Why sports picks for a fee rarely bring much return

This contains some technical analysis, but is a solid summation of the inherent costs in the dubious endeavor of paying a tout for sports predictions.

Each year during the lead-up to football season I receive requests from bettors, wary of being scammed, for recommendations regarding which sports handicappers they should “follow” or which sports betting services are worth a subscription fee.

Though it’s not my place to advise bettors how to spend their money, I can offer a cold, sober account of the math behind paying for sports predictions.

Bet here, not there, for reasonable house edge

Tread carefully when shopping future-book odds ...

Bettors in Las Vegas can wager on the Chicago Cubs to win this year’s World Series at odds of 7-5 at any Harrah’s property.

A strong argument can be made that this is the worst possible bet anyone could make in Nevada — not just in sports betting, but in any form of state-sanctioned gambling.

The crux of the argument would go like this: Odds of 10-1 on the same proposition — the Cubs to win the World Series — are available at several sports books, including at least one within easy walking distance of Harrah’s.

In one month, Nevada sports books lost money on basketball wagers

The state’s recently released gaming revenue report for April indicated a drop in the amount casinos won in sports betting contributed to an overall decline in winnings.

A closer look reveals an intriguing dichotomy in how Nevada casinos fared in booking baseball and basketball, the two primary betting sports in April.

Losers lovable on NFL prop bet

In the NFL’s 2003 regular season, four teams lost 12 games: the Chargers, Raiders, Giants and Cardinals.

No team had more than 12 regular-season losses.

It was a noteworthy — and quirky — result because it was the only time in the past 21 seasons that no NFL team lost 13 or more games.

That arcane piece of football trivia has suddenly become relevant because of a betting proposition recently posted in Las Vegas.

Longtime poker badass Tony Shelton has seen it all on the Las Vegas felt

For some veteran poker players and tournament officials, the World Series of Poker lost much of its charm when it moved from its old home at Binion's downtown to its new location at the Rio. I met with longtime World Series of Poker administrator Tony Shelton at the Starbucks at the Golden Nugget and he talked about a life devoted to gambling. When I watch the immature antics of so many of today's tournament players, I long for the return of the Man with the Patch.

The bustle of the World Series of Poker was only 5.7 miles away, but it might as well have been in a different galaxy.

At a coffee shop on Fremont Street, Tony Shelton was reflecting on the poker tournament he used to know.

For the better part of four decades, three of them with the World Series, Shelton has been a consummate Las Vegas poker industry insider.

Now semiretired, Shelton is known to a generation of poker players as a World Series dealer and supervisor. He also trained employees and ran the high-stakes cash side games that spring up at each World Series.

Shelton’s World Series of Poker was a more intimate affair, a gathering of the gambling tribes hosted by Benny Binion at his Horseshoe club on Fremont Street.

“Old Man Benny liked it because he got to see all the old rounders from Texas, all his good old boys,” said Shelton, his trademark walrus mustache and Appalachian drawl still prominent as ever. “We were like a small, elite cadre, the people who played it and the people who dealt it.

“We had no idea back then that one day every yo-yo in the world would get himself a baseball cap and some sunglasses and wear a hood and try to get on TV.”

For value in props, toss out favorites

The proposition asking which players will lead the NFL in categories such as rushing yards, passing yards and receiving yards during the regular season is presented as a straightforward sports bet, one of myriad football wagering opportunities available in Las Vegas this time of year.

And it is: The prop, recently posted at the Venetian on the Strip, lists dozens of players in each of those categories at various odds.

It also has a distinct fantasy football flavor, though, as it asks bettors to predict individual player performances as they relate to a wide variety of potential payoffs.