Jeff Haney
EOG Addicted
I recently conducted an in-depth interview with Michael "Roxy" Roxborough, the influential oddsmaker, in Las Vegas. I'm saving the bulk of the interview for a yet-to-be published feature story, but here's an excerpt in which Roxy discusses the possibility of establishing a sports betting hall of fame, a concept he has thought about quite a bit:
"I've kicked this around for probably about 20 years," Roxborough said. "Here's the dilemma I keep coming back to: You need sports bettors in it, because it's a sports betting hall of fame, but most sports bettors, professional sports bettors and very good sports bettors, have kept a low profile for a couple of reasons. One, it could be taxes, maybe not. Two, outside of Nevada it's illegal (in the U.S.). Three, most of all, you hurt yourself by describing your technique and your picks."
Sports betting is different from an arena such as Wall Street, for instance, he said, where stock pickers often have a vested interest in keeping their name and face in the public eye.
"They work for investment banks, they want money," Roxborough said. "Or in poker, you know who the best players are because they're legendary either in cash games or tournaments. It's hard to measure who the best sports bettors are because so many of them have kept such a low profile and been so anonymous.
"Imagine if you had the Baseball Hall of Fame and you had the same amount of managers and owners and officials and publicists in it as you had players. I don't know what the answer is to get around that."
Still, he believes it would be worthwhile to establish a sports betting hall of fame. It could be in Las Vegas, though it's possible a big international gambling operation could pick up the ball and run with it, perhaps creating an online presence, at least as a start.
"I don't see it costing too much money," Roxborough said. "Find someone who wants to sponsor it, get some plaques, maybe a testimonial dinner. It needs a decent sponsor to get credibility."
In this column from September, and one follow-up, we came up with a list of 15 names to consider as candidates for induction. It's not meant to be all-inclusive, but rather a starting point:
http://www.<wbr>sophisticatedmaniac.com/2009/<wbr>09/apt-picks-for-sports-<wbr>betting-hall-of.html
I have a couple of others in mind as well, but here are those listed (the article contains a brief description of each man):
Lem Banker
Sen. Howard Cannon
Bill Dark
Gene Maday
Art Manteris
Bob Martin
Charles McNeil
Mort Olshan
Lee Pete
Sonny Reizner
Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal
Michael "Roxy" Roxborough
Vic Salerno
Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder
Billy Walters
"I've kicked this around for probably about 20 years," Roxborough said. "Here's the dilemma I keep coming back to: You need sports bettors in it, because it's a sports betting hall of fame, but most sports bettors, professional sports bettors and very good sports bettors, have kept a low profile for a couple of reasons. One, it could be taxes, maybe not. Two, outside of Nevada it's illegal (in the U.S.). Three, most of all, you hurt yourself by describing your technique and your picks."
Sports betting is different from an arena such as Wall Street, for instance, he said, where stock pickers often have a vested interest in keeping their name and face in the public eye.
"They work for investment banks, they want money," Roxborough said. "Or in poker, you know who the best players are because they're legendary either in cash games or tournaments. It's hard to measure who the best sports bettors are because so many of them have kept such a low profile and been so anonymous.
"Imagine if you had the Baseball Hall of Fame and you had the same amount of managers and owners and officials and publicists in it as you had players. I don't know what the answer is to get around that."
Still, he believes it would be worthwhile to establish a sports betting hall of fame. It could be in Las Vegas, though it's possible a big international gambling operation could pick up the ball and run with it, perhaps creating an online presence, at least as a start.
"I don't see it costing too much money," Roxborough said. "Find someone who wants to sponsor it, get some plaques, maybe a testimonial dinner. It needs a decent sponsor to get credibility."
In this column from September, and one follow-up, we came up with a list of 15 names to consider as candidates for induction. It's not meant to be all-inclusive, but rather a starting point:
http://www.<wbr>sophisticatedmaniac.com/2009/<wbr>09/apt-picks-for-sports-<wbr>betting-hall-of.html
I have a couple of others in mind as well, but here are those listed (the article contains a brief description of each man):
Lem Banker
Sen. Howard Cannon
Bill Dark
Gene Maday
Art Manteris
Bob Martin
Charles McNeil
Mort Olshan
Lee Pete
Sonny Reizner
Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal
Michael "Roxy" Roxborough
Vic Salerno
Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder
Billy Walters
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