It’s time for football and it couldn’t get here any sooner as far as I’m concerned!
This Sunday signals all is a go as we get the New York Giants playing the Buffalo Bills in the Hall of Fame Game at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio. It’s a place I have been many times, not only for the Hall of Fame game but for some big time Ohio high school football.
CG Technology has the Bills listed as a 1½ point favorite with a total of 32½. We will get to the game later in this column.
Even though the regular NFL season doesn’t begin until Thursday, Sept. 4, with the Packers at the Seahawks, there have been betting numbers up on Week 1 for some time. Now, there is a new bet in town.
The brain trust at the South Point sports book put out a $25,000 guaranteed Pro Football Kick-Off weekend jackpot parlay card. You can stop by there, Eastside Cannery, Rampart, Riverside or the Cannery (off Craig Rd.) and play this winner-take-all card.
It’s very easy, no point spread. Play it now. All you need to do is put up a “fin” ($5 for the novice bettor) and just pick who you think will win the games. This is not a contest so you don’t need to sign up. Just stop in the book, pick up a card, fill it out and hand it to the ticket writer with the $5 and get your ticket to win $25k. Play as many cards as you wish just in case your better half wants to take a shot.
As for myself and the crew here at GT, we are heading out. We need some cash as it will be a long season. Now if more than one person hits all the games, naturally, they will split the pot. If no one has all the games picked correctly, those with the most winners will split the pot.
Of course if you are the only winner, well yahoo!
There will be lots of other big football promotions and GT will keep you abreast as we get info on them.
Bills vs. Giants: The Hall of Fame game goes at 5 p.m. this Sunday on NBC. So what do we know that could point us to the winner of this game? Well, if the past means anything, Buffalo has gone 1-9 in their last 10 road preseason games.
This may not stand up since the Giants will be on the road also and those previous nine losses were at the home field of the other team. Other than this stat we really have little to go on. If having to make a bet, we will side with the Giants.
Horsing around: Contests were buzzing in Vegas the past two weeks and will continue that way through the “dog days of summer.”
Two weeks ago Mary Jungers at the South Point held her live money horse race contest with the winner getting a seat into the BCBC contest coming up at Santa Anita. Ron F. won with 6,118 points, not only taking down $8,460 but also getting the free ride worth $2,500 into the big show at Santa Anita.
Second was Conrad H. with 3,779 points, winning $6,345 and an entry into the big show. Third was Gary J. with 3,584 points, winning $4,230 and a seat in the BCBC. Rounding out the winners was fourth place Chris S., taking down $2,115 with 2,705 points.
This past weekend the Gold Coast had their huge three day contest. We will try to get those results next week. I do know Ralph Siraco made a late run to finish 15th and in the money. Congrats to Ralph and our buddy Paul Truitt at Palace Station for also being in the money.
Mark Dufty at Jerry’s Nugget sent me the winners from his weekly Saturday Del Mar contest. This one is just a $10 buy in. In Week 1 there were co-winners with Fernando Chavez and Mark Marino each at $87.20 – good enough to split the $1,000 cash prize. Both also received a $30 gift card since they have the MoreClub card.
This past Saturday, Rafael Araujo took down the entire pool as he finished first and second. If you buy two entries the third one is free so Rafael had three to play with. Even with no huge payoffs on Saturday, he said he was just trying to grind out the points.
The next big contest will be at Wynn resort as John Avello will be hosting his $2,000 buy-in contest. There’s no better town to live in if you like betting the ponies!
Next week in this column I will start my selection on the preseason. There is one big game I will be looking to bet – the rematch of last year’s Super Bowl between the Seahawks and the Broncos.
CG Tech has the game on the board with Denver as a tepid 1½ point favorite. The total is 37 right now. Well, they could get me, but let’s wait till next week when it all starts to hit the fan.
Time to hit “The Point” and play some $5 NFL $25k jackpot cards.
Richard Saber, a former director of race and sports at the famed Stardust book, is GamingToday’s horse racing and sports handicapper. Follow Richard on Twitter @SabesBet. Contact Richard at [email protected].