Chad Millman: The Odds: One Season, Three Gamblers, And The Death Of Their Las Vegas

Sports bettors wait patiently for the elusive "middle," a circumstance where there are two sets of odds on a game, allowing the gambler to bet on both sides and conceivably win both bets. The situation is so attractive because a gambler's life is otherwise lacking in middles. If he loses, he questions his judgment; if he wins, he questions his nerve, for not betting higher. At either extreme, failure is certain, and joy is fleeting. Chad Millman spent almost a year in Las Vegas researching his book The Odds, which tracks the highs and lows of a sports-book manager and two of his customers. Millman's intention was to capture and comprehend the particular delirium that addles even the most successful gamblers. He investigates how proven systems can be undone by irresponsible risk-taking and the insatiable craving for a long-shot winner. He focuses primarily on college basketball, breaking down the arcane process by which odds are set on games, and detailing the gamblers' elaborate attempts to move the line in their favor. He also shows how the house tempts squares to bet on iffy lines, while trying to keep the wise guys from creaming the house on those same faulty numbers. A power madness goes hand-in-hand with making big bets and forcing other gamblers to react, and Millman implies that the same desire for respect and awe leads to further corruption, including point-shaving and game-fixing. It's not the need to bet on a sure thing; for the habitual bettor, sure things are attractive, but seemingly unwinnable wagers provide greater queasy thrills. Once the games begin, everyone with a financial stake stares down death in the form of last-second three-pointers by jittery college freshmen. The Odds covers the external pressures that are squeezing the air out of Vegas tradition—the off-shore Internet gambling sites, the government pressure to ban betting on college sports, and the ESPN-addicted frat boys with no respect for the hard work of the informed veteran bettor—and simultaneously hits the exhausting cycle of late-night losses, followed by the hope of early morning and a potential parlay. The book is a nail-biter: Cutting to the quick, it follows the ragged edges of addiction.