By Darren Johnson
Campus News
When did we become so … libertarian? The illicit pleasures from my young adult years are now not only legal, but encouraged.
First, my home state of New York legalized fireworks a few years ago, then neighboring states have legalized pot while New York has decriminalized it — so light up! And, now, sports betting is legal in New York and New Jersey, and elsewhere.
This NFL season marks the first where I can legally bet it where I live. There’s a casino in Schenectady called Rivers that now has a sports book. So do some other casinos.
I had occasionally bet football in Vegas, when there, and it definitely heightens the fun of watching a game. Watching football with money on the line is like watching a Pink Floyd show with a contact high. It’s just better, in groovy technicolor.
When I was a young adult and worked service jobs, I’d regularly bump into people who sold vices, and would play a bunch of football games through low-level bookies. I was then (and still am, obviously) an avid newspaper reader, and had played football (and Madden), so was pretty good at knowing offenses and defenses and picking games.
Because I didn’t earn a lot, I’d limit myself to $25 per bet. There was a self-stylized bookie who worked at a nearby deli who’d take my action. Once, I hit 14 games in a row, and he couldn’t pay me. But he had a losing client who also was short cash. That client would give me a jalopy car, which the bookie brokered, and all debts were settled.
However, no one told me the car had bad brakes. The panic when I went through an intersection, my foot to the floor, and the car still flying. Fortunately, I missed cars coming each way and coasted to a stop.
So much for illegal betting.
But now my bookie is a big casino, sponsored by the state. Surely they will have no problem paying up, should I win.
I headed to Rivers Casino Sunday morning of Week 1 with $110 in cash. I wanted to bet teams that were actually going to be on TV later in the day, so I could enjoy the adrenaline rush of having money on the line.
The casino itself is brand new and is clean, bright and shiny. It doesn’t yet have that depressing tinge older casinos have. Its sports book is even newer. Unlike Vegas where you have to bet with humans at a counter, Rivers has kiosks where one can place sports bets. They are pretty easy to figure out.
A line formed to use about a dozen kiosks. It moved quick. I slid my $110 in a machine, went with the Jets -2.5 over the Bills and the Steelers outright over the Patriots for $50 each. With the final $10, I bet the Rams -1.5 over the Panthers.
In the early game, the Jets were up 16-0 late, even with the worst field goal kicker I’ve ever seen in pro football. But then they became “the same old Jets” and lost 17-16. I thought maybe sophomore maverick QB Sam Darnold could change their fortunes, but, uh, no… Down $50.
The Rams won and covered. So a $10 bet netted me $19.10 total (the other 90 cents is what bookies call a “vig”).
In the late game, the Steelers were humiliated 33-3. My thought process in betting them was they almost made the playoffs last year and finished strong, and QB Ben Rothlisberger seems destined to win one last Super Bowl, as happens to aging QBs. And the Patriots often start seasons slowly. I was dead wrong. So down another $50.
In the end, I put up $110, only won $19.10, thus am down $90.90.
Bummer.
I will chase my losses in Week 2 and report back.
Facebook Comments