Unsolved Mysteries of Gambling Part 2: What Really Happened at Gary Austin’s Sportsbook

Written by:
Thomas Somach
Published on:
Sep/08/2015
Unsolved Mysteries of Gambling Part 2: What Really Happened at Gary Austin’s Spo

The year was 1979 and a new cable television channel called the Enterntainment and Sports Programming Network--ESPN for short--was debuting.

The concept was radical for the time: a TV channel devoted to sports programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

People wondered if there were enough sports to fill 24 hours a day, and if there were, would anyone watch it?

One of ESPN's stars its first year on the air was a Las Vegas sports handicapper named Gary Austin, who had his own weekly show on ESPN where he handicapped NFL games and offered other betting advice.

Austin, originally a sports bettor from Michigan with a couple of gambling arrests under his belt, first gained fame a year earlier, when he won a big NFL handicapping contest at the Castaways, a Vegas casino.

Off the publicity of his big win, he started his own tout service, The Austin Edge, and sold his predictions on football games and other sporting events to sports bettors.

Then ESPN offered him a show, and his fame skyrocketed.


Eventually, though, as happens with all TV shows, Austin's ESPN gig was cancelled.


He needed another gig, preferably one involving his favorite pastime, sports betting.

So in 1981, with assistance from another tout, Jim Feist, Austin opened his own sportsbook in Las Vegas, called, appropriately enough, Gary Austin's Race & Sports Book.

Located on Las Vegas Boulevard--the famed Vegas Strip--directly across from Caesars Palace, Austin's book quickly became one of the most popular books in town.

The popularity mainly came from the fact that a celebrity--Austin--was usually there, and Joe Average bettors from Iowa could rub elbows with him, discuss sports betting and take the tale home.

But it was also popular because it was so bettor-friendly.

There were no betting limits--you could wager as much on a game as you wanted, as long as you had the cash.

And if you were a professional gambler--the kind who made his living at sports betting and won consistently--no worries, Gary wasn't going to ban you.

Things were going along swimmingly until one day in October of 1985, just after the World Series ended.

Bettors showed up at Gary Austin's Race & Sports Book that morning to collect on winning wagers and make new bets and were shocked to find a handwritten notice on the front door of the book announcing that due to an armed robbery the day before, the book was now pemanently closed.

And not only could no more winning sports bet tickets be cashed in at the book, it turned out that all monies in bettors' telephone wagering accounts--a total of more than $1 million--was also lost forever.

Rumors quickly began to spread throughout Las Vegas that the robbery was a scam, executed by Austin himself to cover huge losses he personally suffered wagering on the just-completed World Series, in which the Kansas City Royals defeated the St. Louis Cardinals.

But the book was now shuttered and Austin was nowhere to be found.

No police report was ever filed about the incident, no suspects were ever questioned, no one was ever arrested and none of the stolen money was ever recovered.

To this day, the truth about what really happened has never been revealed--it truly remains an Unsolved Mystery of the Gambling World.

At least the truth hasn't been revealed by Austin, who after the "robbery" surfaced in Costa Rica, from where he owned and operated several offshore sportsbooks, including a well-known one named Tradewinds.

Austin, now twice-divorced, still lives in Costa Rica, in an $8 million mansion with full security, and is still involved in the offshore bookmaking trade, although he tries to keep under the radar.

He still owes a lot of money to a lot of people, and a lot of people would like to see him dead.

So what really happened--or didn't happen--on that October day, almost 30 years ago?

Will we ever know?

One man has a theory, and he very well may be the only person other than Austin with knowledge of the incident, or non-incident, as the case may be.

At the same time Austin was running his own sportsbook, the sportsbook at the Stardust casino in Las Vegas was being run by a man named Scott Schettler.


Now retired from that job, Schettler is now a columnist for Gaming Today, a weekly Las Vegas newspaper that covers the town's gambling and entertainment scenes.


Six months ago, Schettler penned a column about Austin and the "robbery" and surmised what he really thinks went down.
"The bulk of the phone accounts let their money sit there to bet with," Schettler wrote in the March 10, 2015 edition of Gaming Today. "The problem came when Gary used that same money to bet with. It all came crashing down during the 1985 Kansas City/St. Louis World Series won by the Royals. He overextended himself. He loaded up on St. Louis in Game 6.


"His Cardinals were up 1-0 in the ninth, but a blown call by the first base umpire Don Denkinger, a foul ball that fell between two Cardinals and a subsequent single gave the Royals a 2-1 victory. Gary was close to tapioca-- tapped out. In a few days a sign appeared on the closed front door of Gary Austin’s Race & Sportsbook announcing they had to close due to a robbery.


"Not the robbery at first base in the ninth but the sportsbook itself was allegedly robbed at gunpoint. It was impossible to find one living human who believed that. Everyone got stiffed except a few bettors with muscle behind them."
By Tom Somach


Gambling 911 Staff Writer
tomsomach@yahoo.com

 

Gambling News

How to Withdraw Funds From Online Casinos?

Navigating the world of online gambling, especially when it comes to withdrawing your winnings, can seem daunting at first. However, with the right knowledge and understanding, the process can be smooth and secure.

Syndicate