The Killing League

A RECORD CROWD





47.

Las Vegas

Although the casinos of Las Vegas run their very own, separate tight ships, they do occasionally collaborate. In fact, some of the casino owners are good friends, lending advice, capital, and expertise to each other when needed.

For instance, professional cheaters who are “discovered” have their identities and methods immediately sent to every major casino on the strip.

One other way the casinos work together is by sharing the odds for every major sporting event. The odds are determined by a group of professional oddsmakers based in Las Vegas. They follow specific formulas for determining odds, and then those odds are sent out to professional sports books around the world.

At the exact time the man on the television screen in Omaha, Nebraska told his contestants that the competition had started, every odds board in every casino in Las Vegas posted a new sporting event on their big boards, located under the heading “miscellaneous.”

The event was called “The Killing League.”

And it listed eight participants.

Florence Nightmare

Truck Drivin’ Man.

The Butcher

Family Man

Lady of the Evening

Blue Blood

The Messiah

The Commissioner

And then the odds popped up:

Florence Nightmare. 10-1.

Truck Drivin’ Man. 20-1.

The Butcher. 30-1.

Family Man. 15-1.

Lady of the Evening. 7-1.

Blue Blood. 5-1.

The Messiah. 5-1.

The Commissioner. 3-1.

The betting quickly began.

The odds circulating through the casinos in Las Vegas also found their way to the online gambling capitol of the world, the Cayman Islands.

The information, sent via encrypted data streams from casino computers to servers based initially in the Cayman Islands, was immediately posted to every offshore “online” casino in the Caribbean.

From there, bets came pouring in.