Sports book offers creative and oftime obscure wagers

Hidden among betting sheets for football, baseball, auto racing and golf at the Grand Sierra Resort is an obscure prop used by Joe Asher, the 40-year-old president and chief executive officer of Brandywine Bookmaking, to draw more business to Lucky's Race and Sports Book in the GSR.

Titled A-Rod/Madonna, the betting sheet proposes odds for the number of home runs New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez will hit before aging pop starlet Madonna turns 50 on August 16. It's the type of creative wagering Asher feels will separate his northern Nevada ventures

Brandywine also manages sports books at the Red Lion Inn and High

Desert Inn in Elko and is set to take over the betting operations in September at Casino Fandango in Carson City from other casinos.

"Nobody does anything like this," says Asher, a former lawyer for a financial services company. "We really try to be creative in our wagering menu."

Other creative prop bets include first-inning wagering on baseball games for gamblers lacking the patience to wait out nine innings, and a NASCAR quinella the first two drivers to finish a race. And if a particular bet isn't offered, Asher says just ask, and if there is any way he can establish a line he'll take wagers.

Brandywine, which also manages the sports book at the Plaza in Las Vegas, is a new player in the Nevada gaming industry. Asher founded the company roughly a year ago using convertible debt after starting up a gaming division for his former employer but he's no newcomer to sports wagering.

Asher says that some of his earliest childhood memories are of attending horse races with his father at the long-closed Brandywine Race Track in Delaware. His first job was at the track, and he began announcing races at age 18. He worked in the legal field for eight years after earning a degree from the University of Delaware, but says he was happier reading the Daily Racing Form than legal opinions.

"I would rather sit in a sports book than a law office," he says. "It's my environment."

Brandywine manages its betting lines statewide from a 3,000-square-foot business hub at Sierra Rose Drive in Reno. The company employs six odds makers. Asher says Larry Woolf of Navegante, which manages the Grand Sierra Resort, facilitated Brandywine's entry into northern Nevada and also introduced him to representatives of Olympia Gaming, operators of Casino Fandango. Woolf also manages the Red Lion Inn.

"I talked to him about the vision of my business, and he became my first customer," Asher says.

Asher has no immediate plans to expand Brandywine Bookmaking in northern Nevada; rather, he's willing to be patient and wait for more premier opportunities such as the GSR and Casino Fandango.

"It's not about having a large number of properties, it's about having the right number in the right locations. The Red Lion Inn is the nicest property in Elko; I can't imagine doing another property in Elko.

"In Reno, the Grand Sierra is a first-class property," he adds. "We will be very selective when we look at other locations in this area.

"And in Carson City, Casino Fandango by far is the nicest property. I can't imagine we will do anything else in Carson City.

"I know I cannot have 50 locations across the state and devote my time and attention.

I am a big believer in attention to detail."