See a clip of the documentary here:

In other news:

• Delaware will take sports betting challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court – L.A. Times
• Rhode Island Senate committed considering joining the fight against the Federal ban on sports betting. More details at RecentPoker.com.
• The state of New Jersey has introduced the first intrastate gambling bill in the US, potentially leading the way to the opening of the US egaming market on a state-by-state basis. Read more at EGRMagazine.com.

Sports betting history was made today as sports bettors in Delaware placed the first legal bets under the new state-sponsored sports betting system. The AP covered this remarkable milestone, outlining some of the contentious history surrounding this issue:

DOVER, Del. — Sports betting in Delaware officially got under way Thursday after surviving a contentious legal battle with professional sports leagues and the NCAA.

Bill Mele, a cemetery supervisor from Dover, was so eager to get started he tried to place his wager a minute or two before the official 10 a.m. kickoff. The computer at the new, high-tech sports book at Dover Downs casino wouldn’t accept his initial bet, so he had to wait a couple of minutes and try again.

“I wanted to get my sports bet in, and when I realized they were having a Thursday night game, I got pretty excited,” said Mele, who celebrated his 57th birthday by becoming the first person to place a sports bet at Dover Downs.

Delaware is now the only state east of the Rocky Mountains to offer legal sports wagering.

The casinos at Delaware Park near Wilmington and at Harrington Raceway and Casino in southern Delaware also began taking bets in advance of Thursday night’s NFL regular season opener between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans.

Under a federal appeals court ruling in a lawsuit brought by professional sports leagues and the NCAA, Delaware’s sports betting is restricted to parlay, or multiple wagers on at least three NFL games. A bettor must pick all the games correctly to win.

Delaware officials were hoping to offer bets on single games and sports other than professional football, but the court said that went beyond what was allowed under the state’s exemption to the 1992 federal ban on sports betting. Delaware was exempted from the ban because it had previously conducted an NFL sports lottery in 1976.

This video above is from the DelawareOnline.tv and it gives you a first-hand look at the front lines of this raging battle.

On a related note, the NFL season starts today. If you are an American customer looking for an online sportsbook, we recommend you check out Canbet.com. They offer $400 free for new customers right now, and they have a rock solid reputation in the industry. Full disclosure: the link provided is part of an affilate program, but the recommendation is 100% genuine and unbiased. Thanks for your continued support and good luck to you in the upcoming NFL season!

Michael Franzese talks about his experiences as a mafia boss and his direct knowledge of game fixing in the world of sports. A fascinating talk giving the listener an insider’s view of the seedier side of sports betting. From a conference in the UK sponsored by PlayTheGame.org.

In related news, as expected Delaware Governor Jack Markell has signed legislation legalizing sports betting in that state. Neighboring state New Jersey’s press and lawmakers were quick to react.

Sports betting systems don’t work. That is to say, sports betting systems that are openly for sale on the internet won’t work in the long term. The problem is that if a system is successful, it will attract a lot of users. When too many people start using a system, the sportsbooks adjust their lines to compensate for the predictive effect of the system rendering it useless. For example, if a system recommends betting on the Celtics -9 over the Knicks, the line will quickly move to Celtics -10 as the users of the system start piling on their wagers, rendering the initial pick obsolete. This may be extremely obvious to some people, but based on the number of sports betting systems I see advertised regularly, it seems that the message hasn’t gotten out to everyone quite yet.

This is not to say that sports betting systems can never work. The fun part about sports betting is that, unlike casino gambling, there is no deterministic advantage for the house. Like the stock market, in sports betting smart money takes dumb money. The issue is that if you did have a successful sports betting system, you would really have very little incentive to share it with anyone else. A person could make more money off of the successful sports picks generated by their system than they would selling those picks and, eventually, killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Again, I know this seems painfully obvious to many, but it’s news to some and a message worth repeating.

This idea was nicely summed up on a recent thread over at Black Hat SEO:

Bookies change the odds (or point spread) based on the amount bet. If your system works and you sell it, and people make money on it regularly, they will bet more and more until you start shifting the odds and it will no longer work. If it really works you are much better off if you keep it a secret and use it to bet yourself.

The following video from our youtube friend parlayhelp does a great job of explaining the games played by purveyors of sports betting systems and why the potential buyer should beware:

Parlayhelp – This guy does a good job of updating regularly and giving you the lowdown on how various handicappers did with their picks from the previous day. Seems useful if you use any of these handicapping services. Also he lets you know about free picks, deals, etc..

SonnyVt – This video channel is not updated regularly any more, but seems to have a decent archive. This guy has his own style and is extremely funny. He also has a number of sports betting related clips on his site (two for the money, rounders, etc..).

SuperDannyD – Super Danny D doesn’t seem to be selling anything which is nice. He has a bit of a dry delivery, but seems to be somewhat knowledgeable and unbiased with his picks.

cfbplacedotcom – Updated regularly with a long history. This guy runs a website and spends a good portion of his videos promoting it. It seems that they will let anyone do a video of their picks and post it on their channel, though I didn’t see any at first glance. Eventually, he does give you some picks and seems to have done his research.

These are just a few of the many video blogs out there, I encourage you to go out and find some more good ones and post the links in the comment section here. Also, if you have a sports betting blog (video or otherwise) you’d like to see reviewed on this site, please send me an email at bob {@} ibet.pro. Thanks!

Nice work guys!