Veteran oddsmaker Vinny Magliulo won’t be posting betting lines on this weekend’s WrestleMania 41 bouts, as he did 32 years ago when the event came to Caesars Palace.
“I don’t need any more wrestlers looking for me,” said Magliulo, who was in charge of the casino’s sportsbook at the time.
That’s exactly what happened with Hulk Hogan before WrestleMania 9 in 1993 soon after Magliulo said at a news conference that lines had been posted. With the clear distinction, however, that they were for entertainment purposes only.
Magliulo was tasked by then-Caesars World Sports president Rich Rose with posting odds as a fun way of creating some buzz, even though the scripted endings made actual wagers out of the question.
It was similar to what Magliulo and his staff had done for the Academy Awards to some fanfare, so it was nothing new for them.
But the response this time was quite different.
Magliulo’s team, which included some oddsmakers who have gone on to have successful careers, such as Richie Baccellieri, Mark Tutino and Lamarr Mitchell, spent time debating the proper numbers, even though they weren’t putting money at risk.
“I knew some of them were wrestling fans, so I told them to have some fun with it,” said Magliulo, now the sportsbook director at Gaughan Gaming. “But they’re in the back debating all this stuff, and I’m like, ‘Fellas, this isn’t the Super Bowl.’”
Enraged underdog
The betting sheets were printed and the numbers posted in the book, with the bold reminder that no actual money could be wagered.
Magliulo, at the news conference announcing the odds, noticed Hogan gave him a bit of a glance when he and his tag team partner, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, were installed as narrow underdogs against the Money Inc. team of “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster (IRS). Magliulo didn’t give it much thought because he was used to similar reactions from boxers.
Shortly after returning to his office, though, he heard a commotion outside that grew louder and louder.
“All of a sudden, the door swings open, and Hogan and (Randy) the ‘Macho Man’ (Savage) come busting through in full-on spandex,” said Magliulo, laughing. “Hogan goes, ‘I want the oddsman who dared to make the Hulkster an underdog, and I want him now.’
“He’s looking at me like I’m a veal cutlet, and I’m about to be consumed.”
Magliulo’s nerves were calmed when he noticed a camera crew filming the interaction. Hogan then gave him a wink, allowing Magliulo a moment to gather his wits and deliver a response.
“I point toward the casino and tell him if you hurry, you’ll probably catch him at a dice pit,” said Magliulo, who still has his all-access event credential from that week.
He remembers the entire experience as a positive one and even recalled a wrestling executive crediting the odds as a big driver of marketing for the event. But they were taken down before the wrestlers stepped into the ring when it became too much of a sideshow.
“It was an avalanche of inquiries,” Magliulo said. “The switchboard of the hotel is lighting up. We’re getting newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations from all across the country. I couldn’t believe it. I tell Rich Rose, ‘This is out of control. We have all these people coming to the window, and nobody wants to bet the NBA playoffs or anything else. They just want to bet this wrestling thing.’
“We had to end up taking it off the board because it’s all anyone cared about.”
You want to bet what?
It wasn’t just regular customers, either.
Magliulo said he was called to the counter because longtime ring announcer Howard Finkel wanted to bet on the matches of which he most likely already knew the outcome.
“I said, ‘Howard, what you doing?’” Magliulo said. “Not only is this for entertainment purposes only, but you already have tomorrow’s newspaper.”
Magliulo lights up when reflecting about one of the wildest weeks of his oddsmaking career. He said he was always willing to help the greater good by posting numbers, whether the lines were bettable or not.
Well, almost always.
“The only thing we did there that I never put odds up on were the fountain jumps,” Magliulo said. “I didn’t need 20,000 people out there screaming for a crash.”
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