The Odds

by Millman, Chad

• ISBN13: 9781891620232
• ISBN10: 1891620231
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-21
• Publisher: Public Affairs

Summary

Chad Millman takes readers inside Las Vegas's high-stakes gambling machine where even the unlikeliest characters find something in common. There's the intense high roller with the shaved head who morphed from cocaine addict to vegan bodybuilder without missing a bet. There's the college dropout whose parents kicked him out of the house when he decided betting would be his way of life. And there's the bookmaker who wonders what could have been if he had the guts to take the same risks as the bettors he despises. Between them and glory was the 1999-2000 NCAA basketball season, with its thousands of games, hundreds of teams, and "March Madness". The best were big -- sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single day -- but the stakes were even larger. For the bookmaker, the need for the thrill would put his whole career at risk. For the high roller, the need for a big win kept his demons churning. And for the kid, what was at stake was quite possibly his soul. Millman paints a vivid portrait of Las Vegas in light and shadow as he follows the three players

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xi
``Death Is Not the End''	1	(10)
``It's Us Against the Wiseguys''	11	(11)
``Get Out of My House''	22	(4)
A Nation of Sports Bettors	26	(18)
Let the Games Begin	44	(16)
Hi Mom! My Bookie Called, Send Money	60	(7)
``A Dying Breed''	67	(25)
The Devil's Deal	92	(14)
``This Life...Is Starting to Make Me Sick''	106	(16)
Take Me Home	122	(19)
``We Believe Anything Is Possible''	141	(12)
``I Got a Winner, Huh Cuz?''	153	(22)
``It's Just Another Day''	175	(11)
``Without Nevada, This Would Not Have Happened''	186	(21)
Everyone Jump in the Pool	207	(17)
The Final Four	224	(23)
Epilogue	247	(4)
Index	251