The last time Americans could walk into a Las Vegas sports book during the Olympics and make a bet on their country, Michael Johnson was still winning medals, Vince Carter was making a towering Frenchman famous, and Michael Phelps was debuting in the Games as a 15-year-old also-ran on the U.S Olympic swim team. This year, all that changes. For the first time since the 2000 Sydney Games, Las Vegas sports books are accepting bets on the Olympics this summer, providing casinos a financial boost in the dog days of August, keeping bettors glued to the TV as Carmelo, KD,…

Wall Street Journal – From the outside, there doesn’t appear to be anything special about Ren Ningning’s farm southeast of Beijing, tucked among plots of lotus root and other crops. But once beyond the redbrick wall and locked iron gate, a visitor enters into a rich man’s fantasy land—a sprawling, 100-acre equestrian estate with row after row of stables and some of the priciest horses in China. There is a clubhouse filled with racing paraphernalia: saddles emblazoned with Chinese flags, medals and trophies from past victories, and an odd enormous floor lamp—in the shape of a horse, of course. Outside, there’s space for…

SCMP – Hong Kong police are launching a month-long operation against illegal soccer betting in the run-up to the World Cup. Working in conjunction with Interpol in nine other countries, local police are coordinating efforts to eliminate the multimillion-dollar problem. Police in the city also say they are being thwarted in attempts to stamp out illegal soccer betting as most syndicates operate online, on the mainland and offshore. Superintendent Dan Ng Wai-hon, from the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau, said yesterday that criminals had moved to the mainland and regions such as South America and Taiwan since local authorities got…

CBS – For the first time since he joined the Miami Heat, LeBron James’ team is an underdog in the NBA Finals. The Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs opened with a -120 moneyline (5-to-6 odds) to win the NBA Finals Sunday, according to Sportsbook.com. Some books have it as high as 135, and that action could increase before Thursday’s Game 1. San Antonio also opens as a four-point favorite to win Game 1. While -120 isn’t exactly breaking down walls in favor of the Spurs, it does show the doubts about the two-time defending champions as well as the…

Forbes – Macau’s casino revenue isn’t seven times bigger than that of Las Vegas because more people go there. It’s because players bet more in Macau, and casinos have become increasingly more adept at encouraging that trend to build more mass market revenue that’s more than twice as profitable as VIP play. Mass market revenue is approaching 40% of Macau’s total gaming revenue. Walking the floors of Macau’s major casinos, minimum bets at baccarat table begin at $300 Hong Kong (US$39). There are lower minimums for roulette, the rare crap table, and sometimes for sic bo, a Chinese dice game…