Legal Gambling on Professional Golf in the 1960s-Rare But Civilized
You could gamble on professional golf, but only when the TOUR visited Vegas
(Sports Illustrated)
The differences in legal gambling on professional golf from the present to the 1960s is as vast as the differences in the golf balls used in the two eras. Today you can whip your smartphone out and place almost any kind of exotic or fantasy wager on professional golf. Back in the 1960s you could only legally gamble on professional golf when it was played in one place—Vegas. The tournament with the most action was the Tournament of Champions played at the Desert Inn Country Club.
When the PGA TOUR visited Vegas for the Tournament of Champions, the betting action in the sports books, and with bookies at the course, was hot and heavy. Before 1960 bettors could invest in a Calcutta that saw pots rise to almost $400,000 (that would be $3.5M in today's dollars). But the PGA, concerned with the publicity that the gambling activity was attracting, threatened to move the event unless they eliminated the Calcutta. The Calcutta went underground after that.
The bookies of Vegas, who once plied their trade on-site at the course, were advised to restrict their operations to the sports books, as well. One of the biggest of these bookies, Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, had been handicapping the Tournament of Champions since 1956. In 1960, he, along with the other bookies, stopped booking bets at the course. They still spent considerable time at the course, though.
In 1963 the Tournament of Champions field consisted of only 27 players because Arnold Palmer won seven events in 1962 and Jack Nicklaus won five. The small field allowed for a very civilized day as the first tee time wasn’t until after lunch. This gave the bookies time to take bets in the morning before going out to the course to gleam whatever information they could find to assist their handicapping.
The bookies would handicap the field before the event and bettors could place a win, place, or show bet on any player. Once the action began, Snyder and his cohorts would go to the course where they would set up in front of the clubhouse at Desert Inn and follow the action on the large leader board alongside the 18th green. Here they would try to find any information that would help them adjust the odds to the next round's win, place, and show bets. By the Saturday morning of the 1963 event, Nicklaus had a five-stroke lead and some of the bookies refused action on him at any price.
Another option to bet was head-to-head bets. Bettors would put down $6 to win $5 and the bookies would handicap the matchup. For instance, in the opening round Palmer was favored by a stroke and a half over Bobby Nichols.
This bet can be riskier for the bookie, and they all wanted as much information as possible. The way to get that information was by sitting on the patio outside the Desert Inn and listening to rumors while watching the movement on the leader board. The rumors could help as much as they could hurt. If you followed some of the rumors in 1963 while handicapping, it could prove to be costly. These rumors included Tony Lema not being able to perform well because he was on his honeymoon (he finished T2) and that Raymond Floyd was having too much fun in Vegas and it would affect his play (he beat Bobby Nichols in a head-to-head setup). See the chart below and how the odds changed from round to round. A place bet on Tony Lema looks like the big winning bet of the week.
When Nicklaus sunk the winning putt that year, it was an end of an era concerning Snyder. He found himself caught in the middle of Attorney General Robert Kennedy’s fight against Jimmy Hoffa. He was indicted on some interstate operations and decided he needed to switch to a safer career. He eventually moved to CBS where he handicapped NFL games for the pre-game show.
Compared to today where you can place almost any conceivable bet on the tour, it was another story for Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder and his customers during the madcap days of the 1960s. But it was legal gambling on professional golf during a time when gambling carried a lot more “moralistic” baggage than it does today.
Bonus Story
Sometime during the 1963 Tournament of Champions, Arnold Palmer decided he was going to teach Jack Nicklaus how to play craps. This was during the era when the casinos would regularly allow celebrities to deal the dice game. Sinatra enjoyed dealing craps while in town with the Rat Pack, and Palmer had done the same. And now he wanted to teach the finer points of the game to Nicklaus.
Nicklaus watched as Palmer placed chips on the felt and tried to explain what the bet was and how much it would pay off. Nicklaus watched while placing his own, smaller, bets and tried to absorb what was going on in the game.
Turns out that Palmer picked the wrong table on which to play. It was cold and the lesson he taught Nicklaus may not have been the one he intended to pass on. Palmer lost close to $3,000.
“I got a big kick out of that,” Nicklaus recalled. “I don’t think he won it back the rest of the week.”
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