Inter Milan brass taking massive gamble with Balotelli sale

Soccer Betting Lines

07/26/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With reports surfacing that Inter Milan are prepared to transfer Mario Balotelli to Manchester City for a fee in the range of 30 million Euros, the young star's tumultuous time with the club seems to be at an end.

The 19-year-old Balotelli is a supremely gifted player with the ability to use his strength and quickness to elude opponents and create quality scoring opportunities. Even at a young age, the skill set the young Italian possesses is of an elite nature.

Should Balotelli continue to progress, he could eventually become one of the best players in the world, a factor that makes his sale a reluctant one for Inter. It should be noted that Inter does not need to sell Balotelli at this point as a result of any financial constraints - they're choosing to because of issues with his character.

While Balotelli does possess top-level skill, his mental stability and petulant behavior has caused concerns in Milan, so much so that some fellow teammates reportedly want to see him removed from the team's roster. Spats with Inter fans and former coach Jose Mourinho are well-documented, while his appearance on national television wearing heated rival AC Milan's jersey did not sit well with Inter supporters, to say the least.

So intense were his issues with Mourinho that he was benched for long stretches throughout the season, the last for throwing his jersey on the ground after fans booed him for a poor display in a Champions League match against Barcelona.

Balotelli is without question lacking maturity at this point in his career, yet it didn't stop some of the top clubs in Europe from inquiring about his services. The growing pains for Balotelli have been a constant throughout his career, but were not surprising given that he's been under the microscope since the age of 17.

His conflicts with coaches and fellow players are alarming, but will likely lessen once Balotelli matures in age and is taken under the wing by an established soccer mind. Balotelli's former Inter coach and current Manchester boss Roberto Mancini seems adept at taking on such a challenge and it's one that could reap huge benefits for both Balotelli and Mancini.

Considering his age, the risk of bringing in Balotelli from a Manchester City point-of-view is minimal, and the club's new owners have declared they'll spend whatever money is necessary to compete in the English Premier League, along with contending in other European competitions.

The risk is much greater for Inter, considering the club's reputation in parts of Italy. With a roster boasting very few Italian players, the sale of Balotelli will likely not sit well with purists who believe Italian clubs should groom their own home-grown players over foreigners. While the sale amount of 30 million Euros is nothing to groan about, if Balotelli is able to put both his mental and physical game together, he will likely be worth double that amount in a few short years.

With Rafa Benitez taking over the club from departed manager Jose Mourinho, the opportunity is there for a fresh start for Balotelli at Inter. The Spanish manager has the chance to instill a vote of confidence in the young star that he felt was waning with Mourinho. Whether or not Balotelli has burned too many bridges over the last few seasons to make that possibility a reality is questionable at this point. One thing that's not in question is Balotelli's skill set, but whether he takes advantage of such talent is squarely on the shoulders of the young Italian himself.

It's said that patience is a virtue and, in the case of Balotelli, it could prove either a catastrophic risk or magnificent judgement. At this point, it seems to be a 50-50 proposition but one that could see Manchester City benefit much more than Inter Milan, should the sale go through.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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