Monthly Archives: May 2019

EPL Wk 36 review: City back to the top; Arsenal & Utd lose ground

Week 36 of the English Champions League ends with Manchester City sitting on the top of the league after their 12th consecutive win, and Arsenal and Manchester United lose ground in the Champions League race.

Two more games and fans of Manchester City and Liverpool can remove their oxygen masks because by that time the most glorious of English Premier League seasons would have ended, and if City wins those two games, they will be champions.

It’s never easy to win at Turfmoor – the bus is permanently parked – but when you’ve won your previous 11 EPL games, scoring 26-goals and conceding 3, Burnley seems like a flea bite.

It was a scrappy affair.

Home teams favored on Tuesday NHL playoff odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The end of April on Tuesday brings two Game 3s in the NHL playoffs. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the winner of Game 3 of a postseason series that was tied 1-1 wins the series more often than not. In fact, 67.4 percent of the time in Stanley Cup playoff history. However, teams that have won a Game 3 in this postseason to take a 2-1 lead are just 1-3 in that series.

Both series Tuesday shift venues. The first game is from the Eastern Conference as the Boston Bruins visit the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus is a -120 favorite for Tuesday, but Boston remains the -125 favorite to win the series.

Arguably the best acquisition by any team ahead of this season’s trade deadline was the Blue Jackets landing Ottawa forward Matt Duchene. In his team’s 3-2 win to even the series Saturday, Duchene scored the winner at 3:42 of double overtime on the power play. It was his fourth goal of these playoffs and first career overtime playoff goal. He’s tied for second on the Blue Jackets with eight total playoff points.

Host Nuggets favored in Game 2 vs. Trail Blazers

The conference semifinal rounds of the NBA playoffs are televised by TNT and ABC/ESPN. Those networks paid billions of dollars each for the rights to the NBA. Thus, when the networks ask for certain things in terms of setting up the playoff schedule, the league basically does whatever they want.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

We mention this because there’s just one conference semifinal matchup on Wednesday night simply for TV reasons and it’s from the Western Conference: third-seeded Portland Trail Blazers at No. 2 Denver Nuggets. The hosts are 3.5-point favorites with a total of 218. Up 1-0, Denver is also a -240 series favorite with the Trail Blazers at +200.

One half of the storyline entering this series was that Portland clearly had the better backcourt with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum – Lillard is going to be All-NBA again this season and was magnificent in the first-round domination of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He vastly outplayed point guard counterpart and former league MVP Russell Westbrook.

Champions League Review: Spurs fail to turn up as Ajax win comfortably

Ajax beat Tottenham Hotspur with ease at White Hart Lane in the first of two UEFA Champions League Semi-Final round-ups, with Barcelona v Liverpool to come.

The hitchhiking is over.

Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax are in the Semi-Finals of the UEFA Champions League on merit.

Manchester City, Real Madrid and Juventus tried and failed.

Sixers, Raptors tight on NBA odds for Thursday

The second day of May on Thursday brings just one NBA playoff game with it, and it’s from the Eastern Conference: Second-seeded Toronto Raptors at No. 3 Philadelphia 76ers. The game opened as a pick’em with a total of 214 but now has Toronto at -1.5. With the series knotted at 1-1, the Raptors are -200 and the 76ers +170. When a best-of-seven series is tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner takes the series the vast majority of the time. That’s true in any sport.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

If you don’t have a dog in this fight, perhaps root for the Raptors? Those folks in the city of Toronto could use some good sporting news in the major American sports leagues. The longest drought in the NHL of reaching the Stanley Cup final belongs to the Maple Leafs, and Toronto is probably the most fanatic hockey market in the world. The Leafs were knocked out of the first round this year by the Boston Bruins.

MLB’s Blue Jays reached the ALCS in 2015 and 2016 but lost in both. The Blue Jays haven’t been to the World Series since winning a second straight in 1993. Of course, there’s no NFL team in Canada, but the CFL’s Argonauts are coming off a horrible 4-14 season in 2018.

Game of Thrones: New odds after the Battle of Winterfell

Did you see last week’s Game of Thrones? I did. Well I mean, I sort of did. It was a bit dark. And I know it wasn’t my TV’s fault, because I was watching on a laptop!

As usual, if you haven’t seen the episode yet, go turn up your brightness settings, because we’re about to get into spoilers.

Now that the first major threat of the series has been taken care of, and we lost my favorite book character (goodbye Dolorous Edd), the odds for the show have been refocused on the final battle for the throne, and we’ll take a look on what’s on offer at SportsBetting.ag.

First up, we have odds on who will be the first Lannister to die. I’ve always insisted that I think Cersei (1/2) will live to win the game, and she’s middle of the pack here. The favorite to go early is Jamie Lannister (1/2), who survived the Battle of Winterfell against all odds. Tyrion is expected to stick around longer than either (15/4). I like the favorite to go first here.

Student Betting A Topic At NCLGS July 12-14

Jack Hamilton-Unsplash

The extent and magnitude of gambling on college campuses will be the focus of the Committee on Responsible Gaming when the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) holds its Summer Meeting, July 12-14 at the Radisson Blu Downtown. This examination comes as studies show that 18 percent of college students gamble weekly or more frequently.

“With abundant opportunities to gamble both legally and illegally, we need to examine both the extent of this activity on college campuses and whether this is just good fun or a real problem. Importantly, we need to know how the addition of legal sports betting can impact gambling behavior on campus,” said Committee Chair Keith Pickard, a Senator from Nevada and Vice President of NCLGS. “Legislators owe it to the young adults in their states to understand the implications of this activity.”

The Committee will hear from the following experts:

  • Christine Reilly, Senior Research Director, National Center for Responsible Gaming
  • Susan Sheridan Tucker, Executive Director, Northstar Problem Gambling Alliance
  • Ryan Martin, Associate Professor, Department of Health Education and Promotion, East Carolina University 

The NCLGS Summer Meeting agenda includes:

  • Six legislative committee sessions: Casinos, Emerging Forms of Gaming, Indian Gaming, Lotteries, Responsible Gaming, and State-Federal Relations
  • Keynote Luncheon Address: “The Next Five Years of Gaming,” by Timothy Wilmott, CEO, Penn National Gaming, and Chairman, American Gaming Association
  • Two IMGL Masterclass panels conducted by the International Masters of Gaming Law focusing on state lottery technology and the multiple crossover regulatory and legal issues
  • Special general session panel examining gaming’s evolution toward entertainment
  • Thursday evening cocktail reception
  • Friday evening welcome reception
  • Saturday afternoon tour of Sportradar offices

To view the agenda, register, and book rooms at the host hotel at special attendee rates, visit http://www.nclgs.org/meetings.html.

For sponsorship information, contact Richard Doss at [email protected]. Legislators and others seeking NCLGS membership information should contact Wayne Marlin at [email protected].

NCLGS is the only organization of state lawmakers that meets on a regular basis to discuss issues relating to gaming. Members of NCLGS serve as chairpersons or members of state legislative committees responsible for the regulation of gaming in their state legislative houses. NCLGS does not promote or oppose gaming but is primarily concerned with the regulation and economic and social impacts of the industry. The NCLGS Foundation is the educational and research arm of NCLGS. The 501(c)(3) non-profit is a source of non-partisan data on issues of gaming legislation and regulation.

Spectrum Gaming Group, which has performed advisory and consulting work for gaming operators, regulators and legislatures in 39 US states and territories and in 47 countries on six continents, serves as the Executive Director of NCLGS.