Billy Walters Loses Millions On Chargers Game
written January 19, 2010 by Kenneth Weitzner
Greed Kills.
We all know that as sports bettors. Even the best can sometimes "get a
bugaboo" up their derriere and wager much more than normal on a
particular sporting event. Such was the case this past Sunday.
Wise guys like Billy Walters are the most feared gamblers in our
industry. No one commands as much respect as this icon. He came to Las
Vegas penniless, but has risen to the top of the sports betting chain.
Very few bookmakers will take bets directly from this man. I have seen
BW put many operators out of business firsthand when I worked for him.
Sunday was no ordinary day for this exceptionally gifted man. I believe
he had accomplished what he had set up to do all week long. With a
plethora of people assisting him, Billy Walters worked hard to make
sure the Chargers were only a 7 point favorite over the Jets on
Saturday. The line had opened 9 in some spots.
Then, his beards were ordered to "pound" the Chargers. It works
something like this in order to get down the most money possible.
First, you bet them on parlays. Normally, bookmakers will not move a
line on a parlay because the result is dependent on two or more
different outcomes. So which of the them would you move? The answer for
most is none of them.
Personally, I used to be involved betting round robin parlays for Mr.
Walters. I would actually parlay 3 games in order to get down more
money for him. I would parlay team "A" with Team "B", then team "B"
with team "C," and finally team "A" with team "C." None of the lines
would ever move.
After parlaying the Chargers, the next sequence that is used to get
maximum volume before the line moves is to bet "teasers." There are
numerous types offered, but the most common one used by BW and other
wise guys is the two team 6 pointer. For those who may not be familiar
with this, bookmakers allow you to add or subtract 6 points on two
different games. You lay the customary 11-10 juice, but you must win
both bets in order to collect. Sometimes a tie on one game along with a
win will count as a push.
In this case, Billy had his army of beards wager 6 point teasers with
the Chargers being brought down to 1 with a variety of other NFL
Playoff games. For example, I believe he took the Saints down to 1
(they were 7 point favorites over the Cardinals), along with the
Chargers minus 1.
Everything looked fine for BW after the Saints throttled Arizona on
Saturday. His teasers were still alive and the line on the San Diego
game was still at 7, even though he probably already had millions of
dollars placed on them.
The next sequence of events used by wise guys to get more volume down
without altering the pointspread is to bet your team on the money line.
Billy Walters did exactly that. He ordered an all out blitz (pun
intended) on the Chargers and laid as much as 4:1 in some places before
the assault was haulted.
Lastly, unless you live in a vacuum, you would have observed that the
line on the San Diego Chargers was at 7 on Saturday and even early
Sunday before it closed at 9 just before kick off late Sunday
afternoon.
In order to move an NFL playoff game a full two points off of 7 on the
day of the game takes an extraordinary amount of money. Since BW knew
the public would also be betting on the Chargers, I believe he ordered
his beards to wager "all they could" early Sunday morning. I suspect he
laid 7 and he also laid 7 minus 20 before the bookmakers had finished
drinking their first cup of coffee.
The public followed soon after and laid the worst of it as is often the case (8 and even 9).
When the Jets were only down by 7 at halftime, I wonder if Billy knew
he was on the wrong side. As a casual observer, I felt the Jets were
fortunate to be down by only a touchdown. And we all know what often
happens when a big favorite allows an underdog to hang around long
enough.
The Jets were the "right" side in the second half, and I can only
imagine what Billy Walters felt like knowing he was about to lose one
of his biggest wagers ever.
Was BW showing discipline or was he being greedy with his methodology of getting down so much volume on an NFL playoff game?
I believe only Mr. Walters knows that answer.