bra

<< Podolski claims he is committed to Cologne
Cologne, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cologne's Germany international forward Lukas Podolski has vowed to stay with his current club this summer, despite links with a possible big-money move abroad. The 25-year-old enjoyed a fine Worl

<< Warriors' sale could mean tough sell for NBA in upcoming CBA fight
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There is an adage in politics - never let a serious crisis go to waste. In these tough economic times, rank and file workers across America have never been more suspicious of management. Most agree that

<< Celtic adds Murphy from Sunderland
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic have completed the signing of Sunderland striker Daryl Murphy on a three-year contract. The 27-year-old joins fellow Bhoys newcomers Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley and Cha Du-Ri in Neil Lenn

Soderling advances at Swedish Open >>
Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Swedish stalwart Robin Soderling survived a scare from Italian Andreas Seppi to advance to the semifinals of the Swedish Open. Soderling, the reigning Bastad titlist and two-time French Op

Sun Belt Conference showdown - Troy vs. Middle Tennessee >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Troy has either won or shared the Sun Belt football title the last four years, but that string could end in 2010 as Middle Tennessee is primed to take over the top spot. Regardless of which team wins the tit

Sabres agree to terms with Conboy >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres reached a one-year contract agreement with forward Tim Conboy on Friday. The 28-year-old winger skated 12 games with Carolina in 2009-10, compiling 34 penalty minutes without recording a po

Celtics to bring back Robinson >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics are reportedly set to re-sign guard Nate Robinson. According to the Boston Herald on Friday, Robinson will ink a two-year, $8 million deal with the club that traded for him last season.

It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.

Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.

Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your hockey betting needs.

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.