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<< Federer rolls; Nadal barely reaches Dubai QFs
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three-time champion Roger Federer was a straight-set second-round winner, while reigning titlist Rafael Nadal went the distance to advance on Day 3 at the $1.5 million Dubai Tennis Championshi

<< Sacramento still alive in the West
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Sacramento Kings are having a disappointing season, as they have compiled a weak 24-32 record and sit in last place in the Pacific Division. Even with their record, the Kings are just three games behind th

<< Iverson has not been the answer in Denver
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Even with Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson on their roster, the Denver Nuggets are battling just to qualify for the playoffs in the Western Conference. Denver is a disappointing 27-28 and trail the first pl

<< Henin, Hingis land in Doha quarters
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former world No. 1s Justine Henin and Martina Hingis were among Wednesday's second-round winners at the $1.34 million Qatar Open. The top-seeded Henin, fresh off her title in Dubai, snuck past hard-servin

Lions release Ross Verba >>
Allen Park, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Lions have released guard Ross Verba. Verba played just one season with Detroit. He started seven games and was inactive for eight with hamstring and groin injuries. The Iowa product s

Marlins' Johnson not likely to be ready for start of season >>
Jupiter, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins don't expect starting pitcher Josh Johnson to be ready for the start of the season because of a sore pitching arm. Johnson, a right-hander, missed the final three weeks of last season

Bengals release Simmons >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals have released linebacker Brian Simmons, who had spent each of his nine NFL seasons with the club. Simmons was a first-round pick in 1998 and last season notched 78 tackles wit

Ravens waive Jamal Lewis >>
Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Ravens waived running back Jamal Lewis Wednesday, but it appears the team wants to re-sign its all-time leading rusher. "We are involved in negotiations with Jamal Lewis, and there ha

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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