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<< Bears ink LB Iwuh to one-year deal
Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears signed linebacker Brian Iwuh on a one-year contract on Monday. Financial details were not disclosed. The 26-year-old played in 15 games, including two starts, and registered a car

<< Saints add McKie
Metairie, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints have signed fullback Jason McKie to a one-year contract. McKie spent the past seven seasons with the Chicago Bears, starting 46 of the 87 games he played with t

<< Nolan Ryan's group set to complete purchase of Rangers
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The sale of the Texas Rangers to a group that includes current team president Nolan Ryan is expected to be completed by the middle of the summer. Ryan and Chuck Greenberg, a Pittsburgh attorney, announced

<< Phillies activate Schneider from DL, designate Hoover
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies activated catcher Brian Schneider from the 15-day disabled list and designated catcher Paul Hoover for assignment on Monday. The 33-year-old Schneider, who was sideline

Czech friendly is vital for a number of USA hopefuls >>
Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tuesday's friendly between the United States and the Czech Republic will be used as much more than just a way to keep the American team sharp ahead of next month's World Cup. It will give USA head coach

In the FCS Huddle: Salukis hope to wow 'em in new stadium >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It had gotten to the point that Southern Illinois coaches tried not to show McAndrew Stadium or the Salukis' football locker rooms during on-campus recruiting visits. The 73-year-old stadium had become so out

Teams on the clock in deep NHL draft >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NHL Entry Draft, set to take place June 25 in Los Angeles, provides both players and general managers the opportunity to take the next step towards success. While top prospects Taylor Hall and Tyler Se

Collins returns home to lead Sixers >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doug Collins is home again and ready to coach the team for which he played for eight seasons. Collins agreed to become the next head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers last week and was introduced Mon

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.