The Theodore Newsletter

June 1, 2024

Traditional gambling generally refers to the wagering of money on a yet-to-be determined event or outcome that may be dependent on either chance or skill, or both. Casino roulette is a game of chance, while poker is primarily a game of skill. Gambling on athletic sporting events, such as football, basketball, baseball, etc., is generally viewed as involving both skill and chance. On to “boxes,” the title of this article, which are strictly a game of chance.

One of the major sports gambling options is to buy a “box” in a uniquely arranged square, usually referred to as the pool. An example of a pool is shown in Figure 1 for a Giant-Jet football game. As can be seen, there are 100 boxes. If each box costs $10, the total cash pool is $1,000. The individual who correctly selects the box with the last digit of the final score for each team takes home the bacon, i.e., wins the $1,000. If the final score is Jets 22/Giants 7, the owner of the shaded box is the winner. Scores, such as Jets 12/Giants 2, or Jets 22/Giants 37, would also serve as winners for that box.

N E W    Y O R K     J E T S
N E W Y O R K   G I A N T S		0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	0
	1
	2
	3
	4
	5
	6
	7
	8
	9

      Figure 1: Sample Box

However, employing the format in Figure 1 does not provide each person buying a box with an equal chance of winning. Knowledgeable football fans would immediately realize that the best numbers to select in a football pool are 0 and 7, whereas the worst are 2, 5, and 8; therefore, the arrangement of the boxes as in Figure 1 does not provide each bettor with an equal chance to win. This bias can be removed, and the bet reduced to one solely of chance by assigning the numbers to each team in a random manner after individuals have paid and selected a box. The bias-removing procedure most often used is to write numbers from 0 to 9 (each) on a piece of paper. The 10 pieces of paper are then randomly drawn from a container and sequentially placed along the side of the square – first horizontally and then vertically. The result might look like Figure 2. Had the same box been selected earlier (see Figure 1), the bettor’s last team winning digits would be Giants 2/Jets 0, i.e., 2,0. A final score of Giants 42/Jets 30 would be a winner as would Giants 12/Jets 20.

  Figure 2: Sample Betting Box

N E W     Y O R K     J E T S
N E W Y O R K G I A N T S		2	3	0	9	8	1	7	5	6	4
	8
	0
	3
	4
	6
	1
	5
	2
	7
	9

Many gambling activities are available and legal in the U.S. However, the above form of gambling is not legal, although it is regularly practiced in private clubs, bars, parties, and homes with $ replaced by peanuts (or the equivalent) to legitimatize the activity. For example, the football boxes became an integral part of an annual party that I hosted at our home for the legendary Astoria Killeen’s Tavern basketball team of yesteryear (see also Basketball Coaching 101 by L. Theodore). One of the keys in this betting venture is to ensure that the individual running the box activity does it in a manner that is fair and that the odds are not heavily weighted in favor of the “concessionaire.” Generally, 5 to 10% of the total pool is considered reasonable compensation or takeout for running this “illegal” business / gambling activity. For whatever it’s worth, there was no takeout at our party, i.e., all of the money was returned to the winner.

The box activity has recently worked its way into other sports venues. And, believe this or not, the box activity is also part (recently) of gambling that takes place with the World Series. It’s just a matter of time before it works its way into all sports venues, and then onto casinos. Once again, it is the last digit of the final score of the game for each team that counts. Thus, the key box numbers for a winning final score of 20-3 is 0, 3.

What prompted the writing of this article? The Boy, the Queen and your favorite author recently shared one $10 box on the recent Superbowl at the Boy’s firehouse with the numbers 5 (KC) and 2 (SF). Remember my earlier comment that 2 and 5 are the worst numbers to draw in a football box investment. However, the final score was 25 (KC) and 22 (SF) and we wound up sharing $350.

In any event, football boxes are now commonplace. Now comes the main theme for this article – my thoughts on boxes for the future on other sports. I believe that boxes will soon be available on both basketball (both pros and college) and baseball (pros). Table 1 below provides my suggestions that includes (a) time interval, and (b) award split, based on a pool of $1,000. TBD refers to To Be Determined.

BASKETS:						BASEBALL:
(I)		(II)		(III)		(IV)
Pros		Colleges				Pros
(a) Quarter	(b) Award	(a) Quarter	(b) Award	(a)          Min	(b) Award	(a)         Inning	(b) Award
1/4	100			10	200	4th	200
1/2	200	1/2	400	20	2001	6th	200
3/4	200			30	200	8th	200
Final	400	Final	400	Final	400	9th	400
Overtime	TBD	OT	TBD	OT	TBD	Extra	TBD

                                                             Table 1: Futuristic Boxes 

  Note that the awards can be adjusted, e.g., the entire award could be based on the final score.

Note that there are four potential box options: Three (I-III) for basketball and one for baseball (IV). Here are some explanatory details: For (I), if the score after a quarter is 32-20, the winning numbers would be 2-0 with a $200 award. For II, if the halftime score is 48-45, the winning numbers would be 8-5 with a $400 award. For III, if the score after 30 minutes is 66-65, the winning numbers would be 6-5 with a $200 award. For IV, if the runs (R) hits (H) and errors (E) after 6 innings total 11 for one team and 7 for the other team, the winning numbers would be 1-7 with a $200 award. Note that both the quarters, minutes, and RHE can be changed, as well as the award / prize.

Folks, I’m fairly certain that it’s just a matter of time before “boxes” will become part of the betting venue at sportsbooks.

That’s it. What do you think? I’d love to hear from you!

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NEXT POSTINGS

JULY 1:                      On Purely Random, Pristine Thoughts XXXVII

AUGUST 1:                One Sleep Apnea II

SEPTEMBER 1:         On Vertigo

NOVEMBER 1:         On Hello Basketball, Goodbye Baseball

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 1st, 2024 at 6:00 am and is filed under Economics, Education, Gambling, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.