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<< Als RB Cobourne to miss Thursday's game
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montreal Alouettes running back Avon Cobourne will not play in Thursday's game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. TSN of Canada reported Wednesday that Cobourne is out due to a minor ankle injury. Brandon

<< BYU to leave MWC, which invites Nevada, Fresno State
Colorado Springs, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brigham Young University has reportedly decided to leave the Mountain West Conference, which subsequently invited Fresno State and Nevada to join. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, BYU

<< Pennington the hero as A's blow lead, recover to top Jays
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cliff Pennington singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, as the Oakland Athletics overcame a late rally to beat Toronto, 5-4, in the rubber match of a three-game series at the Coliseum. The

<< 49ers release veteran WR Jones
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco 49ers have released veteran wide receiver Brandon Jones. The 27-year-old Jones played in eight games for the Niners last season, catching one pass for 18 yards. He missed the

NASCAR releases 2011 schedules for top three series >>
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR on Wednesday officially released its 2011 schedule for all three of its national touring series. As expected, there are several major changes to next year's schedule, particularly in the Sprint

Bills safety Byrd out indefinitely with groin injury >>
Pittsford, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Buffalo Bills safety Jairus Byrd is out indefinitely after having surgery to repair a nagging groin injury. Byrd's rookie season in 2009 was cut short by the problem. He was felled after racking up 45

VCU extends Smart's contract >>
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shaka Smart, the head men's basketball coach at Virginia Commonwealth University, received a two-year contract extension on Wednesday. In his first season on the job, Smart led the Rams to a 27-9 record, o

Richard, Padres continue to roll in win over Cubs >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clayton Richard allowed just one run in 6 2/3 strong innings, leading the San Diego Padres to a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the third of four games at Wrigley Field. Richard (11-5) yielded seven h

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.