Betting the Line: Sports Wagering in American Life [Paperback]

Richard O. Davies (Author), Richard G. Abram (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Davies and Abram deliver a comprehensive history of one form of gambling you won't find on a riverboat--sports betting. Even early American settlers bet on games, say the authors, which is why they call their first chapter "A People of Chance." The book covers the gamut, from the infamous Black Sox scandal of 1919 to the birth of the point spread; from Damon Runyon's romanticized version of the thugs and mugs of the '30s and '40s to the birth of sports on television, which brought "betting the line" to the average Joe's doorstep and led to an uprising by high-minded congressmen. When sports betting made its way to Las Vegas, a whole new world emerged, culminating in the state-of-the-art, bet-on-anything sports books found in every Vegas casino today. This thoroughly researched, engagingly written account of the history of sports betting should prove fascinating to anyone who has ever put a fiver down on the home team. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Ohio State Univ Pr (Trd) (December 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814250785
• ISBN-13: 978-0814250785
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,984,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Non Fiction, September 3, 2007

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Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Betting the Line: Sports Wagering in American Life (Paperback)

An overview of American sports betting, done in a bit of an academic style. The author is not particularly familiar with the inner workings of the industry it seems, and is looking at it from mostly a historical and sociological point of view, so only get this is that is the sort of book you are after, it really isn't that good.