Opinion Corner: Leaving after surviving Vegas

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LAS VEGAS — They don’t call this place the world capital of sports betting for no reason. Every casino/hotel here has a dedicated sports book where anyone can wager on just about anything.

But the sports book at the MGM Grand is the Mount Olympus of them all, at least from what I’ve seen.

One large corner of the casino is covered with about 40 high definition TVs where it seems like every athletic competition in the world is being shown. Scores and odds flash on screens the size of jumbotrons for the whole world to see.

Here, gamblers with cigars, sit and watch the sport of kings — or horse racing — and express either joyous rapture or agonizing defeat based on the outcome of something they have no control over.

But isn’t that the whole purpose behind gambling, trying to strike it rich with little or no control over what the cards hold?

Instead of joining them with a mojito and a macanudo Portofino, I took a safe man’s wager and a small bet.

On Monday, LSU and Alabama battled it out, in what ended up being a boring, low-scoring game of powerhouse defenses and ineffective offenses.

I put $20 on the over/under, taking both teams to score a combined total of fewer than 41 points, I should have put $1,000 on a lock like that.

However, I walked away smiling, knowing I placed a safe bet and stood to win $18.20, which is about the cost of two drinks at New York, New York.

Regardless of where your moral compass points, this is a feeling every sports fan should experience at least once.

Just remember to stay away from the ponies and apparently the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Vegas thrives by gobbling up the hard earned dollars of schmucks like me, too bad they lost this one.

Rodgers is a news writer at the Jamestown Sun

Tags: sports, gambling, opinion