by Stephen Nover -
Putting up lines, moving numbers, bantering with customers. Richie Baccellieri is back in his element helping run a Las Vegas sportsbook.
That’s what Baccellieri does best. He did it during the ‘90s for Caesars Palace and MGM and now, after a five-year absence from bookmaking, he’s back in Vegas as the new sportsbook manager at the hip Palms Hotel.
Baccellieri is unique in several ways. Not only is he a rare Las Vegas bookmaker who actually likes to throw down a small wager from time to time, but he’s also the guy you want to talk to when comparing offshore wagering with Vegas betting.
After running the MGM sportsbook for several years, where he didn’t shy away from taking huge wagers from such noted wiseguys as college basketball guru Alan Boston, Baccellieri lost his position when MGM merged with The Mirage.
Many professional gamblers were upset when the suits at MGM-Mirage named Robert Walker to head up the chain’s sports books with MGM becoming just a satellite book. The animosity continues to this day.
Baccellieri moved to the islands where he helped run the sports side for WIT sportsbook for about a year in Costa Rica. WIT later turned many of its recreational customers over to its sister property, Los Palmas, and no longer exists.
“The clientele offshore is an absolute,” Baccellieri says. “I had 300-500 regular customers. In Las Vegas sportsbooks the clientele changes from day to day.
“One day you have 500 customers. The next day you have 1,000 new sports customers. In Vegas, people play what’s on the board. Offshore, people only bet with you if you have the best number.”
The difference, Baccellieri says, isn’t so much that recreational gamblers who play offshore are sharper handicappers, it’s just their ability to shop for numbers on the Internet. Bookmakers in Vegas draw heavy tourist action and because many of the hotels are spread out, bettors are more content to bet where they are. They aren’t as conscious of the numbers.
That’s a main reason why every big casino in Vegas has a sportsbook- so big pit customers don`t leave their hotel to make a sports bet. Another difference between offshore and Vegas bookmaking is Vegas bookmakers move numbers faster, while offshore books tend to move their number in unison, closely watching line movements from other books.
“If Vegas takes a limit bet, they’ll move the number 95 percent of the time,” Baccellieri said. “A lot of offshores will keep booking and booking until the (Don Best) screen lights up.”
The Palms is an independent book, located about a mile west of the Las Vegas strip. It’s owned by George Maloof, whose family also owns a majority interest in the Sacramento Kings. Because of that tie-in, the Nevada Gaming Control Boards prohibits the Palms sportsbook from accepting NBA wagers.
This puts Baccellieri at an obvious disadvantage. Not only does he lose huge handle not being able to book NBA, but his parlay action is lowered because bettors like to mix their parlays with different sports.
“It definitely hurts,” Baccellieri said, “especially now during the playoffs. But the bottom line is it’s a customer service business. If you provide good service people will come back to your place even without NBA.”
The Palms has tried to counter this disadvantage by booking sports and events most other Vegas hotels won’t mess with. The hotel takes bets on European soccer, extensive golf and motor sports matchups, and posts unique props for a number of different sports.
But since opening in November of 2001, the Palms have lost a number of good bookmakers/oddsmakers including Perry Swanson, Jeff Sherman, Adam Pullen, Marcus Hurd and Fred Crespi. Sherman (golf), Pullen (soccer) and Hurd (motor sports) were especially strong in certain niche sports.
Baccellieri recognizes the need to keep booking different sports. On a recent visit to the Palms, the hotel was taking action on tennis, motor sports, Tour de France, Arena Football, golf, NFL Europe, and the College World Series.
“You have to have a diverse menu,” Baccellieri says.
The Palms takes $2,000 on a baseball side and $1,000 on totals, limits that accommodate 99 percent of their customers, Baccellieri says. Baccellieri has never been afraid to book to sharps, either. His bookmaking philosophy is to pit player against player, not player against bookmaker. This can be achieved by welcoming play from wiseguys and betting syndicates.
“If you’re going to take one sharp player then you might as well take them all,” Baccellieri said. “With just one sharp, you’re gambling. It’s not supposed to be player vs. house. It’s supposed to be player vs. player. One guy lays $1.40, another guy takes $1.43. The house earns. It’s all about watching the earn.”
The days of getting all the big players betting at one Las Vegas sportsbook died when Binion’s Horseshoe sportsbook fell into disarray in the late ‘90s after new ownership took over. Baccellieri, though, is more than happy to be booking again in Las Vegas. He’s the No. 2 man at the Palms sportsbook, behind race and sports book director Marc Nelson.
“I did want to get back into a Las Vegas style sportsbook,” said Baccellieri, who had occupied his time betting and doing some consulting work. “I missed working and talking face to face with the players. I really enjoy talking to the players. This is a great opportunity to get back into the industry.
“Marc has had a lot of experience in the industry and is a good person to work with. He’s the ideal boss. There are very few people in the industry like that. We have an independent book. We book the old fashion way. I like that very much.”
Stephen Nover is a handicapper with Covers Experts.
Source: Covers.com
