by Jimmy Vaccaro (Twitter @JimmyVaccaro)
November 1, 2011

I wrote this week’s article as the Philadelphia Eagles were making it 21-0 over Dallas Cowboys in the second quarter. With most of the precincts checking in it looks as if this might be the best weekend so far this year for the bet takers.

Everybody knows your voice is stronger when reporting good news and that hasn’t been the case every week halfway through the season. At times we make too much of it one way or another.

We all know of the morbid curiosity from readers when they hear the joints get carried out. That is fair and accepted, but there were no tears from the guy running your favorite book in town when the New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants failed to cover early.

Betting and booking is a lifetime process. One bad or good cycle does not determine success or failure. We are privileged to have you, the customer, as a client. A book should never show disdain or jubilation when a final score is posted.

It’s much different than 30 years ago when wins and losses were basically kept under the sheets except for rare occasions. Today with so much coverage coupled with the Internet, talk shows and much more, good and bad news is out in minutes.

I’m happy to see the betting public loves and feeds on that frenzy of what we do. I saw on the Internet the ticket on the St. Louis Cardinals at 999-1 to win the MLB baseball World Series.

On occasion, I am asked who survives in this business. I candidly said when you "check out" and have some cash in your left front pocket you have left a winner. If it is tapioca brown, you can draw your own conclusion.

Stay cool. I am sure there are a lot more decisions coming.

Take care,
Jimmy V.

Re-printed with permission of Gaming Today