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March Madness Keeps Vegas Rolling by:Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, March 27, 2003 As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer: “At just past 9 on Thursday morning, hundreds of beefy bettors were packed into the Mirage's spacious sports book like cold cuts in those skyscraping $10 sandwiches they serve in this glitzy strip hotel-casino's deli. “…These hoops handicappers were eagerly awaiting the start of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, a two-week gambling gala for them. Some, like Jeremy Rolfe, a squat welder from Yonkers, N.Y., had been up all night drinking, playing blackjack, and devising the complex parlays that they were certain would allow them to quickly recoup their losses. “Suddenly, the image on six theater-size TV screens flashed from a `Showdown With Saddam’ update to the tournament-opening tip-off of the Marquette-Holy Cross matchup. As the basketball went up, so did a great roar among the grateful patrons, one so strident that it rattled the glasses on the trays of overworked cocktail waitresses. “…For visiting gamblers like Rolfe, this virtually nonstop, two-day NCAA tournament debut has become Las Vegas' second most popular sports-betting weekend, topped only in totals of bettors and bets by the Super Bowl. “With 48 games played between Thursday and Sunday, with a reasonable $10 minimum bet, and with every sports fan's belief that he or she is an expert, March Madness has become a manageable obsession for Joe Six-Pack. “…Nearly every major Las Vegas hotel will be at or near capacity for the weekends, according to Scott Ghertner, director of sports and promotions for MGM/Mirage. “And wherever there's a sports book, there will be large groups of mostly young men, drawn here by the promise of legal NCAA bets and plenty of nearby golf, clogging the noisy casinos, recounting how a last-second shot kept them from untold riches. “…`Interest actually dies down as the tournament progresses,’ said Robert Walker, the Mirage's Race and Sports Book director, `because you have fewer teams and fewer fans involved.’ “If the Super Bowl is paradise for the professional gambler - `We prefer that term to `wise guys,' ‘ Walker joked - the nearly nonstop action on this game-packed NCAA weekend appeals to the more typical bettor…” |
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