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One of the two cellular phones on Bud's butcher-block table was lying atop his kid's geometry homework. And of course, it was ringing.
It was 3 p.m. Sunday, three hours and 18 minutes before Super Bowl kickoff. The caller wanted the point spreads for some college basketball games. A bookie for more than 20 years, Bud - which is not his real name - gave the caller a list of spreads and even told him which games were televised and on which channel.
"Look,'' he said after hanging up, pointing to the $990 figure he had jotted down in a notebook filled with names and numbers, "he just bet $1,000 . . . and he hasn't even made a play on the Super Bowl.''
That's why Bud has been able to support his kids, own a home and drive a nice vehicle for two decades - all without punching a time clock or fighting rush-hour traffic. His office is his kitchen, where he takes bets from about 80 people, including other bookies.
For the recreational gambler, the gambling junkie and even the professional gambler, Super Bowl Sunday is nirvana. It's only one game, but many bookies will offer "exotic'' wagers, enabling gamblers to bet on everything from the opening coin toss to which team will score last.
"People tend to bet more on this game,'' said Vince, one of three underlings Bud employs to take wagers. Vince tugged hard on a menthol cigarette as he and Bud laughed about the bookie business and discussed what they would eat for dinner while watching the game.
Though Bud was reluctant to say how much in total wagers he would record in his notebook Sunday, Vince said the figure would approach $50,000. Should too many bets go to one team, Bud said, they'll "lay off,'' or pass the action to another bookie to ease the risk.
Bud's phones rang about every two minutes - slow for a weekend. That's characteristic of Super Bowl Sundays, when betting lines are posted early and bettors have all day to place wagers, he said.
Still, the Super Bowl, which Bud said is the biggest single game for gambling, brings gamblers out of the woodwork. There are some bettors who only bet the Super Bowl, and regulars who place their biggest wager of the year on the game.
He said his client list includes people throughout the Capital Region, from the unemployed to businessowners and other prominent professionals. It also includes people who have no business placing a bet because, as Bud puts it, "They can't go to their top dresser drawer and take out the money to pay their debt.''
What about watching the game for the sake of cheering for your favorite team? Forget about it, Bud said. "If you couldn't bet on football, hardly anybody would watch it,'' he insists, saying the recent NBA lockout "enabled me to spend more time with my kids.''
Betting on the Super Bowl may be widespread, but gambling is still against the law. State Police in Loudonville have a special unit assigned to investigate gambling and illegal bookmakers. Investigators there estimate local bookmakers may take about $2 million in wagers on the Super Bowl, and probably between $5 million and $10 million a year.
The New York Council on Problem Gambling Inc. has long said that gambling can become a dangerous addiction. The group offers a help line for people concerned about their gambling: 1-800-437-1611.
The next caller, who Bud said has been placing bets with him for 18 years, wagered $385 on Atlanta, a 7.5-point underdog in Sunday's game. He then bet four afternoon horse races at Aqueduct.
If either of those callers lose and have trouble paying their debt, Bud said nobody is going to break their kneecaps or threaten their children.
"The only guys who do that are idiots,'' Bud said.
Being a bookie, he said, means you simply accept the fact that many bettors, especially addicted gamblers, will not be able to pay, or simply won't.
A prominent high school basketball coach once placed bets with Bud for several months, he said, winning several thousand dollars. When he started losing, though, Bud said he stopped calling.
Bud called him at home, inquiring about the coach's unpaid gambling debt.
"He said, 'Are you threatening me on the telephone?' '' Bud recalled. "I hung up. There was four dimes ($4,000) down the drain.''
Bookies call them "stiffs,'' he said. The only recourse you have is to cut off their lines of credit and let other bookies know they are deadbeats.
A few years ago, Bud said he tried to create a Capital Region database for local bookies so they would know who owed who what, and who was likely not to pay. The idea stayed on the drawing board but hasn't really caught on, he said.
Though cases are rare, State Police investigators said that bookies who threaten stiffs are out there.
Last year, a Rensselaer County man was charged with grand larceny by extortion for allegedly threatening to harm a bettor who owed him $2,500, according to police.
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