The Odds: One Season, Three Gamblers And The Death Of Their Las Vegas

by Chad Millman

Overview

One gambler is a manic former cokehead with an Ivy League degree. The second is a college dropout trying to make a living at the only thing he enjoyed at school — gambling. The third, one of Vegas's most respected bookmakers, is perilously close to burning out. The Odds follows the lives of these three professional gamblers through a college basketball season in a one-of-a-kind city struggling to reconcile its lawless past with its family-friendly makeover. With a wiseguy attitude and a faultless eye and ear for the sights and sounds of Vegas and its denizens, Chad Millman has created a portrait that the Wall Street Journal called "fascinating. . . often screamingly funny." The Las Vegas Review-Journal had just one word for the book: "Superb."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306811562
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	03/28/2002
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,134,144
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.62(d)
Lexile:	1130L (what's this?)

About the Author

Chad Millman is the Editorial Director of ESPN Domestic Digital. He is the author of The Odds and coauthor of The Ones Who Hit the Hardest, Iceman, Invincible, and Pickup Artists. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and two sons.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction	xi
1	"Death Is Not the End"	1
2	"It's Us Against the Wiseguys"	11
3	"Get Out of My House"	22
4	A Nation of Sports Bettors	26
5	Let the Games Begin	44
6	Hi Mom! My Bookie Called, Send Money	60
7	"A Dying Breed"	67
8	The Devil's Deal	92
9	"This Life...Is Starting to Make Me Sick"	106
10	Take Me Home	122
11	"We Believe Anything Is Possible"	141
12	"I Got a Winner, Huh Cuz?"	153
13	"It's Just Another Day"	175
14	"Without Nevada, This Would Not Have Happened"	186
15	Everyone Jump in the Pool	207
16	The Final Four	224
	Epilogue	247
	Index	251

Editorial Reviews

Thoroughly reported and tightly written...splendid.

Las Vegas Sun

Superb...a must read.

Las Vegas Review-Journal

fascinating. . . a print version of cinema-verite. Its foul-mouthed dialogue seems all too authentic . . . screamingly funny

Wall Street Journal

An intimate, hilarious and, at times, sad portrait of...(sports betting) in Sin City.

Sports Illustrated

To some, sports betting is good clean fun it adds spice to the game to put a little down on your alma mater. To others, it's big business federal agents estimated that before the 2000 Super Bowl that nearly $5 billion would be bet both legally and illegally, and the 2000 NCAA basketball tournament drew nearly $80 million in legal Nevada bets and estimates running from $2.5 to $7 billion in illegal action. Here, sports reporter Chad Millman goes to Las Vegas, the legal gambling mecca threatened by recent legislation and offshore Internet betting sites, and follows the men who make the odds and those who try to beat them. This is not a Reefer Madness-style expos designed to scare gamblers straight, but its depiction of the lives of a young bookmaker, a big player, and a rookie gambling professional still might make bettors consider dialing 1-800-BETS-OFF. Recommended for larger public libraries. Jim Burns, Ottumwa P.L., IA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Millman's close-up of three gamblers in Las Vegas to bet on the 1999 college basketball "final four" playoffs provides a harrowing view of gambling addiction even as he relates the concern of the gamblers and their bookmakers that their way of life is being threatened as Las Vegas becomes more family friendly. Millman is an associate editor at . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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