Review of The Odds

Title:

The Odds: One Season, Three Gamblers and the Death of Their Las Vegas

Author:

Chad Millman

Publisher:

Da Capo Press

Date:

2001

ISBN:

0-306-81156-1

Pages:

260

Price:

$15.00

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@lvrevealed.com

November 29, 2005

Most sports bettors are casual fans looking to add a little seasoning to their favorite sporting events. Some are more hard core, making several or many bets over the course of a week. Then there are big-time bettors who place huge bets and lots of them, some of whom make this the way by which they earn a living. In The Odds, Chad Millman follows three characters who are trying to make a career out of sports betting in Las Vegas, two by betting games and one by taking bets, over the course of a college basketball season.

The first of the three heroes of this book is a big time professional sports bettor named Alan Boston. Boston is a frenetic bundle of energy with a strong work ethic and good instincts who has the courage to bet big and make money but not always the discipline to hold on to it. Boston is depicted here basically as central casting's idea of how a big money sports bettor ought to act.

Our second hero is Rodney Bosnich, an all-American kid from the mid-west who has come to Las Vegas to make his fortune betting sports. It doesn't turn out to be the life he expected, though. Many folks, including Bosnich, discover that the betting itself isn't the hardest part of being a professional gambler.

Jim Korona is an up-and-coming employee of one of the most important sports books in Las Vegas. Even though he's not betting his own money on these games, his life is much more similar to those who ply their trade on the other side of the counter than one might at first think. On the plus side, he manages a deep bankroll without taking a hit in his own wallet and can learn from some legends in the industry. On the down side he has to answer to bosses and has to adhere to a dress code.

The Odds gives the reader a strong sense of the roller coaster ride that gamblers as well as the casinos face on a daily basis. In many ways, Millman's book gives the reader the best feel for these ups and downs that I've read in print. Being a professional gambler can be emotionally draining in a way that's difficult for anyone to understand. Other than putting one's own bankroll on the line, this is about as close to an understanding of what it means to try to beat the sports books as one can get.

The fact that the book is so entertaining, though, leads me to my biggest criticism against it. Many of the situations in The Odds make for such good television, or in this case literature, that I have to wonder if Millman is painting a balanced picture of the events and people that he profiles. Certainly Millman could have chosen other luminaries in the sports betting world to profile whose reactions and responses would be more measured and restrained than those shown here. Doing so would have made for a less exciting story, but might have made for a more balanced look at the industry. I really would like to hear what the principal characters in The Odds have to say about their portrayals in this book.

Nobody is going to learn anything about handicapping from this book. I also don't expect that anyone will learn anything substantive about being a winning sports bettor. One might gain some measure of understanding about what it's like to be on the casino side of the betting window, though. I don't think Millman is reporting anything that didn't happen, but I strongly suspect that he selected the particular events he witnessed that makes a more compelling story. This doesn't really bother me, as he has compiled a gripping tale that I think just about everyone interested in sports betting ought to read. However, even though this book does a good job providing a feel for what it is like trying to making a living in sports betting, I'm not 100% sure it provides a balanced look at the characters it follows.

Capsule:

The Odds is an interesting story tracking three people through an NCAA basketball season who make their living in the sports betting industry. It's an interesting and entertaining look at the business, and Millman does a good job of providing the reader with an impression of what living the ups and downs of sports betting is like. I suspect that Millman may be selective in choosing those parts of the lives he witnessed to be depicted in this book, but it's still interesting and entertaining enough for me to recommend.