Both SI and ESPN: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/tom_verducci/07/13/inside.baseball/1.html "Will Roger Clemens win his eighth Cy -- with an ERA below 2.00? Will rookie GM Tim Pupura pick up a bat before the trade deadline? Are the Astros, after that awful start, going to be the 2003 Marlins of 2005 and ride power pitching to the World Series?" http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=neel/050713 "7. Houston Astros (44-43) What are the odds on the Astros to win it all right now? 100-1 maybe? Make the bet. Take 10 dollars out of your pocket right now and walk over to the window. Don't hurry. Don't smile. Don't whistle. Don't do anything that might call attention to you. Just make the bet."
That's a perfect description of my demeanor when I placed a bet on the Rockets to win it all at 30-1 last year ... that didn't work out so great! Anyway, while I'm enjoying the love, I kind of liked doing it below the radar for a few weeks. I don't want to mess this thing up! July will tell us where we really stand. We can really make some noise by beating some of these NL East guys face to face ...
I would try tradesports.com if you are interested in this. It has the advantage of basically trading "shares" in "Astros win World Series". So you can buy or sell some of your bet throughout the season as the price goes up and down. The legality of betting over the internet is questionable - there's no real clear law one way or the other - but the beauty of this is that's not sportsbetting - it's more of a stock exchange. I don't know if that's a significant difference, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Anyway, it also gives you better net prices, generally. The spread that a sportsbook charges you is more than the transaction fees this place charges.
Not true....these sites are based in costa rica and the like....you give a credit card and the $ goes into your account. If/when u want your winnings/left over money, they send a check. 100% legit.
There are federal wire-betting laws in the US - it's the reason you can't place a bet in Vegas over the telephone, I think. Whether use of the internet constitutes wire betting is still undetermined. No one has even been prosecuted, so the actual legality of it has not really been tested. I found a better site in the past that I can't find now, but here's some info: http://sportsgambling.about.com/od/legalfacts/a/Betting_Laws.htm (It's the Wire Wager Act, apparently.)
By the way, the sites themselves are legal, as they are foreign. They all have disclaimers that say "you may only use this site if legal in your country", etc that protects them - the question is just if its legal for Americans to use such sites. Right now, no one cares, but if you were to ask the Justice Dept, they would tell you that its illegal. It's just not known whether that would hold up in reality.
well there are a ton of them...all operating 100% legally...and millions of Americans are using them.....im tellin ya, there isnt anything illegal about them
Try doing a google search "is online gambling legal" or "is online sportbetting legal" - you won't find anywhere that flat out says it is legal. They will explain why they think it is, or why it's logically OK, but no one will flat out say it is legal, because its a gray area that is simply not prosecuted. And as mentioned in the previous post, the sites themselves are completely legal because they are not in the US and not bound by US laws. The question is whether using them is legal. Here's the text of the user agreement from one big sportsbook, under the title of "Legality": <I> Internet Opportunity Entertainment Ltd. games are played over the Internet which reaches virtually every country in the world. Some of these jurisdictions have not addressed the legality of Internet gaming, while some have specifically made Internet gaming illegal. In practical terms, it is impossible for Internet Opportunity Entertainment Ltd. to determine the state of the law in every country, state, and province around the world on an ongoing basis. Therefore, by clicking the "I agree" button, you are acknowledging that you have determined what the laws are in your jurisdiction, and that it is legal for you to place a bet via the Internet, and for Internet Opportunity Entertainment Ltd. to receive your bet via the Internet.</I> All such sites have something like that in there, so they can say that users were warned. Like I said, it's not likely anyone will get in trouble for using such sites, but its an important thing for people to know that its not clear either way based on current US law.
From CNNSI.com click here "They're very dangerous, no one should be surprised by their run right now," an NL general manager said of the Astros. "Who doesn't like a team with Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettitte [starting] and Brad Lidge closing games?" Houston owner Drayton McLane has a track record of opening up his checkbook down the stretch if he thinks his team is a player away from the playoffs. (See Randy Johnson in 1998 and Carlos Beltran in 2004.) The Astros have a pitching staff that could dominate a postseason, but they don't have the pop to advance to October. That's why McLane will give first-year Houston GM Tim Purpura the green light to strike a big deal. The A's have the pitching to make a run at the wild card. Billy Beane's trades have paid off. Forget the future: whom would you rather have right now: Dan Haren or Mark Mulder? Prediction: The Astros advance to October and meet the Cardinals again in the NLCS. The A's overtake the Rangers in the AL West but fall short of the wild card.
I'm glad to see they're getting some national respect, not that it was deserved just 30 days ago. However, I'd almost prefer they keep writing the Astros off as dead. It's better motivation. I don't think it will be Adam Dunn that is this year's rental. The 2 times they have made a deal was a suprise both times. No one in their right minds would have thought that Randy Johnson would be an Astro in 1998 or Beltran last year. I have no clue who it will be. A lot will be determined over the next 2 weeks.
Greenie on the Mike & Mike Show this morning picked the Astros to win the wild card. He went on to say it's the last team you'd want to face in the playoffs because of their pitching.
The common thread on the Big Unit and Beltran deals (as well as when we got Pedro Astacio -- that was a down year), is that we got the biggest available fish in the trading pond. So, who's the biggest fish out there now? Who's the one guy who's available who everyone wants and nobody’s talking about the Stros having a shot? That’s who I’d be keeping an eye on – if history is any indicator.
Love to see the praise, but at the same time I still kind of wish they were still talking down to the stros. They're alreading saying it is Stros and Cards meeting at the NLCS again.
This isn't far fetched...I mean, if we get another bat and continue to play and pitch like we've done toward the break...We'll see... Go Stros'!!!
