‘Bookie from Brooklyn’ reflects on Sports Gambling Hall of Fame career

When Wynn Las Vegas was under development in the early 2000s, Vinny Magliulo was a consultant for the sportsbook design.

A chance encounter with casino mogul Steve Wynn on the current site of the Wynn Golf Club turned into an impromptu job interview.

Wynn was testing swaths of artificial turf for his ultra-exclusive Fairway Villas, with his German shepherds by his side, when Magliulo walked over to say hello.

“Steve says, ‘So what do you think of our little project?’ I said, ‘Well, sir, there’s no question in my mind that not only is this going to set the new standard, as you’ve done in the past with The Mirage and Bellagio, but it’s going to revitalize the entire north end of the Strip,’” Magliulo said. “Steve says, ‘I already know all that. Tell me what you really think.’ So I said, ‘Well, sir, if you really want to know, you probably need a bookie from Brooklyn named Vinny to run your sportsbook.’

“He goes, ‘I love that.’ He hired me the next day.”

Magliulo, who rose to Caesars Palace sportsbook vice president during a 14-year run (1986-2000) at the property, oversaw the opening of the Wynn sportsbook and ran it for a year before returning to his current role as Gaughan Gaming sportsbook director.

He will be inducted into the Sports Gambling Hall of Fame at Circa on Friday, Aug. 7during a black-tie dinner to cap off the four-day BetBash sports betting networking conference.

“Vinny brought class to an industry sorely lacking it,” legendary Las Vegas oddsmaker Roxy Roxborough said.

Fellow Hall of Famers Richie Baccellieri and Jeff Whitelaw will present Magliulo for induction.

“He was a great spokesperson for the industry for close to 50 years. He was easily the best-dressed bookmaker in Nevada history. And he’s the epitome of class,” said Whitelaw, a pro sports bettor. “Everybody likes Vinny, be it his bosses, his employees, or the bettors. Vinny could easily talk to a $20 bettor as he could to a guy betting $100,000 a game.

“He was just a likable breath of fresh air in an industry that needed somebody clean and wholesome.”

Baccellieri was Magliulo’s right-hand man at Caesars.

“He was able to make both sides of the counter happy,” he said. “Management — you’ve got to make money — but you’ve also got to let the sharp guys eat.”

‘Special kind of zoo’

Magliulo — a Brooklyn, New York native who will turn 69 in August and has been in the business for 49 years — was introduced to gambling at a young age. He was 8 the first time he went to the racetrack at Belmont Park.

“My uncle Tony says to me, ‘Hey kid, you wanna get out of the house? Come on, we’ll take a ride. We’ll go see some animals.’ I said, ‘You mean like at the zoo?’ He said, ‘Sort of,’” he said. “So we’re driving and we pull in and I see this sign that says Belmont. I’m looking around and I say, ‘Uncle Tony, how come the only animals they got in this zoo are horses?’ He says, ‘It’s a very special kind of zoo.’”

A few years later, Magliulo was intrigued when he read in the New York Daily News that Jets quarterback Joe Namath had guaranteed victory in Super Bowl 3 despite being an 18-point underdog.

“I turned to my father and I say, ‘Pop, what’s the story with these 18 points? He says, ‘Well, your other uncle in Vegas and his buddies, they’re saying that the Jets are going to lose the game by at least 18 points,’” he said. “So I said, ‘Let me get this straight, pop. The Jets can lose, but we can still win?’

“My father looks at me and he goes, ‘No more going to the zoo with your uncle.’”

Betting with nuns

Later that year, Magliulo, 12 at the time, made bets on New York’s “Miracle Mets” to beat the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 World Series. With the nuns at his Catholic school.

“The nuns in my school were from outside of Baltimore so they’re talking about how the Orioles are going to destroy the Mets,” he said. “So I said to one of the nuns who happened to be the principal, ‘Sister, I think you’re wrong. I think the Mets are going to win. So how about we make a deal.’ She said, ‘What kind of deal?’

“I said, ‘If the Orioles win, I will stay for a month’s worth of detention. And if the Mets win, I get free milk with my lunch every day for a month. I know they’re underdogs. She said, ‘This is not gambling. It’s a deal.’”

After the Orioles won Game 1, the nun teased him on the playground.

“She’s talking trash and I said, ‘Sister, how’d you like to press it?’” he said. “’Let’s go for two months.’ She said, ‘Oh, this language. It’s a deal.’

“Needless to say, young Vinny Magliulo drank a lot of milk in the fall of 1969. But I still got detention for gambling on campus.”

Welcome to Las Vegas

Magliulo saw his future two years later, when he visited his uncle Dominic, his godfather, in Las Vegas.

“That was my introduction to Las Vegas,” he said. “He introduced me to (South Point owner) Michael Gaughan at the El Cortez on my 14th birthday. From that moment on, I knew that I was destined for Fremont Street and not Wall Street.”

He moved to Las Vegas for good at age 20 in 1978, when he attended UNLV during the day and Gaughan and Frank Toti’s school of dealing at night.

That led to his first job at the Royal Inn. He started working at the Barbary Coast as a dice dealer when it opened in 1979 and spent his breaks at the sportsbook.

“It just had an excitement to it that I gravitated to. It was everything that I love,” he said. “It was my love of sports and my love of gambling. And I was able to combine the two of them into my career.”

Magliulo said he was influenced by many prominent Las Vegas gambling figures during his time at the Barbary and beyond, including Jackie Gaughan, Jack Franzi, Bob Martin, Jimmy Vaccaro, Art Manteris, Chris Andrews, Johnny Avello and Roxborough.

“I just wanted to be around them and be a sponge, and they were great,” he said.

When Caesars Palace expanded its book in 1986, Magliulo moved across the street from the Barbary.

“One of the things that I wanted to do when I got in this business was to make sure I was mindful of the people that got it going and established it as a major part of the Las Vegas experience, and make sure that I made a contribution,” he said. “This Hall of Fame induction tells me that I did OK.

“I’ve had a great career but at the end of the day, the real Hall of Famers are my family (wife, Leslee, and their adult children, Vincent and Ellen), because without their support, it wouldn’t be possible.”

Caesars hosted some legendary boxing matches during his tenure, including Sugar Ray Leonard’s upset win over Marvelous Marvin Hagler in 1987.

“When we hosted those fights at Caesars, it was not only a great event for the property, but the energy really transcended the whole town,” Magliulo said.

Hulkamania running wild

Caesars also hosted WrestleMania 9 in 1993, when Magliulo was tasked with posting odds on the scripted matches for entertainment purposes only. But Hulk Hogan didn’t find it amusing when Magliulo made his tag team a slight underdog.

“I’m in my office behind the sportsbook counter and I start hearing this roar, and it’s getting louder and louder,” Magliulo said. “I look up and see this camera light coming from the other side of the counter. The next thing I know the back door bursts open and here comes Hulk Hogan and Randy “Macho Man” Savage in full-on spandex.

“Hulk Hogan is every bit of 6-6. He yells, ‘Where’s the oddsman? I want him now. Who dares to make the Hulkster an underdog?’ He’s looking right at me. And I said, ‘You just missed him. If you hurry, you’ll probably catch him right outside the book.’”