"Tony" From 5dimes Mentioned/High School Football

[Leo Bello]

I see 5 Dimes getting a lot of press regarding payouts, but that article about Pennsylvania officials angry about people betting on high school football around this area that I posted yesterday interviewed Tony Williams from 5 DIMES. I think I posted it at Sportsbooks and the Industry. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review, one of the major newspapers in Western Pennsylvania, interviews Tony about it, and he gives a rather civil response to them. I think you guys might find it interesting. I, for one, was not aware that 5 Dimes took high school football, but apparently they do. I don't know whether it was worth the negative publicity, however, for 5 Dimes, but who knows?

I try to stay out of personal arguments or criticisms of books, but that man who was charged $900 for a $50,000 payout should be angry as hell! And the man who replied that why should he be angry since he won 50 grand should have his head examined. Why is it that people with money have more value for it than brokesters who don't have two nickels to rub together. The stupidity of that man's argument leaves me incensed. Maybe he should bend over so they can stick it in his arse deeper. Then again, as long as it did not penetrate too much, he might even thank him for it. (Sorry for the vulgar example). That man's stupidity just drove me nuts!

[DrStale]

Won playing high school playoffs last year at 5dimes...easier to find an edge

[neverstoppers23]

Um.... uh.... yeah. I don't know what to say your post really confused me.

[Leo Bello]

Um.... uh.... yeah. I don't know what to say your post really confused me.

My fault. I was actually replying to two different posts. The one was about the betting on high school football at 5 dimes, which I was not aware of. The other one was about the guy who won $50,000 from bookmaker and was charged $900 for the transfer, and then this other guy comes on and says why complain about $900, you just won $50,000. That drove me over the edge—stupidist comment I ever read.

[Leo Bello]

Won playing high school playoffs last year at 5dimes...easier to find an edge

Well, you learn something new every day. I never knew they had lines for high school football. Of course, there is a big demand, I'm sure.

[jjgold]

I do not think you can bet much on HS football

[Sdotbold]

whats limits 100 max?

[djefferis]

HS likely limited to 500 for most.

Need to get a good local, made a mint booking this shit when I was in HS, had all the inside info too.

I still like the dumbasses betting 5th grade flag foots in miami. That is downright desperate for action.

[TobiasFunke]

Limits are only $50 I believe

[katstale]

Unless Tony dropped some f bombs on the reporter, its not really that interesting.

[jjaycuny]

Too easy to put the squeeze on a high school kid To shave points. I'd stay away.

[Rio DiNero]

Used to have $100 limits, haven't played there in some time. What I found even more shocking is Tony takes action on WWE!

[unusialsusp5]

tony is a god, but does he really need hs football action if he is going to get flak for it. plenty of other stuff to play on their site. c'mon tony, just get your payment processors greased and oiled and everyone will be more than happy to play there.

[Br0nxer]

Are the checks still bouncing?

[tblues2005]

I thought this applied to only playoff High School games. Wow they sure expanded it didn't they?

[thetrinity]

leo could you post a link to this story i dont see it on the posts website?

[thetrinity]

never mind, its on the tribs site, not the post. the trib is a clown paper anyways, no one pays attention to it, the post rules the city.

[skrtelfan]

I guess they weren't allowed to print the part where Tony told the paper to **** themselves because he is God.

[edawg]

Always been a bit put off with betting on high school. Should let the kids play for fun and not worrying about us degens betting on them!

[BET THE HOOK]

I am surprised Tony didnt tell the reporter where to stick it.

[bobbywaves]

I can't find high school football on 5 Dimes football menu, where is it listed?

[stevenash]

I spoke with Tony last year about this.

He will hang a line on select HS games that are on ESPNU, or national cable.
He will hang a line on select championship games as well.

Yes, there are limits too, 100 I think, I do not remember the amount he told me.

[sweepem]

here's the link:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/highschool/s_764594.html

[Bill Dozer]

He makes a good point about being able to bet on u16 soccer games in the UK.

North Allegheny High pounded the ball across the goal line for two late scores and stretched its dominance over Shaler to 25 wins in the past 26 meetings. People in some circles, though, considered the 17-point victory a loss.

A group of gambling websites in Costa Rica offers betting odds on high school football games, a practice that worries athletic officials in Pennsylvania, where it's illegal to place any sports bet. The online bookmakers tagged North Allegheny as a 25-point favorite in the Oct. 21 matchup against Shaler, a line that moved to 28 points by kickoff. North Allegheny won, 34-17.

"I'll tell you one good thing. We covered the spread," joked Paul Holzshu, Shaler's athletic director.

That did not salve the sting of another loss in the one-sided rivalry or Holzshu's disgust for sites such as 5Dimes.com and bookies who offer betting opportunities on games teenagers play.

"It sounds to me like we are at the mercy of people who don't give a damn about the educational quality of what we're doing," Holzshu said. "They're just trying to make a buck off kids who are innocent. People are exploiting kids by betting on games."

Tony Williams, who founded 5Dimes in 1997, said he offers the lines because customers demand them.

"The customers who bet the games don't have a problem with morality. If the customers are happy, I am happy," Williams said. "Walk to any street corner in the United Kingdom. You can bet on under 16-year-old soccer events, boys or girls. Any match, just about any amount.

"The youth World Cup events are shown globally on television. What is the difference (between) betting on 15- and 16-year-old girls playing soccer or 17- and 18-year-old boys playing American football?"

5Dimes and its sister sites choose games that are televised, such as the North Allegheny-Shaler game, which aired on Root Sports. Customers request televised games, Williams said.

"If it wasn't on TV, it wouldn't be requested," he said. "If it wasn't requested, it would not be made available."

On Labor Day weekend, 5Dimes listed Central Catholic as 3 1/2-point underdogs to Archbishop Wood of suburban Philadelphia in a nationally televised game on ESPN2. Central Catholic won, 20-17.

This week, Sportsbet.com and IslandCasino.com, affiliate sites of 5Dimes, favored Upper St. Clair by 21 1/2 points over rival Mt. Lebanon. On Friday night, Root Sports broadcast the game, which Upper St. Clair won, 42-6.

"It's a little bit ridiculous," said Upper St. Clair senior quarterback/linebacker Dakota Conwell, who has committed to play at the University of Pittsburgh next year, "but if someone takes time out of their day to bet on us, I'm not going to blame them.

"To us, it's not going to make a difference. We're just here to play."

Bookmakers create lines using power charts and scoring history, Williams said. They cap betting limits at $250 per game.

5Dimes has accepted high school bets since at least 2007. Williams said other sites offered betting on youth events before he began doing so.

He won't reveal how many bets people place each week or how much money changes hands.

Yet, he acknowledged, people place bets on professional golf matches to create "five times the action on a meaningless LPGA event than on a high school game."

Any amount of betting on high school games is too much for Bob Bozzuto, North Allegheny's athletic director.

"One dollar, one cent on a high school sport is wrong," he said. "High school sports are something that should be pure."

Tim O'Malley, executive director of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League, agrees.

"You've got to be kidding me that people would bet high school games," he said. "It's borderline ridiculous."

Officials with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association investigated whether to take legal action against online bookmakers this season, according to Executive Director Bradley Cashman, but PIAA lawyers determined that they could not do anything.

"We cannot touch these offshore casinos," Cashman said. "I wish we could stop it, but we can't."

Although such wagers violate the federal Wire Wager Act, which makes it illegal to gamble over the Internet, authorities do little to stop it, said I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School in Southern California who operates the "Gambling and the Law" blog.

The FBI this year cracked down on three of the largest online poker sites: FullTilt, PokerStars and AbsolutePoker. Federal prosecutors in New York filed criminal charges against the operators and are seeking to recover $3 billion they consider ill-gotten gains.

In 2009, a federal judge in St. Louis sentenced the operator of BetOnSports.com to prison for his guilty plea to racketeering charges and ordered him to forfeit nearly $44 million. BetOnSports.com once was one of the world's largest gambling sites and operated out of Costa Rica.

"Betting on high school games probably is not legal anywhere," Rose said. "I think that is extremely dangerous for a legitimate industry. You don't want high school kids to get involved in trying to beat the spread instead of winning the game."

No legalized gambling in the United States allows bets on high school games.

Delaware allows only multigame bets on professional sports. The Nevada Gaming Commission allows single-game bets on pro and college sports but prohibits bets on high school games or noncollegiate athletic events.

Even if laws permitted such betting, some people doubt that legal bookmakers, such as those in Las Vegas, would be interested because of the difficulty in accurately projecting a line on high school games and the limited action it likely would draw.

"Booking high school opens a can of worms I don't think anyone in this town is interested in," said Todd Fuhrman, a senior sportsbook analyst for Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas. "You try to adhere to as much integrity as you can. And when it comes to high school sports, it's not something I see us getting involved with."

Yet offering action on high school games pays off for offshore casinos as a form of advertising, said Marco D'Angelo, a Leechburg native who is general manager of picks for Pregame.com, a Las Vegas sports betting information site that sells picks but does not accept or place bets.

"The reason they do this is they get more bang for the buck through word of mouth," said D'Angelo, who noted that such sites often offer odds on courtesy bets for everything from the Little League World Series to the popular singing competition "American Idol."

"It's worth it to them, even if they get beat," he said. "Let's face it, they don't know squat about high school football."

[Leo Bello]

I do not think you can bet much on HS football

No, you're correct, JJ. You can't bet much. The article said $250. I was impressed, however, with the accuracy of the lines. I mean taking high school football is nothing. What piqued my interest was that someone with some expertise and intelligence took time to study and create a line—now that does say something. The lines I read in the article were not far off. Another thing of interest is that on one of our high-definition TV channels they televised the actual games. Put it all together and I must say I was impressed. I know it would be an incredibly lucrative market since people ask about it every week. The key, however, lies in the creation of an accurate, unbiased, and honest line.

[byronbb]

I always thought I was bad PR to hang lines on HS football, and don't get me started on Little League World Series.

[cockblocker]

It says 250 a game in the article.

[byronbb]

I've heard if you put them into teasers the limits are higher.................................. .................

[suman]

I really wish 5dimes brought back the high school football lines. I was tailing this one guy on covers and he was killing the high school football. LOL Think about it in europe they bet on 16 year soccer matches.

[warriorfan707]

50$ max

[suman]

I wish SBR would ask Tony from 5dimes about the subject and ask him to bring them back.

[stevenash]

I still don't see what the big deal is.
I grew up in NJ, every Friday night and Saturday afternoons in the autumn there was always plenty of action being taken in the local gin mills on the big HS games, especially in Bergen County.
Why not have a book broker these games, there is not much of a difference between a 18 year old HS senior, or a 19 year old college freshman or junior.

[statnerds]

never mind, its on the tribs site, not the post. the trib is a clown paper anyways, no one pays attention to it, the post rules the city.

<table class="wikitable sortable jquery-tablesorter"><tbody><tr><td>33</td> <td>Pittsburgh Tribune-Review</td> <td>Greensburg</td> <td>Pennsylvania</td> <td>190,625</td> <td>205,048</td> <td>Tribune-Review Publishing Co.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>34</td> <td>Orlando Sentinel</td> <td>Orlando</td> <td>Florida</td> <td>187,841</td> <td>287,845</td> <td>Tribune Company</td> </tr> <tr> <td>35</td> <td>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</td> <td>Pittsburgh</td> <td>Pennsylvania</td> <td>187,237</td> <td>307,932</td> <td>Block Communications</td></tr></tbody></table>

Good call. The lib rag that is the post has been steadily declining in circulation and laying people off. and now they are second fiddle to a clown paper, what does that make the post?

SOURCE: Audit Bureau of Circulations.