Interesting NBC news story back from 1992

[Brock Landers]

i had NO IDEA this was going on prior to the internet!

Only way i could verify the dates was to see who played who and when..

They had KC At Buffalo as a game that just happened in the playoffs, that was Jan 5th 1992 and the next weeks game was Denver at Buffalo on Jan 12th 1992

Was ANYONE playing offshore in those days?? i know i didn't even know about offshore till 1995 and ESB

[broadway6]

Brock, give us a rubber band play.

[Brock Landers]

here is more info..more of like the history of offshore betting

http://www.onlinebetting.com/ron-sacco/

[greenhippo]

Brock, give us a twistie tie play

[William Walters]

i had NO IDEA this was going on prior to the internet!

Only way i could verify the dates was to see who played who and when..

They had KC At Buffalo as a game that just happened in the playoffs, that was Jan 5th 1992 and the next weeks game was Denver at Buffalo on Jan 12th 1992

Was ANYONE playing offshore in those days?? i know i didn't even know about offshore till 1995 and ESB

ESB............those were the days. My friends thought I was a nut sending money offshore and calling in plays to Jamaicans. But, way back.......they were legit. Never had any real issues collecting. I was long gone before they went to shit.

[Brock Landers]

ESB............those were the days. My friends thought I was a nut sending money offshore and calling in plays to Jamaicans. But, way back.......they were legit. Never had any real issues collecting. I was long gone before they went to shit.

Exactly the same for me...played with them with basically zero issues from 1995 till 1999

[Brock Landers]

Bump

[PD77]

I used Bowmans when they were phone only in the mid 90's . I enjoyed chatting with them before they started using the Internet.

[neverstoppers23]

i thought intertops was the first offical book offshore?

[PD77]

i thought intertops was the first offical book offshore?

I think Intertops takes credit for being the first "internet" based sportsbook. These were phone based. I found this "In 1985 American Football Pools was founded by Gary Bowman in Manchester, England. In England sports betting has been legal and regulated since the 1960's. American Football Pools, equipped with a British Government license to accept bets from anywhere in the world, was the world's first offshore book."

I have no idea if it is true but I know Bowmans was my first offshore book.

[pinnacle420]

wow good post brock!!! one where people dont wanna kill you for lol

[Coolcanuck79]

Yep, me too! Good old Bowmans!

I used Bowmans when they were phone only in the mid 90's . I enjoyed chatting with them before they started using the Internet.

[goombah]

Bowmans was my first book as well. Found them when I was in grade 12 working at a magazine and smoke shop. Picked up a magazine about sports betting and next thing you know I have an account there betting their minimum $50 per game when I am making $6.50/hr.

[pavyracer]

European books like Victor Chandler and Coral were around from the 80's. What's offshore?

[MagicDiceFlow]

My first book was in 1994 at this place called Casino of the Americas. They were in the caribbean and was telephone only as well.......Antigua books like WWTS was my main book during 1995-1999.

[Duff85]

Great post Brock. Can't believe this one hasn't got more love. My Dad and Uncle used to have phone betting accounts with the TAB here in Australia and they would bet horses of an afternoon when I was a kid.

[AribaAriba]

we got bunch of old school veterans here props to ya'll

[Brock Landers]

I bet with ESB exclusively over the phone from 1995-1999 or so

[TheMoneyShot]

Great read and a very interesting video!

[PAULYPOKER]

Brock Brokaw

[Jayvegas420]

Gary Bowman was the 1st book I bet with back in 89.
Now that it's Bet365 many things have changed.
I was able on one occasion to talk with Gary when I reported an inaccurate payout to my account.
Gary thanked me personally and I was credited $100 to my account.
I generally dealt with a risk management supervisor named Scott, who told me that he started working for Gary after running the book at Stardust Casino.
He was a firm man who always calmed me down after a bad beat & convinced me to deposit again!
LOL
The minimum phone bet was $20.
I bet parlays then just like I do now and lost back then just like I do now.
It was a different time but the competition was not as fierce, and the customer service was unparralelled.


I miss it

[McBa1n]

If you believe MOST sports are square, then you're stupid. The NBA is the most fixed sport of them all - but the NFL being clean? Look up Mike Carey. There's a reason why proper punters play the points. A few G's to a person changes their effort FAST... Which is why it's so hard to cap. Sure, punters got killed playing the points this year in the NFL, but I'd be SHOCKED if it happened again next year. For f's sake - the Pats lost at HOME vs the Cardinals this year. To boot - they had a shot to win it. Not saying the game was fixed - just saying the NFL is crazy like that. But it's easy to pick out the games where refs are easily in favor of a team.

I about figure the NCAA college tournies are good places to get your money in - including conference tournies. The Big East tourney is a gold mine, usually.

But to deny fixing in games is really dumb. Just gotta 'guess' right.

[DwightShrute]

[Jayvegas420]

punters are also taking a bath in the N.B.A. this year.

[frankthetank]

The United States: Brainwashing people that they are free since 1776. The rest of the world is chill with gambling and nudity. In the U.S. they freak out about both and everyone has a machine gun.

[statnerds]

Interfernce

One of the best books ever written.