The Odds: One Season, Three Gamblers, and the Death of Their Las Vegas

by Chad Millman

Book 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306811561
• ISBN13: 9780306811562
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Great Read! Felt like I was there!

I thought this was a very good book that not only gives you a feeling of being in Las Vegas sweating out the games or more precisely the bets, but it also educates the reader to the many changes in sports wagering with a little history lesson. I read it in only two readings because I could not put it down.My biggest letdown from the book is when it ended. I wanted to read more! I wanted more true stories to feel the exitement of winning as well as the sickening feeling of losing a bet in the last few seconds of a game to a freak play.The book leaves the reader thnking maybe I do not know as much as I think I do about betting sports. The games fall squarely on the lines so often it is scary. If the wise guys can not beat the lines studying information and trends as a full time job, how can I possibly do it over the long run committed to a family and working a full time job.I only found a few editing mistakes where the team did not cover the spread but our guy was stated to have a winning ticket. Not enough to take away from the realism or to be too distracting. No gambler really tells the truth all the times. It would have been a little better if we knew how much the bettors really lost or won, the book was a little vague in that area. It only stated the our guys had had a very bad two months. But to finish positively, It was a great read and one I will pass on to my best of friends.

Incredible! A Must Read!

Wow. I just put down the book after reading it in one sitting. I feel like a just got off the wildest ride. It was a ride across a foreign landscape, the dry and depraved desert floor of sports gambling, Vegas. I met many characters, all unsavory yet appealing in their own way. I felt a little like I was reading a Hiassen book. Fulfilled with the satisfaction of having traveled into a landscape that is not mine, and yet being able to close the book and return to my life. Thank Goodness. A truly riveting read.

Just SUPER.....

The Odds is a first hand look at what is going on in the sportsbook environment. Whether you want a view from the bookmaker's perspective, the wiseguy's perspective, or the casual sports bettor's perspective, this book is terrfic. The bookmaker, Joe Lupo of The Stardust is one cool customer. He is under constant pressure to get it right as the manager of The Stardust sports book. Traditionally, the line comes out first from The Stardust, hence, the added pressure of being the focus of attention in Las Vegas sports gambling circles. He knows the details of every game from his collective sources of sports oddsmakers. This would make one cool movie...

A great read for the sports enthusiast

This book was a great read for anyone who has ever placed a sports wager in Vegas or at home. The ebb and flow of victorious weekens and buried ones is incredible. It also adds an extra viewpoint by following the guys who run the Stardust. Excellent, quick read.

A masterful documentary of the sports gambling culture

Chad Millman has written the book I had always dreamed of writing since my days in the Stardust sports book sharing nachos and hotdogs with the homeless, deadbroke souls who made it their home. I could not put this book down and read it in one night. It hit home with enormous impact since I knew in person or by reputation most of the main characters in book. I grieve for Joe Lupo and Alan Boston for their soon to be lost way of life. I have witnessed first hand the death of the Las Vegas Millman so touchingly pays tribute to and am grateful that Millman captured the last battle in the war in Vegas between Wiseguys and Bookmakers across the counter.Even if one is not familiar with the subject matter, the book is still a must read. It is a roadmap of what pumps blood in the veins of young college educated affluent Americans in their spare time. An entire generation has become obssessed with gambling on the stock market and on sports and Millman interweaves the book with psychological insights on why people gamble and why risk takers who win are so revered in American pop culture. Lastly, Millman takes a shot at the hypocrisy of Congress and the NCAA. Reading about their attempts at stemming the tide of young sports bettors with legislation outlawing college gambling in Las Vegas (which accounts for less than 1% of the total wagering handle on sports betting) leaves one with the distinct impression that lawmakers are bumbling into a "New Prohibition" where government should be regulating and making taxes from sports gambling, instead of only protecting lotteries and casino gambling which gives gamblers no mathematical chance at ever beating the house.