Novice asks: Is ID required to make/cash Sport book bets?

Complete novice here. Probably won't get back to Vegas till January and there may be differences between properties, so I thought I would tap the knowledge of regular betters... and I'm speaking in terms of amounts $1000 and under in case that might matter.

Is any form of identification (such as a photo ID or Players card) required to place a sports bet?

Is any form of identification required/requested when cashing a winning ticket?

I'd also be interested in learning which properties for sports betting you frequent and why (other than proximity).

BTW: Is there an easier way to search for/through threads based on keywords? I initially looked for answers to my questions but gave up after scanning several pages of threads.

Thank you.

Quote: SportbookNovice

Complete novice here. Probably won't get back to Vegas till January and there may be differences between properties, so I thought I would tap the knowledge of regular betters... and I'm speaking in terms of amounts $1000 and under in case that might matter.

Is any form of identification (such as a photo ID or Players card) required to place a sports bet?

Is any form of identification required/requested when cashing a winning ticket?

I'd also be interested in learning which properties for sports betting you frequent and why (other than proximity).

BTW: Is there an easier way to search for/through threads based on keywords? I initially looked for answers to my questions but gave up after scanning several pages of threads.

Thank you.

Not normally, unless you look young or something. Cantor electronic betting requires ID,SS and sighed documents.

Why the worry?

No worries, Axel... just curious with no sport books anywhere near. Closest I've come to placing a sports wager is playing 100% plus Loose Deuces video poker just outside the LVH sports book.

And even if you look young, it'll just be to check age, not for recordkeeping

(Incidentally-- Golden Nugget holds the record for carding me: Five times... at one table... and twice by the same manager.)

Cliff's Notes: Probably no issue for you, but if it is, just take a walk for several $500 bites or feed a William Hill kiosk

Long version:

Assuming age isn't potentially an issue then ID, if any, is usually a player card, which does involve ID to get in the first place. You will probably be asked if you have a player card when you place a wager just as a courtesy, and "No" is usually fine most of the time for most people. It is what I always do, because my flea-sized sports wagers aren't worth flea-powder for comps. For large wagers a supervisor might be called over for approval, and you might have to identify yourself. What is "large" can vary by property and also sometimes according to the event you are wagering on. On most common high-profile events with very liquid wagering markets I'd be mildly surprised to hear of you being questioned about anything from any major property on a straight $1,000 wager, though there may be occasional exceptions when a particular game has been highlighted due to exceptional action and/or peculiar line movement. My understanding of the threshold level where supervisor approval and/or identification of the player may commonly come into play is after a few thousand, at major Strip books. My best guess (which could be wrong) is that as a visitor whose action they have no reason to be wary of, you probably will have no issues below about $3k per wager on straight "against the spread" or "side to win" type wagers on major sports.

Disclaimer: My understanding could very well be wrong in some details, in fact it most likely is wrong about something, because this is only second-hand information from what I hear from other people who are much more serious sports bettors, who regard themselves as professionals, or at least say they do. I am definitely not that and have never been that on sports, though I do spend a lot of time (more than many who are employed there) and wager a fair bit of money in some books. And, I have no issues at all placing wagers for some significantly larger amounts routinely in pari-mutual horse racing betting which becomes part of the host track's pool, but that is all a very different matter without the same risks for the "house" as fixed odds sports tickets. Pari-mutual wagering is more like a poker game with a very large anonymous table, and they don't have any reason to mind a bit if the pot keeps getting pushed to one of their good customers who increases the handle from which they get a commission. But I am usually a flea in almost any non-parimutual wagering which is effectively betting against the casino, including "house-banked" sports bets.

What I am told people do (but have no reason to do myself) is that regular very high volume "professional" sports people get around these issues through the obvious means of breaking up their action into smaller wagers placed at multiple sites, and/or multiple wagers at one site sometimes through an automated kiosk. These are available at William Hill sites, and a long list of those is available from the William Hill US website, including some Strip locations. The kiosks take vouchers or cash without a player card if you wish, and multiple wagers can be made without the machine becoming aware that it is just you betting the Cardinals ten or twenty times for $500 a pop. You can also get an advance deposit account (with ID & some paperwork) with William Hill (or with Cantor and others) but if you do simply use cash instead at a WH kiosk it just spits out paper tickets without requiring anything but money. There are some other similar automated betting kiosks scattered about the Las Vegas area, but the Wm. Hill affiliated ones are by far the most numerous & should easily get the job done for you in the unlikely event you have an issue getting your wagers down.

But again, you probably won't have any issues for $1k/wager unless you are betting something relatively obscure, or something that happens to be getting unusual action from others who do this every day causing some flags to get raised.

And after further review... if the OP is still following the thread, maybe you should just ignore the stuff I wrote above.

Yesterday, as I was taking care of some paperwork connected to my race wagering account and cashing out for the day in the book at a large property affiliated with MGM Resorts, I slid over to the side of the window, as is my habit so I don't needlessly tie up the "ticket-writer" station for anyone who might be behind me trying to bet. Then a guy walks up, asks what the line is on a boxing match, says "okay then I'll take that for one-ten" and drops $110,000 in pretty little chips on the counter. The ticket writer did wave her supervisor over before the wager was completed, but this delayed the execution of the wager no more than about sixty seconds for the gentleman. No player card, no ID, dude just put $110k on the counter and after a one minute confirmation from the suit-on-duty the ticket was printed and the fellow was on his way. Makes the chatter I mentioned among some "sports pros" talking about being sweated over $3k-$5k wagers sound kind of silly as I watched the transaction at my elbow, so there you go.

Quote: DrawingDead

And after further review... if the OP is still following the thread, maybe you should just ignore the stuff I wrote above.

Yesterday, as I was taking care of some paperwork connected to my race wagering account and cashing out for the day in the book at a large property affiliated with MGM Resorts, I slid over to the side of the window, as is my habit so I don't needlessly tie up the "ticket-writer" station for anyone who might be behind me trying to bet. Then a guy walks up, asks what the line is on a boxing match, says "okay then I'll take that for one-ten" and drops $110,000 in pretty little chips on the counter. The ticket writer did wave her supervisor over before the wager was completed, but this delayed the execution of the wager no more than about sixty seconds for the gentleman. No player card, no ID, dude just put $110k on the counter and after a one minute confirmation from the suit-on-duty the ticket was printed and the fellow was on his way. Makes the chatter I mentioned among some "sports pros" talking about being sweated over $3k-$5k wagers sound kind of silly as I watched the transaction at my elbow, so there you go.

If he had chips to pay that kind of wager, they already knew exactly who he was.

Quote: DrawingDead

\. Makes the chatter I mentioned among some "sports pros" talking about being sweated over $3k-$5k wagers sound kind of silly as I watched the transaction at my elbow, so there you go.

If he is a sucker then of course they don't sweat his action.

Quote: DrawingDead

Then a guy walks up, asks what the line is on a boxing match, says "okay then I'll take that for one-ten" and drops $110,000 in pretty little chips on the counter..

What was the boxing match? The Canello fight which I think was a split decision?

Quote: DrawingDead

some significantly larger amounts routinely in pari-mutual horse racing betting which becomes part of the host track's pool,

Some Vegas books, including the Mirage, used to take and hold pari-mutual wagers in house. Does that still happen? They would pay track payoffs but not as I say, participate in said pool. In addition, events like the Kentucky Derby or the Breeders Cup might have separate pools at various tracks with differing final odds.

Quote: NokTang

Quote: DrawingDead

Then a guy walks up, asks what the line is on a boxing match, says "okay then I'll take that for one-ten" and drops $110,000 in pretty little chips on the counter..

What was the boxing match? The Canello fight which I think was a split decision?

I have no idea. It was Saturday, and you probably know better than I do what match(es) would have been on. I'm sure I heard him call out the name to get the line, but it meant nothing to me as I heard it and only the dollar amount stuck in my mind. If you're guessing I don't know much about boxing, you're right.

Quote: NokTang

Some Vegas books, including the Mirage, used to take and hold pari-mutual wagers in house. Does that still happen? They would pay track payoffs but not as I say, participate in said pool. In addition, events like the Kentucky Derby or the Breeders Cup might have separate pools at various tracks with differing final odds.

99% of the time, for most wagers, the answer is: No; nobody does that now, not in quite a few years. You're right that they used to book racing in-house, but now they all participate in the track pools, transmitting wagers to the track through a hub and retaining a commission on the handle they generate, per contracts jointly negotiated by an association representing all the Nevada books with the tracks. The book originating the wager gets to keep the largest share of the takeout, at no risk whatsoever by doing it pari-mutual rather than booking them like they once did "back in the day."

But. Once in a while there will be an issue involving the contracts between the Nevada association that negotiates the agreements with the tracks, at which time they do still have the option to book the bets in-house if they choose. When they do this (rarely - by necessity) you can expect they will generally choose to pay track odds, because doing otherwise would create arbitrage opportunities that could expose them to greater risk.

Also, some books do routinely offer some little gimmicky in-house exotic wagers, like Station Casinos' "twin-Q" and suchlike. I don't think these take a lot of action. And more significantly, there are props and fixed-odds future wagers on some major high-profile events (Breeders' Cup, Kentucky Derby, Triple Crown) at major books (especially Wynn & LVH).

This year for several days it happens that there was an example of that kind of exception I mentioned above, and this is my account of that described at the time as it occurred in the days shortly before Derby weekend, from another site where I use to maintain an ongoing thread on racing stuff:

[The url of quoted remarks below is at: http://www.pokeratlas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=20618&sid=5da78ce7468f867ec2ab381bb6f53582 ]

Quote: Me under the name "Local Rock" on AllVegasPoker on 4/30/14

Following a recently announced increase in their takeout Churchill Downs, Inc. is in a dispute over carving up the money with simulcast outlets from CDI's increased vig, and right now the State of Nevada has no contract to carry their signal and take bets for their races. If this remains the case most major Las Vegas casinos are likely to book the bets themselves, as they used to do "back in the day" before simulcasting and co-mingled pari-mutual pools and whatnot, and pay whatever track odds are. But they may choose not to accept wagers on some of the exotics that have the potential to result in huge boxcar payoffs if they hit.

Quote: Me under the name "Local Rock" on AllVegasPoker on 5/02/14

According to a post from Dave Tuley in his "View From Vegas" site, and a report from Richard Eng who writes on racing for the LVRJ, CDI has come to a verbal agreement on a Nevada contract, and barring any glitches Las Vegas books should be taking the full menu of wagers with co-mingled simulcast pools on the Derby day CD card.

Quote: Richard Eng

Churchill Downs and the Nevada Parimutuel Association agreed on a new simulcast contract Thursday morning.

“Nevada was prepared to ‘book’ the races at Churchill Downs, as we had all the necessary approvals to do so, but we came to an agreement at the 11th hour,” said John Avello, Wynn Las Vegas race and sports book director and a member of the NMPA negotiating committee. “Let’s all now concentrate on a fun weekend of racing.”

[The above is quoted from a thread (of mine) named "First Saturday in May" on a site that was called "AllVegasPoker" for years, until it was recently swallowed up by something called "PokerAtlas."]

Quote: DrawingDead

[The above is quoted from a thread (of mine) at named "First Saturday in May" on a site that was called "AllVegasPoker" for years, until it was recently swallowed up by something called "PokerAtlas."]

RIP AVP and the 3/6 mix game. Sigh.

Quote: tringlomane

Quote: DrawingDead

[The above is quoted from a thread (of mine) at named "First Saturday in May" on a site that was called "AllVegasPoker" for years, until it was recently swallowed up by something called "PokerAtlas."]

RIP AVP and the 3/6 mix game. Sigh.

Yes. Sad. I thought it was a really nice run for about 8 years or so. But all things do eventually die, and now that good thing has truly been killed.