OUT OF THE SHADOWS
For East Coast sports bettors, only the ‘legal’ part is new
IT used to be much different in these parts, before the politicians finally wised up. “I know a guy who knows a guy,” is how inevitably the conversation went. Maybe back in college? High school? Or most likely, here in the great northeast corridor, the bookies were just always there, as part of the landscape as an open fire hydrant.
There was a protocol. You were probably assigned a number or a nickname that you offered as code to a guy on the phone with a rather scary, gravelly voice. He offered your figure for the week — how much you were up or down — and then read the lines for the games. You told him what team you wanted and for how much and he repeated it, rather coarsely. In fact, there were no pleasantries exchanged throughout the entire call. At the end, no goodbye. Just an uncivil dial tone.
At some point the following week, you met someone in person — most likely a different guy, however equally stress-worn — maybe in the parking lot of a convenience store? Drug store? Gas station? Corner bar? He handed you a white envelope, usually worn, with pen scribbling on it that had nothing to do with you, but filled with your winnings. Or you paid — and depending on his makeup, maybe he grunted a half-hearted, “Thanks.” Either way, you felt guilty. For betting a few bucks on your team.
Meet the new Boardwalk bettor, the same ‘ol bettor — just now out of the shadows.
Suddenly what has always been a street hustle in such places as New York, Boston and Philadelphia, D.C. and Baltimore — the cities that kept Atlantic City afloat with casino games — is now a side hustle. A way for people to make a few bucks off the knowledge of their teams. Sports matters in these places — and so does fan loyalty. Perhaps that will be the biggest difference to start than the desert bettor. Space shuttle sports books in Las Vegas cater to weekend visitors looking to fire away for some fun, big event actioneers — fights, Final Fours, Super Bowls — along with some whales and a few local sharps handicapping a good living.
But up until last year, Vegas didn’t have a team. The only loyalty was to the bet slip. And while profit will transcend everything in Atlantic City as well, it will be interesting to see the role fandom plays at the betting window here.
I was 11 the first time I made a bet. I walked into Malone’s Tavern in South Philly on a Sunday morning after Mass even though the bar was officially closed and bet 12 bucks to win 10 bucks on the Eagles to beat the Cowboys by more than three points that day. I gave him no money. Joe — owner, bartender, bookie who had great warmth beneath a rough exterior and walrus mustache — took a sip from his gunpowder Coca-Cola in a tall, thin tumbler and wrote my name — “Antny” — and my bet in tiny letters on a crowded page in a spiral notebook.
The Eagles won by seven. I wasn’t the only one who won. Joe hated when the Eagles won. All the bookies did. Because the whole neighborhood bet the Eagles. The whole city bet the Eagles — the way the whole city bets the Yankees every October. It’s the way of these cities. Sports matters. So do their teams. Once all of the sports books and betting apps are in place and the Boardwalk Bettors are completely loose and free from the shadows, what impact will they have in the legitimate marketplace? Or more likely, will they own the legitimate marketplace?
This isn’t a case of East Coast bias. Just because it was legal only in Vegas for all these years doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening with great volume here. And — just sayin’ — we did teach the country how to root here.
And just because we don’t have super contests here yet doesn’t mean we don’t understand the vernacular. We are not rubes when it comes to this stuff — and that also doesn’t make us descendants from the underworld, even though we may all know a guy who knows a guy.
Consider this a warning. The Boardwalk Bettors — born from the cities where they do everything better — have arrived at the betting window.
Anthony L. Gargano, who covered the Mets for The Post from 1993-99, wrote this commentary for the debut of “Betting Across America,” VSiN’s new weekend show from the Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City. Michael Lombardi and Jonathan Von Tobel host the program on Saturdays (10 a.m.-noon) and Sundays (10 a.m.-1 p.m.) on VSiN.com, fuboTV and SiriusXM 204.