Going back to a time when Vegas was just getting started on taking bets on NHL games.

They bet hockey, don’t they?

They do in Las Vegas, where there are some 30 legal bet shops, almost all of which handle NHL games.

It wasn’t that way five years ago, when only a smattering of bet shops bothered with the NHL. Most of the bigger gaming establishments wouldn’t touch hockey.

Now, you can walk into the majestic Mirage Hotel and Casino—site of the recent Mike Tyson-Razor Rud-dock fight—and wager up to $10,000 on any NHL game. For those with thinner wallets, the minimum bet is a mere $10.

Bets are made in the Mirage’s spacious sports betting area. It features a huge odds board, and an entire wall of theatre-sized television screens, at least one of which is always tuned to hockey.

What turned bettors on to hockey?

“I think it had a lot to do with Wayne Gretzky,” said Ted Shively, the Mirage’s hockey expert. “Gretzky coming to Los Angeles made bettors more aware of hockey.”

Shively is neatly groomed and fashionably attired, unlike the unkempt, cigar-chomping bookmakers of old. He hails from Buffalo, and spent many a Sunday night at the Auditorium, home of the Sabres.

“I used to watch Hockey Night In Canada all the time too,” he recalled.

Things are really hopping at the Mirage on Saturdays, when almost all of the NHL’s 21 teams are in action. Shively figures he handles between $30,000 and $40,000 on NHL games every Saturday. While that can’t compare to basketball, which is at least 10 times as popular as hockey, it’s still a tidy sum.

It has been a profitable season for the Mirage, highlighted by a game played between the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota North Stars in mid-February.

The Wings were favored by a goal—the home team is usually the betting choice in hockey, because home sides win more often than not.

“A guy came in wanting to bet $20,000 on Detroit,” said Shively. “That’s a little steep for us, but we took it after checking with the higher-ups.”

The Wings were never in the game, losing 3-0 to the surging Stars.

While hockey is catching on with bettors, it isn’t because of anything the NHL is doing. The league wants no part of the Las Vegas scene. Other pro sports leagues feel the same.

“They turn their heads to us,” Shively said. “But it would hurt them if we disappeared. Especially sports like football, which is huge here.”

Next door to the Mirage is the celebrated Caesars Palace, home of the $100 slot machine and the $1,000 suite.

Like the Mirage, Caesars handles all NHL games. However, it also offers a couple of “propositions” that can’t be found elsewhere.

Recently, Caesars had a line up to capitalize on the interest surrounding St. Louis Blues’ sniper Brett Hull. Caesars speculated that Hull would score between 88 and 89 goals this season, so compromised by posting the number 88½.

Bettors were invited to wager whether he would surpass that number (by scoring 89 or more goals), or come up short of it (by scoring 88 or fewer). That’s what Vegas calls “over-under” betting.

Popular at this time of year are odds to win the Stanley Cup, hockey’s biggest prize. Most bet shops have what they call a Stanley Cup “future book”.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to win the Cup are the frontrunning Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings. While each team has perhaps one chance in four or five of going all the way, bet shops aren’t giving any-thing away.

The best odds available for the Hawks and Kings are 2 to 1. One establishment, the Frontier, had the Hawks at the ridiculous price of 3 to 5, suggesting that Chicago only has to show up to claim the Cup.

A far-from-complete survey of betshop operators suggests the Boston Bruins will win their first Cup since 1972, when the legendary Bobby Orr was in his prime. The best odds found for the Bruins are 4 to 1.

“I think the top choices are going to beat up on each other,” said Jay Kornegay of the Imperial Palace, just across the street from Caesars. “The Bruins are motivated, too, because they came so close last year, losing in the final.”

“Of course, I’d like to get at least 5 to I odds on them.” Not in Vegas, he won’t.

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