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A17
SPORTS Saturday 1 april 2017

Las Vegas

oddsmakers
favor Chicago MASTER

Cubs to repeat

in 2017

REGINA GARCIA CANO PASS
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Chi-
cago Cubs have already
broken the curse and won
a World Series.
Now, oddsmakers in Las
Vegas predict the team
will become only the third
in almost 40 years to win it
a second straight time.
The city’s sports books like
the team to win it all, with
some making the Cubs a
7-2 favorite. Other favorites
are the Cleveland Indians,
Boston Red Sox and Los
Angeles Dodgers.
“It’s a team that wasn’t
built for the short run; it was
built for the long run, and
they have the capabil-
ity of being a strong con-
tender for years to come,”
Jay Kornegay, sports book
director at the Westgate
Las Vegas, said about the
Cubs. “I’m not saying it’s a
dynasty, but it’s certainly
looking like it could be.”
The Cubs, who open
against the Cardinals in St.
Louis on Sunday, are 7-2
favorites at Westgate, fol-
lowed by the Indians at 5-1
after opening at 12-1.
The American Gaming As-
sociation has estimated
that $36.5 billion will be
wagered on Major League
Baseball this year, most of
it illegally through offshore
websites and bookies.
Sports bettors in Las Ve-
gas have always loved the
Cubs. Even when they had Tiger Woods unsurprisingly won’t play Masters
no chance to make it to
the World Series, people
would put money on them. In this April 13, 1997, file photo, Tiger Woods celebrates
a Masters win at the Augusta National Golf Club in Au-
gusta, Ga. It has been 20 years since Woods won the
Continued on Page 22 Masters for the first time by a record 12 shots.
Associated Press
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