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<< Brown to stay at Texas through 2020
Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Texas has agreed to a four- year contract extension with Mack Brown that will keep the head football coach on the Longhorns' sideline through 2020. Brown, 60, has been the head coach at T

<< Reds give P Arredondo 2-year contract
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds have avoided arbitration with Jose Arredondo, signing the reliever to a two-year contract. Arredondo went 4-4 with a 3.23 earned run average in 53 appearances for the Reds last season

<< Bucks' Bogut out indefinitely with fractured ankle
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - An MRI on Thursday revealed that Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut suffered a fractured left ankle during Wednesday's game against the Rockets. "The results of the MRI identified a left ankle fracture

<< Levin, Stanley post matching 62s at Torrey Pines
La Jolla, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spencer Levin and Kyle Stanley both fired 10- under 62s on Thursday to grab a share of the lead after the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open. Levin and Stanley are both looking for their first PGA T

Florida earns comeback win at Ole Miss >>
Oxford, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Patric Young scored 15 points and added four rebounds to lead the way for No. 14 Florida as it came from behind to hand Ole Miss its first home loss of the season, 64-60, at Tad Smith Coliseum. Kenny Boynto

No. 6 Kentucky routs Auburn >>
Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A'dia Mathies scored 20 points while Samarie Walker pulled down 15 rebounds as No. 6 Kentucky took down Auburn, 66-48. Maegan Conwright added 10 points for Kentucky (19-2, 8-0 SEC), which forced 30 Auburn t

Datsyuk picked first in All-Star draft >>
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk was the first overall pick Thursday in the NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft. A flipped puck was used to determine who got the first pick and Team Chara won the toss. Captain

BC Lions sign WR Bruce to extension >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The BC Lions have signed veteran wide receiver Arland Bruce to a contract extension. Last August, the Lions acquired Bruce from Hamilton in exchange for a third- round selection in the 2012 CFL

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.