Holyfield-Tyson rematch good for area sports books

      Mike Tyson's ear biting Saturday caused a mini-riot at the MGM Grand and angered boxing fans around the world when he was disqualified after the third round of his highly anticipated rematch with Evander Holyfield for the World Boxing Association heavyweight championship.
      Las Vegas bookmakers, though, weren't complaining after recouping some of the record losses they suffered following the first Tyson-Evander Holyfield bout in November.
      In that fight, Holyfield opened as a 25-1 underdog but scored an 11th-round technical knockout. Sports books sustained record losses, and then-MGM race and sports book director Gene Kivi reportedly lost his job because of it.
      But Saturday was one of the best days in a long time for local sports books. Their winnings didn't match their losses from Tyson-Holyfield I, but it went a long way toward easing the pain.
      "We did three times the handle on this fight as we did on the first fight," said Rich Baccelieri, the Caesars Palace sports book manager.
      There were no discernible betting patterns across town, sports books reported. At the MGM, twice as many bets were placed on Holyfield as Tyson, but the majority of the big bets were on Tyson. Tyson closed at $2.20 at the MGM.
      Other books had balanced action and received steady money on each side. The Mirage won largely because of a $340,000 bet on Tyson that would have earned the player $200,000.
      "We got quite a bit of late money on Tyson, and we made out like bandits," said Rob Akers, a sports book supervisor at The Mirage, where Tyson closed as a $1.95 favorite after dropping as low as $1.70.
      Tyson dropped as low as a $1.55 favorite at the Las Vegas Club sports book, which was saved from a disastrous day by a big victory on the fight. Sports book director Tom Vitcenda said his book lost on several baseball games early but turned a poor day into a great one with a solid fight victory.
      Vitcenda said the action at his downtown sports book was brisk.
      "The handle on this fight was 25 times more than on the first one," said Vitcenda, who closed Tyson as a $2.10 favorite. "In the last fight, we got two bets on Mike Tyson, and everything else was Evander Holyfield, so we lost a lot more than we (won) on this. But this fight was one of our best betting fights, both from an interest standpoint and from volume."
      Baccelieri said Caesars Palace was guaranteed a victory because its books were balanced when the fight began. He said, however, that Caesars wrote the same number of tickets on Holyfield as it did in the first fight but got three times the handle on Holyfield.
      That was an indication that small bettors took a shot with Holyfield in the first fight, but that the serious bettors were behind him with big money the second time around. None of that mattered to Baccelieri, who said a frenetic weekend of wagering was made perfect when the bets fit like a jigsaw puzzle and kept the ledgers balanced.
      "It doesn't always work that way no matter how hard you try, but you have to feel fortunate when it does," Baccelieri said.
      The Las Vegas Hilton SuperBook offered Holyfield by knockout in the third round at 22-1 -- and for betting purposes, a disqualification is the same as a knockout -- but did so well that losing on that proposition bet didn't hurt much.
      The Hilton closed Tyson as a $2 favorite after getting the majority of its late money on the former champion.
      That was the theme across town, though not many were sure if they were ready for Holyfield-Tyson III. If that happens -- Holyfield attorney Jim Thomas said Sunday it is unlikely -- one race and sports book director thinks it would surpass this fight in wagering handle.
      The MGM's Dennis Dahl said a rematch would be a hit.
      "People love controversy, and how much more controversial of an ending can you get than this?" Dahl said. "I wish it weren't that way, but controversy sells tickets. If they fought again, a lot of people would come to town, and there would be long lines at the betting window. If that ever happened, we'd be talking about a huge handle, believe me."