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NBC's new hit show "Timeless" is clueless--at least when it comes to Las Vegas and sports betting.
The one-hour, weekly sci-fi drama, which airs on Monday nights at 10 pm ET, is about time travelers who travel back in time to historical events and try to alter history.
In yesterday's episode, the time travelers travel back to Las Vegas in 1962 in a plotline involving mobster Sam Giancana, President John F. Kennedy, their shared mistress Judith Campbell, the Rat Pack and the testing of atomic bombs.
But the producers of the show committed a stupendous blunder with one of the lines of dialogue.
In a scene that takes places shortly after the time travelers from current day 2016 land in 1962 Las Vegas, they visit a casino on the Strip.
While inside the casino, one of the time travelers, eyeing the sportsbook, jokes, "We could bet on the next 50 years of baseball games."
The implication was clear--coming from the future, the time travelers would know the outcomes of games not yet played and could presumably bet on the games and win tons of money.
But that's where "Timeless"--otherwise a great show--became clueless.
That's because there were no sportsbooks in Las Vegas casinos until 1974--12 years after the time travelers on the show were supposedly in Vegas.
The first casino sportsbook was opened by Jackie Gaughan inside the Union Plaza Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas in 1974.
The second casino sportsbook was opened by mobster Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal inside the Stardust casino in 1975, although many mistakenly believe it was the first, because of the fame Rosenthal received when he was portrayed by Robert DeNiro in the movie "Casino."
After the Stardust, the floodgates opened and dozens of Vegas casino installed sportsbooks.
But there were no casino sportsbooks in Las Vegas in 1962, so no time travelers from the future could have cleaned up betting on sporting events they knew the outcome to.
The producers of "Timeless" need to brush up on their Las Vegas history, instead of trying to change it.
By Tom Somach
Gambling 911 Staff Writer
