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”I lived in Vegas 20 years and I never heard of a bet like that,” the 83-year-old retired truck driver said.
Rosen was one of more than 100 people at a New Jersey racetrack at 1:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, ready to plunk down money on professional sports in the first week it has been legal here. Although revenue figures won’t be released for a few weeks yet, Monmouth Park racetrack and Atlantic City’s Borgata casino say they’re delighted with the extra business sports betting has generated in its first few days.
”We’re really pleased with the early results, especially considering it’s a slow time on the sports betting calendar,” said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US, which runs the sports book at Monmouth Park.
Likewise, the Borgata is seeing an uptick in business at its race book, which has been expanded to cover sports bets.
”The revenue was definitely beyond what it would have been,” said spokeswoman Liza Costandino.
Sports betting is bringing new demographics into what was traditionally an older, male clientele at the Borgata’s horse racing betting operation. Younger customers are stopping in to bet on sports, including more women.
”A full bachelorette party came in and they all made sports bets Youth Lamar Jackson Jersey ,” Costandino said.
The casinos and tracks report their sports betting revenue to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, which will publicly release monthly totals along with traditional casino revenue. The next such report is due for release July 12, and neither the Borgata nor Monmouth would reveal their totals before then.
Last month, New Jersey won a U.S. Supreme Court case that cleared the way for all 50 states to offer sports betting, including wagers on individual games, should they desire. Delaware was the first state to begin doing so after the court decision; New Jersey was the second.
So far in New Jersey, just the Borgata and Monmouth Park are offering sports betting. The soon-to-open Ocean Resort Casino, formerly known as Revel, is due to open June 28 and plans to offer sports betting on its first day of operation, owner Bruce Deifik said.
The property will go before state gambling regulators on Wednesday to seek a casino license. William Hill will run the sports betting operation for Ocean Resort as well as Monmouth Park. Eventually, most of Atlantic City’s casinos (there will be nine by the end of next week) and its three racetracks plan to offer sports betting.
Both facilities said the early action has been mostly on individual baseball games and World Cup soccer matches. Customers also are making long-term bets on who will win the World Series or Super Bowl, a market segment expected to increase as the baseball playoffs and the start of the NFL season draw closer in the fall.
Michael Black, of Tinton Falls Justin Reid Color Rush Jersey , New Jersey, was at Monmouth Park to wager on Tuesday’s Cubs-Dodgers baseball game, betting that the two teams combined would score 9 or more runs. A boiler installer, Black tends to be busier in the fall, and has been able to visit Monmouth Park several times since sports betting began last Thursday. He’s up $175 so far, he said.
”As soon as football opens, this place is going to be packed,” he said. ”This has been a long time coming.”
Fred Reyes, of Jersey City, had been to the track four times since last Thursday, and had yet to lose a sports bet.
”So far I’m up close to $1,000,” he said http://www.jetsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-thomas-rawls-jersey , betting on the Cubs to win Tuesday.
Rosen was enjoying the many novel ways he could risk money on sporting events, particularly on a bet combining runs and hits in a baseball game.
”The Mets and Colorado is 32,” he said. ”That’s a whole lot. You think the Yankees will score in the first inning? It’s tough, huh?”
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Follow Wayne Parry at The Indiana Pacers saw Aaron Holiday as a perfect fit even before Thursday night’s NBA Draft.
They liked his scoring potential and his commitment to defense. They were impressed by his basketball wits and his family’s athletic successes. And, they figured, he could make a smooth transition from college to the pros by blending into the Pacers’ locker room culture.
So when they finally got a chance to make an offseason move, the decision-makers didn’t hesitate to take a potential point guard of the future.
”He’s a tough guy, he prides himself on playing on the defensive end of the floor and he comes from a successful basketball family,” coach Nate McMillan said after adding Holiday with the No. 23 overall pick. ”He was the guy we had at the top of our board.”
The only problem was McMillan and president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard never got to see the 6-foot-1, 185-pound UCLA star up close in Indy.
McMillan said he was didn’t know why Holiday didn’t make it to Indianapolis for a pre-draft workout, and neither Holiday nor Pritchard provided an explanation either.
But Pacers scouts met with Holiday at the draft combine and did enough homework to know passing on Holiday so late in the draft probably would have been a mistake for a team needing more scoring help now and a potential void if Indiana’s top two point guards become free agents next summer.
The 21-year-old Holiday brings a solid resume to a team he’s already has some familiarity with.
Indiana’s two draft picks last year, T.J. Leaf and Ike Anigbogu, also played at UCLA. So did starting point guard Darren Collison Tyquan Lewis Color Rush Jersey , a college teammate of Jrue Holiday, one of Aaron Holiday’s two older brothers who currently play in the NBA. Collison, who turns 32 in August, can become a free agent next summer.
”We look at Darren (Collison) and Holiday and see a lot of similarities,” Pritchard said. ”We see speed. We see elite shooting and we were shocked he (Holiday) was there.”
Holiday averaged 20.3 points, 5.8 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 42.2 percent on 3-pointers last season, becoming the first Bruins player to lead the Pac-12 in scoring since former Pacers star Reggie Miller in 1985-86. Holiday was named first-team all-conference and was chosen to the Pac-12’s all-defensive team.
What really sold the Pacers on him, though, was how they believed he would mesh in a locker room brimming with confidence and hope after last year’s surprise season.
Most analysts thought the Pacers would be a lottery team after trading All-Star Paul George to Oklahoma City for shooting guard Victor Oladipo and backup forward Domantas Sabonis in July.
Instead, Oladipo made his first All-Star appearance, led Indiana to 48 wins and was named one of three finalists for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award. The Pacers even pushed eventual Eastern Conference champion Cleveland to a seventh game in the playoffs.
Sabonis also emerged as a valuable piece off the bench in his second NBA season, and they expect 22-year-old center Myles Turner to improve heading into next season.
”Somebody who’s going to come in and play hard, a playmaker who shoots the ball and a hard worker Baker Mayfield Jersey Browns ,” Holiday said, describing what the Pacers are getting.
Indiana also took 6-9, 212-pound forward Alize Johnson, who averaged a double-double in both seasons he played at Missouri State, at No. 50 overall. The 22-year-old Johnson averaged 15.0 points last season and finished fifth nationally in rebounds (11.6) and eighth nationally in double-doubles (20) after starting his prep career as a 5-9 point guard.
Holiday could be another critical piece for a team facing a potentially intriguing offseason.
Pritchard confirmed backup point guard Cory Joseph already has decided to return to Indy next season. The Pacers also could exercise team options on guards Lance Stephenson and Joe Young. Starting forward Thaddeus Young, meanwhile, continues to wrestle with a decision to stay with the Pacers for $13.7 million or test free agency. Pritchard wants him back.
Indiana also could have as much as $30 million to play with in free agency and enough flexibility to invest in the trade market. Pritchard said they considered offers during the draft and acknowledged the team was ”hunting” one unidentified player before deciding the cost would be too prohibitive.
Besides, Pritchard considers doesn’t want to do anything to break up the team chemistry and he believes Holiday’s presence will work just fine in that role.
”I think he’s confident but my gut feeling is that he knows he doesn’t know everything yet,” Pritchard said when asked why he’d fit in. ”We love when a guy says, `I want to be great and I’ll do whatever it takes to be great.”’
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