Love all the pictures (and fading memories) in this thread.
The link was to a column by Beyer who went into some risk missteps taken by Sport of Kings. Given the state of American horse racing, those fixed odds opportunities were real risks, and by "given the state" I mean that it would be risky even if nobody ever rigged anything. If you can get serious money down on fixed odds, it opens up all kinds of problems -- rigging, for one. But couldn't it also turn an occasional race into a pseudo-bridge-jumper?
You and Boz got the girlfriend reminiscing for the good old days. Me? I was eating shrimp cocktails and Gold Spike breakfasts at the time, so I did not get to the upper level of Sport of Kings. I suspect mickey crimm and I had a similar diet in those days. But I do miss Little Caesars and Leroys and Churchill Downs and those $3 steak dinners in the Binions coffee shop.
For you and the girlfriend RED….found this on another site with old sports betting stories. Maybe she knows some of those named, thought she would find it interesting.
“ Women In Race & SportsBooks
Women were rare visitors in the storefront books of old. There were a few female regulars that I recall. One we called "Cement," because she was built like a brick ….house. She’d always be with her boyfriend. Another was Suzy Wang, a Chinese girl and a real character who was like one of the guys. Then there was Da Da from Beverly Hills, always with her boyfriend Gino.
Even the racebooks were 99% male. Then came a day in baseball season of 1977 when a woman came into Churchill wearing a plain plaid dress and carrying a brown paper bag chucked full of hundreds. Not many women ventured into the spartan, storefront, books of that time especially carrying a bag of cash.
Anyway this very plain-looking woman walks in waving the bag of money and says: "I don't want it. It's not mine. It’s all your fault. This isn’t my money". She's going on and on about it, really raising hell. She puts it on the counter in front of me.
We ask her: "How much is in there?" We take a look, and it's packaged very neatly in bundles of hundreds. We guess there's about $50,000 in the bag (we’re good at that). So my friend Joey Boston, who's working next to me writing tickets, says, "I'll take it back in the office and keep it safe for you, take it off your hands." She didn’t let Joey have it. Good move. Anyways she’s raising all kinds of hell. "This isn’t mine, it’s your fault I have it."
Turns out her husband was booking sports and pleading poverty to her at the same time. She found his stash hidden in a closet. We had nothing to do with it or him but she associated it with bookmakers, so she decided to blame his deceit on us.
She didn't leave the money with us. Thank heavens she didn’t let go of it. The last we saw of her, she ran out the front door and boarded a city bus. We later heard she was OK.
Another very nice lady was familiar to some of us. I ran a sportsbook for Joe Slyman at the Royal Casino not to be confused with the Royal Inn next door. Joe booked as high as anyone in LV. That’s all time. Joe hired Sam ‘The Plumber’ Cagnino to help with our college basketball numbers. Sam was an uncanny college basketball handicapper, which was his only sport. Joe wanted to bet on Sam’s games, but he also wanted Sam to write tickets. Bad idea, Sam was a pencil and paper guy and had no chance to operate a ticket machine. None.
Sam kept his basketball figures in an oversized, loose-leaf, beat-up notebook. He tracked hundreds of college teams and kept his figures, box scores, and updated power ratings in the smallest pencil entries possible. Any smaller and they’d be invisible. If the FBI had it they’d throw it away, they’d never decipher it. It’s an amazing workbook. I know because after Sam passed away, his wife gave it to me. She said Sam wanted me to have it. What a treasure. I drag out when I attempt to tell people about pre computer days.
Sam and his wife were a completely happy, compatible couple. She would go around the casinos betting for Sam. Their oldest son, Scott, would follow her undercover. Quite a sight. She was a large lady and would be at least pick’em in a fight if someone tried to get Sam’s money. Being a large woman, Sam gave her a job to do one night. Sam told us in all sincerity, as if it was completely normal, that he had her sit outside on their satellite dish to keep it steady in a wind storm, while he watched his beloved college basketball inside. ”
So now I’m a little confused. It appears Churchill Downs was in the same plaza as Little Caesar’s. The site of the current Paris Hotel and Casino. I can’t find out if they overlapped or LC took over. From the signage it appears the Liquor Locker was there during both. And the late, great Mac Davis and Gabe Kaplan were playing at MGM. We know the MGM fire was in 1980 and Mac’s just opened an engagement the night before from a Review Journal story.
Thanks, Boz. As I've mentioned, the girlfriend is Japanese, so there may have been at least a couple of Asian girls who patrolled the books in those days. I will ask if she knew a Suzy Wang.
I did know a Cement-type white girl who hung at the Imperial Palace in those days. She was the handicapping brains in her household; she and her husband had their own booth at the IP during Sunday football, which meant relatively heavy hitters. I happened to always get a seat at the table directly behind their booth, we shared the railing, so I got to know them pretty well. Her husband had worked at a resort (a la Dirty Dancing) in New York back in the day with Stu Ungar. He and Ungar were ostensibly regular workers at the resort, but what they were really paid for was to play cards with the rich folk all day and night. I saw very few Cement-girls in the books in those days, so there's a reasonable chance it's the same woman.
Thanks again for providing the photos. Man, I miss Flush Attack, as Axelwolf mentioned. I miss the big 9/6 progressive at the front of the Westward Ho. I miss those Stardust fountains launching water from one to the others as we sat to gather our wits outside on Saturdays. I miss all of the cool football contests with perks, and I really miss Monday Night football drawings all over the city. I probably would never have ventured into the Circus-Circus steakhouse if I hadn't won a couple of meals for two during the MNF drawings. And the CC steakhouse is now one of my fave places.
Trying to attach a jpg picture but it won't let me. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks
Click on the picture link (3rd from end, next to film looking one)
Click on choose file, usually from my pictures
Pick photo and then done
Then click the Upload Files
It should show in your post as an attach before you post.
Hope that helps. If you still have issues I can take pictures of the steps and post them.
I'm pretty sure I conflate Churchill Downs, Leroys, and I think there was a book called Santa Anita (?). I get them mixed up memory-wise all the time. Now Little Caesars I remember because it wasn't strictly just a book. Plus it's hard to forget the Rocket Car and Ivy League football odds (I had a friend who really knew Ivy League football).
Is it possible there was more than one Churchill Downs storefront? I do not honestly remember clearly. I know Leroy's was downtown. But I don't recall what the other downtown storefront books were.
Oh, and for the folks who get on my case for mentioning "Tipsters or Gypsters?" -- the annual handicapper publication out of Las Vegas -- I want to mention that the weekend football odds used by T & G were from Leroy's each week around 5 PM on Friday. So handicappers were stuck with those numbers as a public record. Thus, the ratings in "Tipsters or Gypsters?" were a significant but not huge underestimation of how the tracked handicappers did in the real betting world. You were stuck with Leroy's Friday 5 PM as the numbers of record. The reason T & G did this was because the majority of recreational bettors did not shop for numbers during the week (no internet), so the author thought using midweek numbers was unfair to his readers. I halfway agreed with him, but it wasn't doing the handicappers any favors.
Last edited by redietz; 07-29-2021 at 11:07 AM.
Thanks Boz. I had been trying under go advanced and choosing the file (jpg) but it wouldn't take.
I tried what you said now but I am not seeing the picture after I upload it. I am clicking the third from right and then choose file and then my jpg and then upload but it isn't showing anywhere. Or am I just too old and stupid/
Mentioned this discussion to my wife and she pulled this out of the back of her closet.
Boz-I converted it to a jpeg and it took. But thanks again
It was always too big on her because they didn't really have sizes for a petite young lady then. So it didn't get used much.
I remember Little Caesars, Churchill, and yes there was a Santa Anita. I also don't remember exact locations but I do remember Santa Anita as being further south down LV Blvd.
Wow. If my girlfriend sees this, she's going to beg. I'm trying to think what a good AP would do in my shoes. Maybe cut a deal for you to put it on ebay and split the profits after my girlfriend sees it. Sssshhhh -- no telling what she might bid.
Seriously, that is so great. That is spectacular.
The only thing I have that comes close is an old Castaways light brown sweater that they gave you for entering the football contest. I didn't actually enter (screw that picking every NFL game against the spread), but I proxied for a guy, so I got the sweater. Of course, I dropped some goddamn mustard or something on it, so it has a big ugly stain.
I've got a Colorado Belle (permanently closed, but a really classy/classic joint) logo'd jockstrap, in X-Large. It's been washed several times and as such has some shrinkage, so if you're packing a monster like I am then your girlfriend will love the look. Before I put it on ebay I'll give you first crack at it. Only hard offers accepted please.
About 15 minutes ago, I PM'ed Tasha to thank her for starting the thread. I said we got to relive a lot of the old memories and everybody had something to contribute and had something decent to say. No meanness or snark. Everybody civil and nice and Las Vegas oriented. I told her it was the first thread in a long time to avoid petty nonsense. And I told her hopefully Singer would avoid nastiness for the sake of it.
That was 15 minutes ago, of course. And Todd, this is why a forum owner should sometimes step in and at least allow SOME threads to breathe with civility.
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