SPORTSBOOK DIRECTOR FOR TOP VEGAS PROPERTY QUITS

RETIRING MGM MIRAGE RACE AND SPORTSBOOK DIRECTOR ROBERT WALKER

If you want a better understanding of sports gambling check out today’s article by Matt Youmans in the Las Vegas Jeview Journal. The piece recaps the career of retiring MGM Mirage sportsbook director Robert Walker.

The article does a brilliant job of laying out the transformation of Las Vegas from the “wild west” of sports gambling to the corporate run $2.59 billion industry that sports betting is today.

Walker, whose last day on the job was yesterday, actually says he’s PROUD of his reputation as a “bean counter,”

“My reputation is a bean counter, which I think is a good thing. But you get labeled afraid to take a bet, and it’s not my money. Anybody can take a bet when it’s not their money.”

Many people don’t realize the top bet you can make legally in Las Vegas sportsbooks is now measured in the thousands of dollars not millions. Youmans also does a good job of explaining the daily give and take between large corporate casinos and the professional “wiseguy” bettors in Las Vegas.

Tags: gambling, Las Vegas, MGM, Robert Walker