On Sports Betting: A Reminder — A Winning Bet Not Made Is Money Not Earned

There was a clear sense of anticipation in the air Tuesday prior to Game 7 of the Knights vs. Sharks first-round NHL series.

You could feel the buzz in the crowd in the sports book. You could hear it in the chatter among fans and bettors. And you could see it in the cocktail servers’ uniforms, many of which were emblazoned with the Knights logo.

The books rated it an almost dead-even matchup with both sides priced at -110. You could have almost predicted a game that went to overtime, tied at 4 at the end of regulation. Although it would have been difficult to script the hotly disputed major penalty assessed on the Golden Knights’ Cody Eakin that arguably tilted the outcome.

Regardless, it was Sharks bettors who were lining up at the window to cash tickets after a 5-4 OT victory. And no amount of discussion about questionable refereeing was going to change the value of a betting ticket on the game or the series.

We know. We slid our series ticket on the Knights priced at -115 right into the shredder.

But earlier that day, sharp-eyed sports bettors might have spotted a much more lucrative betting opportunity among the lights of the sports book board. It was right there on the electronic board and the paper forms stacked alongside the boxes of golf pencils.

The Detroit Tigers were +190 underdogs vs. the Boston Red Sox and their vaunted starter Chris Sale in the first game of a twin bill. And what was attractive about that price? The Red Sox have been struggling, and Sale has been noticeably ineffective in his first few starts.

We made a mental note to consider playing the game, then were distracted by other events.

Regardless, the Tigers ripped into Sale & Co. and came away with a 7-4 victory. The math on what a black-chip bet would have earned you is fairly simple. For that matter, the Tigers were +165 ‘dogs in the nightcap and also won that game, 4-2. If you had rolled over your winning wager on the second game, you would have been in tall cotton indeed.

We didn’t make the bet, which reminds us of the maxim “A winning wager not made is money not earned,” reportedly said by a famous American inventor, typographer and statesman also credited with “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

OK, we admit we don’t know if Ben Franklin, whose wry portrait graces the $100 bill so seemingly common in Las Vegas, actually said that. But considering his immense wisdom, he might have.

Regardless, we didn’t wander back to the book until Wednesday. We sniffed around and took a cursory look at the Las Vegas Aviators at -145 vs. the El Paso Chihuahuas. It wasn’t that long ago — around the home opener in early April, actually — when you could have bet The Team with The Funny Logo at around -120. Now the betting price for the Aviators, who are enjoying modest success in the Pacific Coast League, has apparently caught up with them.

We passed. And it was a good thing. The Chihuahuas routed the Aviators, 15-8. The total on the game was 12.5 and it went over in the bottom of the fifth inning. El Paso also won the game Thursday, 9-8, and made it three in a row with an 8-6 win on Friday, at which point we lost interest in betting on the home team.

We were intrigued by Friday’s MLB match-up pitting the Milwaukee Brewers vs. the New York Mets. Like Sale, the Mets’ Jacob deGrom has also struggled in early going, and we saw a tout who advised a bet on the Brew Crew at +160. We didn’t disagree and weren’t too surprised when the Brewers came away with a 10-2 victory in a game that easily sent the total over 7.

But by Saturday, we were focused on one of the more intriguing first-round NBA series, the No. 7 seed San Antonio Spurs vs. the No. 2 seeded Denver Nuggets. The Spurs had given the Nuggets all they had bargained for and the game on Saturday was a Game 7.

Also, we had played the Nuggets in the first game, and it turned out to be a losing bet as the Spurs upended the home team, 101-96. So we were curious how this Game 7 would play out. Though not curious enough to trying to recover our lost money from Game 1.

Wasn’t it Franklin who also said, “Money chased frequently results in more money lost.”?

Perhaps not.

Regardless, the Nuggets held serve and covered the first-quarter line at -2 and the first-half line at -4. Notably, however, when the game went final, the Nuggets had won 90-86, but failed to cover -6.5.

Somewhere perhaps Franklin was smiling wryly.