Editorial

Tuesday, 02 March 2010 02:05

With the ever increase in popularity of NASCAR racing, online casinos are tentatively looking into including this form of sports betting to their repertoires.

Ever since the 1990s, the popularity of NASCAR racing has increased as it has grown from being a regional sport to being a national sport in the United States. To date in terms of popularity, it has passed the NHL and only trails behind football, basketball and also baseball in terms of TV audiences and sales of related merchandise. The Vegas sports book operators are of the opinion that NASCAR is still yet to grow with regards to finding its real teeth in the world of betting. Similarly, online casino operators are watching the growth of the betting potential this sport with eagle eyes. Some have already incorporated this into their array of betting options, but the bigger online casino operators have yet to make a firm commitment.

Every spring the annual Las Vegas NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has been held at the Vegas Motor Speedway since 1998 and attracts around 140,000 fans for three full days of exciting NASCAR racing. The last weekend in February sees the return of the Shelby American 400-miler and a big surge of betting activity at the Vegas sports book windows. So why hasn't it taken off like other sports from a betting point of view?

The main reason it hasn't caught on with the sports book operators is that there are far too many very knowledgeable fans who know too well who the most likely winners of any race will be. This essentially erodes any house edge the sports books might otherwise have and can spell disaster if they get the odds on a particularly highly favoured driver on the wrong side, as has happened all too often in the past.

But all that could change and is changing with the vision and expertise of Ed Salmon, who runs the popular Las Vegas Hilton Race and Sports SuperBook. This huge facility boasts 42 television sets, seating for 400 with betting available on everything from home sports such as the NFL to overseas events such as the European PGA. Salmon is a huge race fan and takes NASCAR very seriously indeed. It's no wonder the Hilton is one of barely a handful of sports books in Vegas that accepts betting on NASCAR races. Salmon sets up the odds and match-ups, such as driver versus driver, and you pick who is going to finish higher. Salmon does this weekly, not only for the NASCAR Sprint Cup events but he is also busy tracking the Nationwide Series, the Camping World Truck Series, Indy Car and Formula One Grand Prix.

The incredible result has other casino owners looking on in disbelief as they completely lack this edge.

The Hilton posts their carefully calculated odds and match ups each Tuesday morning based on current trends, prior records from the particular racetrack plus any other information Salmon can find. Most facilities don't go this far and only post token odds, which is why they often get caught out by well read fans. Salmon is constantly adjusting his odds over time, accounting for team personnel changes and any other news such as how teams are performing in qualifying rounds and during practice sessions. Salmon treats NASCAR the same as he would any other major sport, which is not the way most other casinos would approach it.

Others claim that casinos are reluctant to push motor sports because for the house, it is a losing proposition. They see it as relatively easy money to be made for any smart, well-read NASCAR fan. The same could be said about golf, but this is one area that sports books do a huge trade with every tournament that comes along. All it takes is some application of knowledge of the sport and ensuring the bookmaker knows more than the bettor.

Online casinos may have the same problem, which is what has undoubtedly accounted for its lack of serious uptake from this media to date. They lack the ability to constantly update their odds as circumstances change within the sport. This is necessary because you are dealing with individual drivers and not whole teams as you would do with football or basket ball where the absence or inclusion of one or two players does not generally make a marked difference to the way the team performs.

However, this may change as technology continues to improve and online casinos lean more towards the use of live dealers in certain games. This is one area that could see an expansion into the employment of a live sports book who has in-depth knowledge of the way in which certain sports such as motor racing work and how the odds should be set and updated as circumstances alter on a week by week or even day by day basis.