Vinny Magliulo is VSiN's VP of strategic partnerships and marketing.
Also the vice president of corporate relations for Las Vegas Dissemination Company (founded and owned by John Gaughan), Magliulo directed two major sports books during his 38 years of experience in the casino industry. From 1986 to 2000, he was at Caesars Palace, starting as a supervisor and finishing as vice president of race and sports for seven years. He left to for the Wynn Las Vegas, where he was responsible for the design and opening of the race and sports book. In his current role, he oversees the relationship agreements between the LVDC and the member companies of the Nevada Pari-Mutuel Association and various other casinos outside of the state. He is also the sports book director for Gaughan Gaming.
As one of the preeminent bookmakers in the industry, he has appeared on national and international TV and radio programs, including the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, The Late Show with David Letterman, ESPN, Fox Sports and Telemundo. In 2001, he joined Jimmy Vaccaro, Rich Baccellieri and several other prominent colleagues as on-air talent for The Linemakers, which aired on the Velocity channel and originated from the South Point. Magliulo has made presentations to security divisions of the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and NCAA.
Magliulo earned an associate degree from Suffolk County Community College in Long Island, N.Y. in 1978 and an executive certificate in business management from Pepperdine University in 1999. He and his wife, Leslee, have one son and one daughter, both UNLV graduates.
Odds and ends . . .
"Every big fight at Caesars was a mega event. My favorite fight was Sugar Ray Leonard-Marvin Hagler in April 1987. It was a comeback for Sugar Ray, and Hagler was very popular. Hagler was a 3-1 favorite. There was great action. It was one of the great betting fights of all time, controversy aside. Leonard won the fight by split decision. After the fight, we showed it again in the book. Even though the results were known, it was standing room only and people were cheering the entire fight like it was live.
"I enjoyed Sugar Ray the most because he was very smooth, he was focused, he was committed. He had enough power, but I thought he exemplified the science of it and the art of the sport.
"The worst beating on a fight was Holyfield-Tyson I in November 1996. That’s the most I ever lost on an event. If you took all of our properties, we lost around $1 million. It was bad for everybody. Tyson opened as a huge favorite. The MGM opened him 20-1, and I think we opened it 6-1. That fight closed less than 2-1. The first bet we took was for six figures on Tyson, but after that we couldn’t get a bet on Iron Mike. That happens sometimes in this business. You don’t cry or complain; you pay with a smile, say congrats and know people will bet it back.
"In 1978, I was going to UNLV by day and Michael Gaughan-Frank Toti’s dealing school by night. I studied dice because it was the most difficult game to learn and master. Michael said, ‘If you learn dice, you can learn all the games, kid.’ So that’s what I did.
"My first job was in the Royal Inn on Convention Center Drive. I was a dice dealer. I worked there from November 1978 to late February 1979, and then I moved to the Barbary Coast, and I was there on March 2, 1979, on opening night. My first job in a sports book was at Caesars.
"Horse racing is in my blood. I’m partial to Belmont Park because I grew up in Brooklyn. I had several uncles who were personally responsible for many backstretch renovations there by virtue of their donations. The first time I was at the track I was 9 years old. I went with my uncle Tony. That was Belmont.
"One of the early impressions of sports wagering for me was Super Bowl III. I remember seeing in the paper the Jets were 18-point ‘dogs to the Colts. I said to my father, ‘So the Jets are already winning the game 18-0. The Jets can lose but we can still win, right?’
"Technically, I guess the first event I ever booked was the 1969 World Series between the Mets and Orioles. I went to Catholic school, and the nuns at my school were Orioles fans from Baltimore. At that time, the World Series was still during the day and during school. The nuns were talking trash. So I bet the nuns the Mets would win the World Series. So here was the bet: If I won, I would get free milk for month - you had to buy your milk for 10 cents - and if the Orioles won, I had to stay for a month’s worth of Friday detentions to clean the blackboards. Needless to say, I drank a lot of milk in the fall of 1969.
"But guess what, I still got detention for gambling on campus."
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