Newsletter: Bettors Insider, Vol. 1, No. 14, 2/28/19

If you’ve subscribed to our Newsletter, you’d already have this in your inbox!
To subscribe, please click here.

Holy Macau! High-stakes poker player acquitted

Poker player/businessman Paul Phua and 14 other defendants were acquitted of all charges by the Court of First Instance in Macau.

The case revolved around the 2014 World Cup and the 15 defendants were accused of running an illegal sports betting operation out of hotel rooms at the Wynn Macau.

So it was sort of a Wynn/Lose proposition.

According to cardplayer.com, the book-making operation was a little bit lucrative -- the team collected close to $150 million in wagers. That's million.

Incredibly, Phua avoided similar charges at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas during the same World Cup. The computers seized by the FBI in that raid had info on illegal bets to the tune of $400 million. He walked on that one also when the search was ruled illegal.

And in your hotel room, you just want to steal the shampoo and conditioner.

Full story here.

In other states . . .

According to a new poll, a majority of Iowans are opposed to legalized betting on professional sports and even more are opposed to legalizing sports wagering on college games.

They would, however, like the ability to place prop bets on whether hot-headed Hawkeye hoops Coach Fran McCaffrey will get T'd up or not.

Full story here.

Bettor Bits

• @OddsShark tweeted: "Three weeks into the first ever AAF season, the Orlando Apollos have established themselves as early betting favorites to win the league."
• @AdamSchefter tweeted: "A lot can change once free agency opens March 13, but for now, the Jacksonville Jaguars will head into free agency as the favorite to land Nick Foles."

Stat line of the night: Jalen Brunson celebrated Villanova's win over Marquette by leading Dallas to a 110-101 win over Indiana.

Brunson finished with 24 points, 3 boards, 5 assists and 3 steals and returned a hefty 11.4X his Fantasy value.

Today's Schedule

• 10 am - Chris Garrity's horse racing selections.
• 10 am - Robert Mims on gaming issues.
• 10 am - Chuck Darrow writes about the sizzling "Almost Angels" show at Ocean Resort.
• 10 am - Boop's Single Digits (BoopStats for the digital attention span) (Single Digits will also give you an early peek at Boop's Quickie Quiz, which posts at noon on Twitter @BoopStats.)
• Noon - Boop BONUS: The Over/Unders for Temple and Villanova players sprinting and jumping at the NFL Combine.
• 1 pm - 5 pm - NHL, NCAA and NBA Basketball picks.
• 6 pm - Boop's Philly Props pick.
• More Tennis from Acapulco and Dubai.

New time for newsletter

We're experimenting with sending it out at noon/lunchtime instead of early morning since so much of our action is in the later afternoon and evening. Anyone have any thoughts? Let us know. Thanks!

Wednesday Results

Neal Abrams went 6-4 with his second round tennis picks, but did anyone see the Kyrgios upset of Nadal coming. Again,  Boop Vetrone won his Philly Props bet and got to enjoy another great Villanova-Marquette game. Mark Eckel was on the correct side of his ACC game. A late run by Sacramento got Greg Frank even on his NBA picks and kept him way over .500 for the week, It was unusual in that Chris Garrity got shut out at the track so he could be very dangerous today and Saturday.

We'll try to do better today.

Good luck at the tables, windows, kiosks and apps.

Want to get this in your inbox? To subscribe, click here!