My gambling career started with a bet on the 1977 Kentucky Derby. I was 11 years old at the time and in 6th grade. In the weeks leading up to the Derby, I kept reading about this horse, Seattle Slew. My grandparents happened to be in town, and I bet my grandfather $10 that Seattle Slew would win the derby. If Seattle Slew won, I would get $10, if he lost, I would owe him $10. Seattle Slew of course won, and I was paid my $10. My grandfather spoke about it for the rest of his life how he was hustled by an 11-year-old kid, lol, and admitted after he never heard of Seattle Slew before.
Next bet was on the 1977 World Series. I was 1 week shy of my 12th birthday and was in the 7th grade at the time. New York Yankees vs Los Angeles Dodgers. I bet this kid $5 straight up, I had the Yanks, he had the Dodgers. Of course, the final game, Reggie knocks out 3 home runs off 3 pitchers on 3 pitches. Showed up to school the next day and the kid paid me my $5.
My parents were divorced in 1981, and on the weekends, I would spend time with my father. One Friday night we had nothing to do, so we went to the Detroit Race Course where they had harness racing. He taught me how to read the program, how to bet the horses, etc. It was a great time, we cashed a few tickets, grabbed food afterwards. I always wanted to take him to see Las Vegas, but sadly, we never got the chance prior to his death.
While at Michigan St, the only form of gambling we had was at the race tracks, there was harness racing at Jackson, MI. The tribal casinos were not yet open, so outside of cards amongst ourselves, that was it. Once near the end of the school year, I was literally down to $10 to my name. We went to the track. It was myself, Spartan Mike, among others. I played a $1 trifecta box with my last $6. Got lucky and it came in, paying $250. Back in those days, they had the $2 window, $5 window, $10 window, and the elusive $50 and up window which had these partitions to give privacy while making your bet. I wanted to be a shooter in front of my friends, and go to the $50 window. On the very next race, I walk up there and bet $50 on Grant, the favorite who was 1 to 5 to show. The guy at the window looks at my and says son, do you really want to do this? I said yes, and he gave me my ticket which was black! All the tickets were color coded based on the amount of wager you made. In the 7 horse race, two were scratched, so now it was a 5 horse race and I was having betters remorse big time. Don’t forget I got there with my last $10 that was supposed to last the final 2 weeks of the school year, I just won $250 and now I’m risking $50 on a dumb bet because I wanted to show off. Fortunately, Grant did show, I got paid, $55. So all that anxiety over $5! My buddies still kid me about that to this day!
I made my first trip to LV in the summer of 1994, with my ex wife. We stayed at Circus Circus after a 2 week trip around the Southwest. Place was a dump back then, and still is but the room was $29 per night, lol. My first “legal” sports bet was a baseball game, I bet the Tigers over the Texas Rangers, something like $14 to win $10, and it won. It wasn’t until 1999 that I went back with my buddy Mike, Spartan Mike, and started going annually. In fact we went each year from 1999-2011, then not until 2014-2017. In our first year, by chance we ended up at the Stardust when they had this handicapping show, and Fezzik happened to be one of the entrants. JK was the host and that’s when I first met him. Mike and I approached him and introduced ourselves as being from MSU and JK never forgot us. We would make it a point to meet up at least once for dinner, and even went bowling one year. JK had his various radio shows, the EOG hour, etc, and we were lucky enough to make guest appearances. I always listened to the shows online on Friday nights as they were very entertaining as well. Another year, the handicapping show was at Hooters, and the Shrink, Ken Weitzner was on. Back in the late 1990s/early 2000s, the forum board known as Fezzik’s Place was the top board. I had heard of EOG, Roughing the Punter, etc. After FP had the plug pulled, I migrated over to EOG and have been here ever since.
These days, things have evolved to online and phone apps and I’m active in that. I have 5 outs I use, Caesars, Barstool, Fan Duel, Draft Kings and Points Bet. I still go to Vegas now and then, mostly for bowling tournaments, but the place isn’t the same as it was (we’ve spoken about that in another thread). I also love running contests….the EOG Handicapping and I have another one I do, it’s a pick 5 contest that involves college and pro games that I do around here. I’ve never been a fan of the casinos in the Detroit area. I’m not a big table game player or slots/video poker. Used to play a lot of poker but those days are gone for me too.
Anyway, that’s a bit of my history in the gambling world. Look for my 2nd play later on. Cheers! MB300
