Q&A: Circa sportsbook director talks about his dream job

Chris Bennett has spent his entire career in the sports betting industry at two of the most respected sportsbooks in Las Vegas.

A Minnesota native who went to college at the University of Illinois, Bennett worked at the Westgate SuperBook for nine years before taking a four-year hiatus from the industry. He returned in 2019 to help launch Circa Sports and in 2023 succeeded Matt Metcalf as Circa sportsbook director.

Besides Circa’s high-stakes NFL handicapping contests — the $1,000-entry Survivor and Million and the $100,000-entry Grandissimo — the downtown sportsbook has made a name for itself in the sports betting world by welcoming the sharp bettors that some books shun.

Bennett recently discussed several subjects during a “Think Like a Bookmaker” seminar at the Bet Bash sports betting conference at Circa. He fielded questions from Mike Palm, vice president of operations for Circa, D Las Vegas and Golden Gate, and a few from the audience (Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length).

Palm: Let’s start off and give a little bit of background, where you came from and how you ended up getting into this industry.

Bennett: I started off in the industry right after college. I didn’t really have a plan for what to do with my life. I just knew I had two things that I liked. I liked math, and I liked sports, and I figured if I was going to have a career that married those two things, I was going to have to go and work in the sports betting industry, and that meant the state of Nevada. … I got a couple offers for ticket writer positions, and I accepted the first one I got, which was at the time called the Las Vegas Hilton, now known as the Westgate. … Fortunately, there were a couple people who were the oddsmakers at the Hilton that really knew this industry well, and they were able to teach me so many things about how to be a bookmaker and how to be an oddsmaker. I worked my way up and learned how to play this game and how to win this game.

I left the industry for a few years after I left the Hilton. I got some phone calls from my former co-worker and friend Matt Metcalf, who I’d worked with at the Hilton. Matt got the job as sportsbook director at Circa and needed to build a team. I was in Minnesota and had a whole different job and career at that time. I was kind of looking for a way out. This was serendipity as far as I was concerned. … I would say this is where I’ve been at my professional best in my life. I’m 43 years old now, I’ve been here for six years, and I can’t imagine another line of work that I’d rather do.

Palm: You’ve talked about as a bookmaker, you’re always playing defense. Can you explain that philosophy?

Bennett: I think of betting and bookmaking as two sides of same coin. The bettor and bookie are playing the same game. The bettor is playing offense. The bookie is playing defense. The other thing about playing defense is I have to bet on both sides of every game all the time. That might sound easy because I’ve got –110 on both sides or whatever the implied advantage is for the house. But in practice, it’s really tough because the bettor who’s playing offense doesn’t have to make a bet. They can just pick their spot, and they can wait. … The bettor has to overcome the built-in house edge, but I think it’s a very fair game on both sides most of the time, and that’s what makes it interesting, and that’s what makes it fun. … When you’re playing defense, there’s no off button. There is some sporting event taking place every single day of the year.

Palm: You talked about the importance of profiling players. I think there’s a misnomer in the statement that Circa Sports never limits anyone because we have different limits. … What is something a customer might do that would get them moved down a level?

Bennett: For any sportsbook operator to say they don’t limit winners or they don’t limit anybody is just logically inaccurate. There has to be limits for everybody. Nobody can walk into any sportsbook and bet an unlimited amount of money on anything they want to on the betting board. … To get lower limits, betting into a market that’s left open after it’s supposed to be closed would be one thing that is frowned upon and would lead to restrictions being put in place. Betting simultaneously with other accounts in coordinated fashion would certainly get limits reduced. … When we have a number available, we want to take a bet on it. We don’t want to take 100 bets at the same time all at the same price. … If you bet obvious mistakes — a football team is supposed to be a 20-point favorite and they’re +20 because the number got entered backward — that’s a good way to lose account privileges as well.

Palm: What bookmakers most influenced you to where you are today and your philosophy and how you execute it?

Bennett: I learned directly from Ed Salmons and Jeff Sherman, who are working at the Westgate to this day. … Those are two guys that could actually make odds on their own, take bets from sharp customers, have the best odds on Super Bowl futures and all sorts of different markets, and generate revenue and win to this stuff. … Matt Metcalf was there as well and a person that I learned from and leaned on when it came to bookmaking and oddsmaking strategy.

Audience member: Is it possible to make a national rule that requires sportsbooks to take a minimum bet?

Bennett: I’m actually in favor of some minimum risk or win amount requirement for operators, just on principle and fairness. I don’t think this game should only be playable for the losers. Everybody should be able to play it. This is what you sign up for in sports betting. The probabilities are not mathematical certainties, and if you’re smart and hard working, then you can make money doing this. It just needs to fit within the overall economic realities of running these businesses so that they can continue to run and there can be hopefully a healthy, competitive marketplace.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.