October is known for a lot of things. The nights are cooler, leaves are changing colors, and all four major sports are playing at the same time. The first full month of fall is the biggest month for Major League Baseball, and that means more business for sports books. Eric Dale is the Vice President of Gaming Operations for the Nugget Casino Resort. He says baseball bets increase, this month, despite the field narrowing to eight teams.
"When you finally get it down to four games a night, it will go up 10x because of the fact that we can focus on it," Dale said.
Baseball fans showed up at the Nugget's sportsbook, early Thursday afternoon, to place their bets on the ALDS game between the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays. They say October baseball is on a different level.
"There's nothing like the playoffs, where every pitch means something," Rick Wohlgemuth, Sparks resident said. "If you're watching game 84 in the regular season, yeah they're trying to win but every pitch isn't really important. Every pitch means something in the baseball playoffs."
This is also the only month of the year for fans to bet on the four major sports.
"Preseason basketball, full-on hockey, full-on football, full-on baseball playoffs. This is the peak time of the year for our sportsbook, for sure," Dale said.
The increase of betting options means fans find creative ways to place their bets, mixing and matching their parlay cards.
"If you love Chicago and you want to bet a Bulls game, with a Bears game, with a Blackhawks game, these guys like booking any action they can get," Dale said.
Of course, football is the most popular sport for bettors. Dale says business has gotten even better since Thursday Night Football was established. This week's game, between the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans is expected to get plenty of people through the doors of the sportsbook.
"Now, people are in the book on Thursday and people are staying over and they can't cash their tickets 'til Monday because they've got the Monday night game on their parlay or that's the only game they wanted to bet," Dale said.
NFL and college football games are televised almost every day of the week. Fans have taken notice.
"It makes it more interesting," Tom Swickard of Milford, California said. "Especially, when you got a little wager on the game."
