🏅Sports Gambling Hall of Fame Inaugural Class At Circa Tonight/Friday

[Wagerallsports]

Walters, ‘Lefty,’ ‘Roxy’ and rest of Sports Gambling Hall of Fame class​

LV Review Journal Subscription
8/10/23

The inaugural class of the Sports Gambling Hall of Fame will be inducted Friday at Circa, where it will reside in an enclave in the sportsbook.

Here’s a quick glance at the inductees:

Billy Baxter

Pro sports bettor and poker player known for staking Stu Ungar the $10,000 buy-in for the 1997 World Series of Poker Main Event, which he won for a record-tying third time.

“Billy Baxter has always been my hero,” fellow inductee Michael “Roxy” Roxborough said. “Here’s a guy who’s a professional poker player, professional sports bettor and managed world champion boxers. Who’s got a better life than that?”

Michael “Roxy” Roxborough

America’s preeminent oddsmaker in the 1980s and 1990s, he pioneered the use of mathematical formulas and computer models for bookmakers. Ran Las Vegas Sports Consultants from 1982 to 1999 and acted as unofficial spokesman for industry. Co-founded “America’s Line,” a betting odds column that ran in 128 newspapers. Ranked No. 2 on Review-Journal’s list of most influential sports figures of 20th century.

Scotty Schettler

Sportsbook director at the Stardust, which put up the opening lines and took the largest limits. Started the Stardust lottery, which gave everybody a fair chance to bet on opening lines at 8 a.m. daily and 6 p.m. Sunday, when lines were posted on the following week’s football games. Took action from all customers.

Jimmy Vaccaro

South Point oddsmaker helped accelerate the expansion of sports betting in Las Vegas when he opened the Barbary Coast sportsbook for Michael Gaughan in 1979. Opened The Mirage book for Steve Wynn in 1989 and was the only bookmaker to take action on Mike Tyson’s stunning upset loss to Buster Douglas. Tyson was a 42-1 favorite (-4,200).

Billy Walters

Widely regarded as the most successful sports bettor of all time, he has compiled a 36-year winning streak. The Las Vegas businessman and philanthropist was part of the renowned Computer Group, which was credited in the 1980s as the first sports betting syndicate to use mathematical formulas and computer models.

In memoriam

Jack Franzi

Successful sports bettor and one of most influential oddsmakers in Las Vegas history at the Barbary Coast and Gold Coast. Influenced bookmakers Art Manteris and Chris Andrews, his nephews, as well as Jimmy Vaccaro, Vinny Magliulo and Chuck Esposito.

Jackie Gaughan

Created the first sportsbook inside a casino at the Union Plaza.

Bob Martin

America’s preeminent oddsmaker in the 1960s and 1970s. His numbers posted at the Churchill Downs sportsbook set the standard of excellence for the “Las Vegas line” that was followed by bookies across the country.

Charles McNeil

Credited with inventing and popularizing the point spread and teasers. Was former President John F. Kennedy’s math teacher.

Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal

Pro sports bettor and Las Vegas casino executive portrayed by Robert DeNiro in the classic mob movie “Casino.”

“By the way, nobody ever called him Lefty to his face. It was Mr. R or Mr. Rosenthal,” Roxborough said. “He took the Stardust and turned it into something bigger and better than anybody had ever dreamed that a race and sportsbook could be.They had the idea that you could market the property around the race and sportsbook.”

 

[Wagerallsports]

Roxy Roxborough’s rise from bettor to oddsmaker to Hall of Famer​

LV Review Journal Subscription
8/10/23

Before Michael “Roxy” Roxborough became America’s preeminent oddsmaker in the 1980s and 1990s, he was a sharp bettor who beat up Nevada sportsbooks on baseball totals.

He was getting the best of Cal Neva in Reno on a regular basis when sportsbook director Chris Andrews started asking him for his totals.

“I wanted to bet them first,” said Roxborough, 72. “But I made a deal with him that when I was done betting, I’d tell him what I thought they should be.”

Andrews eventually started paying Roxborough for his lines on all sports, and so did several other shops in Northern Nevada. Las Vegas books soon followed.

“I didn’t want to get paid because I wanted to bet,” he said. “My whole life changed when Scotty Schettler asked me to be the oddsmaker at the Stardust.

“He had just gotten the job to take over the Stardust because the mob had been kicked out.”

The Stardust was the most respected book in Las Vegas. It put up the opening lines, had the largest limits and welcomed action from all bettors, including the wise guys.


“Other people started hiring us because they figured if I was making the Stardust line, that’s pretty good,” Roxborough said. “Technology changed the business a lot. We went from phones to fax machines to online printers to online screens to the internet.”

That led to the massive growth of Las Vegas Sports Consultants, an oddsmaking service Roxborough founded and ran from 1982 to 1999 that provided the lines to more than 90 percent of Nevada sportsbooks.

“It also led to me not getting another day off for about 17 years,” Roxborough said with a laugh. “It turns out you have to work 60 to 70 hours a week to escape a 40-hour job.”

Roxborough and Schettler will be inducted into the Sports Gambling Hall of Fame on Friday at Circa with eight others in the inaugural class — including Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, who preceded Schettler at the Stardust and was portrayed by Robert De Niro in the classic mob movie “Casino.”

The Stardust put up the opening lines at 8 a.m. daily and at 6 p.m. on Sundays, when a long line of bettors would eagerly await the following week’s football spreads.

Schettler started a Stardust lottery system to determine the order of the line to give everyone a chance to bet the openers.

“It was a very fair system. You could play some games and get back in line. After about an hour, you’ve got a pretty solid number that people are betting both ways,” Roxborough said. “They did an amazing service for the state, because they would go at 8 in the morning. Most places would open at 10. So after the Stardust smoothed everything out, that would end up being the line.”

After the lines were posted, bettors would run to a bank of pay phones near the entrance of the book to share the information with other gamblers around the country.

“We had 11 pay phones outside of the building,” former Stardust vice president of casino operations Richard Schuetz said at last year’s Bet Bash at Circa. “The guy who serviced the pay phones once told me they were the highest 11 revenue-producing pay phones in the United States.”

Roxborough, who said he was moved by being named to the Hall of Fame, is credited with pioneering the use of mathematical formulas and computer models for oddsmaking. But he said renowned pro sports bettor Billy Walters, his fellow SGHOF inductee, forced his hand with the success of his famed “Computer Group” betting syndicate.

“We got dragged into it because the players, particularly Billy Walters’ group, were coming up with better numbers on college football and college basketball, where there were so many teams that we were booking,” he said. “Using mathematical formulas, they were able to keep track of all the teams better than we could. They sort of forced us to counteract that.

“Also, Scotty would make the schedule larger every year at the Stardust, so eventually we had to have computer input to track all these teams.”

Roxborough, who was born in New Hampshire and raised in Vancouver, also co-hosted the popular “Stardust Line” radio show and co-founded “America’s Line,” a daily sports odds column that appeared in 128 newspapers in North America.

“It was a great business for a lot of time, because casual fans would get the line out of the newspaper,” he said.

Always available to the media and nattily dressed in a suit and tie, the affable Roxborough acted as the industry’s unofficial spokesperson and helped legitimize sports betting.

“I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I looked a lot different than Jimmy the Greek,” he said of late “NFL Today” handicapper Jimmy Snyder. “What legitimized the industry was casinos getting sportsbooks. It’s hard to believe now, but at one time a lot of casinos didn’t think they needed a race and sportsbook.

“They used to think it was an entertainment center. I think we helped show casinos and hotels that it could be a profit center, too.”

The fun-loving Roxborough, who said he never wanted a real job, retired at age 48 after selling LVSC and other financial interests. He has since split time between Thailand and Las Vegas.

“I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to make enough money not to work,” he said. “It just took me to 48 to do it.”

 

[Tanko]

Wow. What a list. I mean damn I recognize every name.
I think only the first 5 are still alive (Scottie, Roxy, Jimmy, Billy W, Billy B).

 

[jjgold]

lol this thing a joke

 

[Wagerallsports]

I think it might be something cool to check out when visiting the circa

 

[Tanko]

lol this thing a joke

JJ are you upset they left you off the inaugural list?

 

[jjgold]

No the gambling Hall of Fame could be 1000 guys kind of silly

FanDuel and DraftKings creators 1st ballot already

bookmaker owner and many others that were tremendous creators that the entire world follows their lines not these clowns

 

[hurryupandbuy]

this is a joke, should put the greatest losers in the history of gambling in there

 

[jjgold]

How About Jim Feist??

Pioneer Gambling data online, live line service electronically , tv tickers , sports picks

Don Best creator???

Lol list a joke

 

[BMR Genie]

This is only for all US base personalities? no outside the US candidates?

 

[hurryupandbuy]

How About Jim Feist??

Pioneer Gambling data online, live line service electronically , tv tickers , sports picks

Don Best creator???

Lol list a joke

loser list

 

[KVB]

No the gambling Hall of Fame could be 1000 guys kind of silly

FanDuel and DraftKings creators 1st ballot already

bookmaker owner and many others that were tremendous creators that the entire world follows their lines not these clowns

How About Jim Feist??

Pioneer Gambling data online, live line service electronically , tv tickers , sports picks

Don Best creator???

Lol list a joke

Gold, you simply don't go back far enough to understand the contributions thse guys made to the world of sportsbetting.

FD and DK? Are you fukking kidding me? They aren't bookmakers, they are marketing firms acquiring customers.

Bookmaker? LMAO.

Unreal, Gold, it's like you have no concept of the giants of whose shoulders we all stand upon.

 

[Brock Landers]

Jimmy the Greek

 

[KVB]

Something looked odd about this thread.

I figured it out, lol.

I wasn't trying to edit but it looks like the "edit" button is missing at the bottom of my post. It's just a report button.

@BMR Genie are you or other posters seeing the same?

 

[Tanko]

Something looked odd about this thread.

I figured it out, lol.

I wasn't trying to edit but it looks like the "edit" button is missing at the bottom of my post. It's just a report button.

@BMR Genie are you or other posters seeing the same?

Whomever creates the thead can disable edits if they want.
LT does it for the contest threads.

 

[Wagerallsports]

Something looked odd about this thread.

I figured it out, lol.

I wasn't trying to edit but it looks like the "edit" button is missing at the bottom of my post. It's just a report button.

@BMR Genie are you or other posters seeing the same?

I believe you can only edit for a few minutes before it disappears

 

[DiggityDaggityDo]

I believe you can only edit for a few minutes before it disappears

I just tested this. I edited a post I made 3 hours ago and I was able to do it.

 

[BobbyFK]

I find it very odd that Jimmy Vaccaro and Billy Walters are just now being inducted. Sounds like names that should have been in there years ago

 

[DiggityDaggityDo]

The CEO of Pinnacle is on the board.

Would you bang?

 

[BobbyFK]

I think it might be something cool to check out when visiting the circa

Once it's up I will make a video next time I'm over there