As New Jersey continues its case for sports betting—now appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court—one of the issues often brought up is whether legal sports betting will impact illegal street betting through bookies.
And as John Brennan, gambling blogger for Northjersey.com points out, a 14-month old sports magazine show airing on Showtime may have an answer—no, it won’t.
The show produced for Showtime by “60 Minutes” interviewed two men identified as former street bookies—Angelo Lutz and John Alite.
Both men said street bookies aren’t looking for the same type of patron as a casino.
“They won’t take it over. They won’t even put a dent in it,” Alite says of New Jersey’s plan to allow sports betting in Atlantic City casinos. “They’re just getting a piece of the pie.”
Lutz was even more to the point, saying almost anyone could be a sports bettor.
“Doctors, lawyers, union workers, bartenders—everybody bets,” he says.
But Lutz says bookies want a particular kind of gambler.
“There are gamblers and there are bettors. A bettor has no addiction. He’s going to pick one game a week. A gambler is going to just keep gambling,” says Lutz. “You want the degenerate gamblers to bet with you.
“You’re not looking for John and Nancy Adams to walk in and order champagne cocktails and pomegranate martinis.” He said. “That ain’t where you draw your money from. You want steady gamblers and the steady gambler is going to bet with a bookie because he bets with no money in his pocket.”
