Sports Betting
by Mike McClanahan
CBS 42 News
2008-02-04 08:40:00.0
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The Super Bowl is only three days away and the sports books are heating up. Millions of Americans and international fans will tune in Sunday night, with many putting their money on the line.
Birmingham is no exception, with some calling it the biggest underground sports betting scene this side of Las Vegas.
Mike Lorino has 14 years experience in the sports marketing and handicapping industries. He runs Sip Marketing in Las Vegas and OTM Sports right here in Birmingham. Both offices stay busy.
Lorino analyzes teams and makes predictions about a variety of sporting events. This is the busiest time of year for him and most customers are focused on one game: the Super Bowl.
"All the hype the advertisers market it for weeks. You have two weeks of hype leading up to it with no football," said Lorino.
Many people have more than bragging rights riding on the big game, which Lorino says is the single most wagered on sporting event in the world. The point spread is set in Las Vegas, but as Lorino points out, what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay there.
"Danny Sheridan, the odds maker for USA Today, he estimated that last year $8 billion was wagered by Americans on the Super Bowl. Now only about $100 million of that was wagered in the state of Nevada Las Vegas Casinos. The majority of that was wagered amongst individuals, with local bookies, and offshore websites,” said Lorino.
It's hard to pin down precisely how much Birmingham bets on the game, but experts estimate that it's a lot.
"I don't know an exact number. I have read articles where these magazines claim that Birmingham per capita has more sports wagering than any other city in the nation. You know Jimmy the Greek, before his fall from grace. He once said in his television interview if he couldn't live in Las Vegas his next choice would be Birmingham. There is a lot of opportunities to wager and a lot of interest in being the football capital of the south," said Lorino.
We asked, “What do you think about the claim that Birmingham is the sports betting capital of the south?”
“I don't know I would have to ask my bookie," said Lorino.
An article published in a 2000 edition of "The Village Voice" does identify Birmingham as the sports betting capital of the south. One local man who makes his living off those bets said he thinks it's probably true. In fact he says there are so many bookies living in Birmingham, that the market is saturated.
In researching this story, CBS 42 contacted several alleged bookmakers. Only one was willing to talk about their business, but only off camera on the condition of anonymity.
He said he has between 35-40 regular customers, but considers himself small time. He knows more than a dozen other bookies in the Birmingham area some with hundreds of customers and multiple employees.
But he said it's not like the movies where people who don't pay their debts get their kneecaps broken. More likely they just never get another line of credit, because it pays to avoid unnecessary attention in a cash only business that isn't legal. And while bookmaking is a misdemeanor, most bookies don't report that income on their taxes. That's a felony.
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