The LuLac Edition #1071, Jan. 16th, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: OUR INTERVIEW LOGO.

INTERVIEW

This weekend will be a smorgasbord for football fans in LuLac land and the world. The fascination of pro football is ingrained in our culture. I talked this week with a fellow who follows the games very closely for himself and a few hundred others.
Q: Are you a bookie?
A: That’s what they used to be called but I like to think of myself as an entertainment coordinator.
Q: Okay, is this your real job?
A: No I work in a health care facility.
Q: Well then how in the world did you get into this?
A: I started running innocent pools at my work and social club.
Q: What town is the social club in?
A: I ain’t telling you that pal. Want me to stop talking?
Q: No go ahead.
A: I started running pools and people were happy with them. They won big prizes. So they had friends who had friends and now I have a little club of about 300 or so who bet on the games, especially the NFL and Notre Dame.
Q: How do you arrange this?
A: I take the name, the team, what they want to bet and watch the action. Then whoever wins gets a payout.
Q: Biggest winner?
A: $1,000 bucks.
Q: What’s the highest bet?
A: The highest anybody can bet is $100.
Q: How do you make your profit?
A: I get a percentage off of the top. And when someone wins big, I get a little token of their appreciation.
Q: Do you take action from the politicians?
A: No but I understand the Courthouse guys love to bet.
Q: Never got involved in that?
A: Naw, I don’t get greedy. My busy times are the NFL playoffs, the Bowls, and the World Series.
Q: Describe your customer?
A: It aint like the old days. These people aren’t horse players or those guys and gals who go to Mohegan Sun all the time. These are social betters who kick in an average of $200 a year. Shit, half of the girls who bet don’t know a Bengal from a Packer.
Q: Who do you like in the Super Bowl?
A: Dallas and Indy.
Q: Do you ever get involved in political betting like Jimmy the Greek did, like do you think Obama will win a second term?
A: Can he run again after this?
Q: Uh, never mind.
A: Want to bet the weekend?
Q: No I have notorious luck. One year, in the 1978 season my dad and I bet the entire NFL schedule. It was fake money. We lost about $5,000.
A: Fake money though, right?
Q: God yeah, we wouldn’t use real money for that, the games are too unpredictable. A: Then you weren’t real gamblers. The gambler likes the unpredictability of it all.
Q: But you predict games right?
A: Not me, I just facilitate other people predicting them. My money is a sure thing.
Q: Predictable?
A: Precisely.