The Odds

Chad Millman takes readers inside Las Vegas's high-stakes gambling machine where even the unlikeliest characters find something in common. . Chad Millman takes readers inside Las Vegas's high-stakes gambling machine where even the unlikeliest characters find something in common. There's the intense high roller with the shaved head who morphed from cocaine addict to vegan bodybuilder without missing a bet. There's the college dropout whose parents kicked him out of the house when he decided betting would be his way of life. And there's the bookmaker who wonders what could have been if he had the guts to take the same risks as the bettors he despises. Between them and glory was the 19992000 NCAA basketball season, with its thousands of games, hundreds of teams, and "March Madness. " The bets were big-sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single day-but the stakes were even larger. For the bookmaker, the need for the thrill would put his whole career at risk. For the high roller, the need for a big win kept his demons churning. And for the kid, what was at stake was quite possibly his soul.
Millman paints a vivid portrait of Las Vegas in light and shadow as he follows the three players throughout the NCAA season, taking readers behind the scenes and into their lives as they win, lose and eventually risk everything.