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Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks re-signed center Dave Bolland to a five-year deal on Tuesday. Bolland, Chicago's 32nd overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, appeared in 81 of the Blackhawks' 82 games last season,

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Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Boozer announced on Tuesday he will exercise his player option and remain with the Utah Jazz for the 2009-10 campaign. Boozer missed a majority of the 2008-09 season after undergoing arthros

<< This Week in Auto Racing July 3 - 5
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR returns to "The World Center of Racing," while the IndyCar Series visits the "Finger Lakes" region in upstate New York this Fourth of July weekend. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400

<< Jack given qualifying offer from Pacers; Daniels not so much
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers extended qualifying offers to guard Jarrett Jack and forward Josh McRoberts on Tuesday, making them both restricted free agents come July 1. After three productive seasons in P

Stars re-sign Lehtinen to one-year deal >>
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars announced Tuesday that they have re-signed right wing Jere Lehtinen to a one-year contract for the 2009-10 season. The deal includes a $1.5 million base salary, and as much as $1 million m

Beltre has surgery >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre underwent surgery Tuesday to remove bone spurs in his left shoulder. Beltre, who was also put on the 15-day disabled list, had the procedure performed by

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Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA announced on Tuesday that Gene Smith, the current associate vice president and athletics director at Ohio State, has been named chair of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee for the 201

Montana State gives basketball coaches three-year extensions >>
Bozeman, MT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montana State University has agreed to three-year contract extensions with head women's basketball coach Tricia Binford and head men's coach Brad Huse. Each coach was set to enter the 2009-10

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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