Borini's brace powers Roma past Inter

Soccer Betting Lines

02/05/2012 - Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A goal in each half from Fabio Borini helped Roma to a comfortable 4-0 win over Inter Milan at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.

Juan put Roma in front after 13 minutes when he headed home Francesco Totti's corner kick, while Borini added a second goal shortly before the break after being set up by Miralem Pjanic.

The lead was stretched to 3-0 early in the second half when Juan's long ball was tracked down by Borini, who got into the penalty area and slotted his shot past goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

The visitors had no answer for Roma's attack and the hosts grabbed a fourth goal in the final minutes as Bojan Krkic beat three defenders before firing his shot past Cesar to cap the emphatic win.

Roma remains in sixth with the victory but closes to within two points of Inter, which has claimed just one point from its last three matches following a seven-game winning streak.

AC Milan 0, Napoli 0

Milan, Italy - AC Milan was held to a 0-0 draw at the San Siro by Napoli on Sunday in a match that saw Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent off midway through the second half.

The result leaves the Rossoneri one point back of leaders Juventus, which also finished in a 0-0 draw on Sunday against Siena. Napoli is now winless in its last five games and stays in seventh place in Serie A.

Chances were at a premium on Sunday and Milan had the best one in the 51st minute when Robinho was played in on goal by Ibrahimovic but failed to beat goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis.

The Napoli 'keeper did well to deny Ibrahimovic in the 63rd minute and the Swede soon received his marching orders for slapping Napoli's Salvatore Aronica.

Despite being up a man Napoli was unable to find the net and the club's winless streak was extended for another week.

Genoa 3, Lazio 2

Genoa, Italy - Bosko Jankovic netted two goals and Genoa held off a late charge from Lazio to secure a 3-2 win at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium on Sunday.

Rodrigo Palacio tallied the opener in the 10th minute and Jankovic doubled the lead midway through the first half with his first goal of the match.

Jankovic added to Lazio's misery when he scored in the opening seconds after the break to make it 3-0.

But Lazio pulled a goal back in the 54th minute from the penalty spot courtesy of Cristian Ledesma before the capital side was reduced to 10 men with Mobido Diakite being sent off eight minutes from time.

A goal from Alvaro Gonzalez in the 90th minute made it a one-goal game, but there wasn't enough time left for Lazio to muster a third goal, snapping a run of three wins in four games for the visitors.

Parma 2, Chievo 1

Verona, Italy - Parma moved further away from the relegation zone on Sunday after Siqueira Luciano's own goal handed the club a 2-1 win at Chievo.

Sebastian Giovinco's ninth goal of the season just after halftime gave Parma the lead, but his opener was canceled out four minutes later by Cyril Thereau.

Parma pressed hard for a second goal and was rewarded with a bit of good fortune in the 69th minute when Giovinco's shot took a deflection off of Luciano and found its way inside the right post.

The visitors move 10 points clear of the drop zone with the win and ahead of Chievo on goal difference.

Fiorentina 3, Udinese 2

Florence, Italy - Udinese failed to close the gap on the top two teams in Serie A on Sunday after sustaining a 3-2 defeat at Fiorentina.

Juventus and AC Milan were both held to 0-0 draws on Sunday, meaning that Udinese could close to within a point of the top spot with a win.

And things started well for the visitors who took the lead inside 15 minutes with a goal from Antonio Di Natale.

However, things turned around in the 39th minute when Stevan Jovetic converted a penalty kick to level the match at halftime before Mattia Cassani tallied his first goal of the season to put the Viola in front.

Jovetic then netted another goal from the penalty spot six minutes from time before Gabriel Torje pulled one back in the 89th for Udinese, which sits four points back of leaders Juventus.

Fiorentina is in the midst of its best run of the season having claimed 10 points from its last five games.

Juventus 0, Siena 0

Turin, Italy - Juventus remained on top of Serie A on Sunday despite being held to a 0-0 draw by a stubborn Siena team.

A 0-0 draw by AC Milan with Napoli keeps Juve one point clear at the top of the league. Siena moves three points above the drop zone with Sunday's result.

Juventus dominated possession but failed to generate many decent scoring chances, and it was Siena that nearly stole all three points in the final minutes of the match.

A shot from Pablo Gonzalez was saved by Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, but the rebound was left for Alessandro Gazzi, who fired over the net from close range.

Lecce 0, Bologna 0

Lecce, Italy - Lecce and Bologna battled to a 0-0 draw at the Via del Mare on Sunday as both sides continue their relegation struggle.

Bologna entered the day five points above the drop zone and unbeaten in its last four games, while Lecce had collected seven points from its last four games to greatly improve its chances of survival.

However, neither side was able to pick up three valuable points, although Lecce had the best chance eight minutes after halftime.

Luis Muriel rounded Bologna goalkeeper Jean Francois Gillet, but fired his shot over the empty net, while Lecce's chances were greatly reduced in the 74th minute when Morris Carrozzieri was sent off.

Novara 0, Cagliari 0

Novara, Italy - Novara snapped a five-game losing streak on Sunday but still had to settle for a 0-0 draw at home against Cagliari, which does little to enhance its chances of survival.

Novara remains on the bottom of the league and seven points from safety with the result, although it took some good goalkeeping from Cagliari's Michael Agazzi to keep them out.

Novara had two good chances to claim all three points but both times Agazzi was up to the task as he first denied a powerful shot from Santiago Garcia before making a stop on Simone Pesce at full stretch.

Palermo 2, Atalanta 1

Palermo, Italy - Palermo's unbeaten streak reached four games on Sunday as the club recorded a 2-1 win over 10-man Atalanta at the Renzo Barbera.

The match took a major turn in the 25th minute when Atalanta goalkeeper Andrea Consigli was sent off for bringing down Palermo striker Fabrizio Miccoli inside the penalty area.

Miccoli picked himself up and converted the spot kick before Igor Budan made it 2-0 early in the second half.

Maximiliano Moralez pulled a goal back for Atalanta in the 56th minute, but didn't have enough left for an equalizer, which leaves the visitors with four losses from their last five games.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.