‘Herbie Hoops,’ ‘Stevie the Pencil’ and rest of Sports Gambling HOF class
Herb Lambeck was known as “Herbie Hoops” for his prowess as a college basketball handicapper. But his best sport was boxing.
“He was Las Vegas’ best boxing oddsmaker for decades, where almost everyone used his odds to start booking fights,” longtime Las Vegas oddsmaker Michael “Roxy” Roxborough said of the man he considered his mentor. “And this was at the height of when Las Vegas really was the boxing capital of the world (in the 1970s and 1980s).”
Lambeck will be inducted posthumously into the Sports Gambling Hall of Fame on Aug. 9 as part of its second 10-member class at the Circa sportsbook.
He left his native New Jersey for Las Vegas in 1968 after going bust on a bet on the Jets in their loss to the Raiders in the infamous “Heidi Game.” He was the oddsmaker at the Saratoga Club and Leroy’s stand-alone race and sportsbooks in downtown Las Vegas.
Lambeck also made the lines for fellow Hall of Famer Bob Martin and was the college basketball expert for Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder’s nationally syndicated sports betting column, which was in more than 200 daily newspapers.
“He made the line for a lot of people that are famous,” Roxborough, a fellow Hall of Famer, said. “He was like the man behind the scenes.
“He was pretty good at betting college basketball and then eventually became the key oddsmaker for college basketball at a time when no one wanted to book college hoops. It may seem hard to believe now, but nobody ever booked the November and December games. People didn’t mess with it because of football.”
Lambeck’s sharp opinion attracted the unwelcome attention of notorious Las Vegas mobster Tony Spilotro, the basis for Joe Pesci’s character in the Martin Scorcese mob movie “Casino.”
Sports betting historian Arne Lang wrote in Lambeck’s 2015 obituary for The Sweet Science that during college basketball season, Spilotro was Lambeck’s morning wake-up call: “Herbie, this is Tony. Who we got today?”
After Spilotro was murdered in 1986, Lambeck said he was very relieved.
”I had a nice run with him,” he said. “But I knew that someday I would fall into a bad slump, and I didn’t know how he would react.”
Here is a quick glance at the rest of the class:
Living inductees
Richie Baccellieri
Former sportsbook manager at Caesars Palace and sportsbook director at MGM Grand and the Palms, where he orchestrated the expansion of in-game wagering. Founded Stadium Technology, a leading software and technology provider to books, and is still active as director of product development for Circa Sports. Portrayed as “Stevie the Pencil” in the book “The Smart Money: How the World’s Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies Out of Millions.”
Nick Bogdanovich
Born and raised in Las Vegas, he started as a ticket writer at the Sands and became sportsbook director at age 27 at Binion’s Horseshoe, where he took bets from the sharpest of the sharps. Also ran books at the Stratosphere, Mandalay Bay, the Golden Nugget, Club Cal Neva, William Hill and Caesars. Still active as a bookmaker at Circa.
Jimmy Evarts
Helped revolutionize the offshore bookmaking landscape by going fully online and dealing reduced juice as one of the founders of sharp offshore sportsbook Pinnacle Sports, which Roxborough said “was the gold standard for years.”
Ron “The Cigar” Sacco
Known as the godfather of offshore sports betting, he helped popularize Caribbean offshore gambling at Costa Rica International Sports, aka Betcris, where the motto was, “Where the line originates.” Posted first lines in the world on several sports and took the biggest bets.
Vic Salerno
Pioneer who computerized the sports betting industry and introduced several other innovations, including the first major network of sportsbooks at Leroy’s, the first sports betting kiosk and the first sports betting mobile app.
In memoriam
Ed Curd
Old-school bookmaker from Kentucky known for standardizing the 11-to-make-10 vigorish (-110), or juice, which is still the basis of all straight sports bets.
Michael Kent
Math and computer wizard who wrote the code that launched the renowned Computer Group, which featured Billy Walters, regarded as the most successful sports bettor of all time. The group was credited in the 1980s as the first sports betting syndicate to successfully use mathematical formulas and computer models.
Gene Maday
Owned and operated Little Caesar’s, one of the last of the stand-alone race and sportsbooks in Las Vegas. It was known as the dingiest joint that booked the biggest bets.
Chuck Schuapp
Known as Chuck Sharp, the high-stakes sports gambler and poker player is regarded as the best NBA totals bettor of his generation.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.