LAS VEGAS — Southern California handicapper Tommy Lorenzo gave us Detroit pitcher Tarik Skubal to win the AL Cy Young Award before the first pitch of the 2024 season.
On one of his frequent jaunts to Vegas, he nabbed a 25-to-1 ticket. I was fortunate to get 30-1 odds on Skubal dominating.
As Skubal fooled foe after foe, Lorenzo sought to further wet his beak with action on the Tigers’ exceptional lefty. By then, though, Skubal’s odds had been whittled to 17-1.
So Lorenzo reached into his repertoire and played, what I have come to call, a ToLo Special. At Circa Sports, he parlayed those 17-1 odds to action on a US team winning the Stanley Cup, creating a 33-1 ticket.
The Florida-Edmonton Final went to Game 7. Both scored in the first period, and Panthers center Sam Reinhart found the net late in the second period. The Panthers hung on, making Lorenzo’s ticket a winner.
He’d also bought one for a neighbor, and they rode a roller-coaster on the backyard patio of his Southern California home for about an hour that Monday night of June 24, 2024.
“The Stanley Cup is such a fantastic event to watch, anyway, but I had that ticket,” Lorenzo says. “The memory of us sitting on my patio and us going crazy is something I’ll never forget. I was on the edge of my seat.
“I don’t think anyone had such a unique ticket, Skubal winning Cy Young and an American team winning the Stanley Cup.”
International flavor
On Nov. 1, I invested in Team Canada, at +160 (or risk $100 to win $160), to win the upcoming Olympics tournament in Italy.
In February, I had the Canadians to win the 4 Nations Face-Off, which they did by an overtime whisker over the US in Boston. So backing them again was easy.
Nineteen days later, I grabbed Samurai Japan, at +270, to win the 2026 World Baseball Classic. In 2023, it won the WBC when Shohei Ohtani whiffed Mike Trout in a climactic thriller.
Again, supporting a squad that had delivered previous futures dividends didn’t require much thought. However, I did ponder how to extract more value from both tickets, and I happened to be texting with Lorenzo.
Voila! I combined Japan with Canada to produce a +900 ticket at Circa’s outlet inside the Silverton Casino.
Four days later, Ohtani announced his
return to Samurai Japan, a move that no doubt will draw other elite countrymen to that roster.
After more discussion with Lorenzo, I returned to that Circa shop to expand my future-parlays portfolio with abandon.
A bigger payday
Lorenzo once only dabbled with future parlays via offshore sites. His California betting options, of course, were limited to that route and a local bookie or two.
He has a successful business career in Southern California; thus, he’s a unique source with an alias. A regular Vegas visitor, he welcomed the opening of the downtown Circa and its sportsbook on Oct. 28, 2020.
The property ensured that it had the proper hardware to handle future-parlay requests on Day One.
“No other place in Vegas was offering them, at that time,” Lorenzo says. “I wanted to parlay the March Madness winner to the Super Bowl victor, but that had never been readily available.
“Circa was the first one that really started that. Every trip I make to Vegas, I parlay futures because they offer it.”
Jeffrey Benson, the director of operations for Circa’s hotel, casino and sportsbook, has taken positions in the futures-parlay market.
“When I think there’s an edge, definitely,” he says. “They get consistent action and are popular. When you have really good future prices, being able to put them into a parlay and get even more attractive long-shot odds resonates with people.
“Instead of betting $25,000 on something at +200, adding a couple of those plays together you can get to those bigger payouts without having to outlay a huge amount of capital.”
Happy listeners
Of course, hitting one futures ticket is reason to celebrate. Combining such action makes a payoff geometrically more difficult, a challenge that Lorenzo relishes.
He produces a popular — and free — ‘‘Cover the Weekend’’ podcast, which presents actionable plays for the upcoming weekend.
For an additional $19 monthly fee, which will never increase, he offers a digital subscription service in which extra selections are emailed to patrons. He has declined ad and sponsor inquiries.
As thank-you gestures for loyal subscribers, he routinely doles out future parlays as thank-you gestures. Some can cost $20 or $40, but he always seeks to concoct a payoff close to $1,000.
He visits Vegas at least every other month, and he always heads home with a handful of tickets for listeners.
“Not every week is honey and roses,” Lorenzo says. ‘‘Some are tough. I love winning bets, but I also enjoy seeing other people hit them, too. Nothing makes me happier.”
Shopping spree
I bought 25 additional future-parlay positions last weekend, most being leveraged to Japanese baseball, Canadian hockey, and Ohio State or Indiana winning the college football crown.
Plus, I personally like Spain to continue a fabulous international run in this summer’s World Cup.
However, in deference to lifelong pal and US Soccer Hall of Fame defender Paul
Caligiuri, who favors France, I’ve got Les Bleus subbed in for Spain on several tickets.
Some tie Samurai Japan, in the WBC, to the Dodgers winning the ’26 World Series. I got better than 270-1 odds on Japan baseball, Buckeyes football, the Dodgers, Thunder hoops and Spanish soccer.
Japan, Canada, Ohio State, Dodgers and France is 936-1, while Japan, Dodgers, France and Hoosiers football is 462-1.
Goofball stuff, but much of it is chalk. I’ll follow the master slate, on a yellow legal pad, to time it all and gauge potential hedges.
Swinging for fences
I count Lorenzo among the savviest handicappers I’m fortunate to know. That he delves in such action is not only refreshing to me, but reinforces what should be a main goal in sports gambling.
It should be fun.
“One hundred percent,” Lorenzo says. “So many people like to flex, on social media, or wherever. But for many, this is a hobby. I don’t fish. Don’t golf. So this is mixed in with something I love doing, watching sports.”
Two weeks ago, Inter Miami made him sweat the entire MLS Cup finale before a very late goal clinched its 3-1 triumph over Vancouver. Georgia winning the football title would complete that futures parlay for Lorenzo.
On another, he had the Eagles winning the past Super Bowl to the Dodgers winning the World Series. On yet another, he had the +240 Thunder winning the NBA to the +180 Dodgers and, at 10-1, the Rams winning the NFC.
“That’s 103-to-1,” Lorenzo says. “I pushed it a little bit with the Rams. Now I can hedge or just sit back and see if the Rams can get there. They’re looking good.
“It’s capital F-U-N. Put $15 on that above wager and the payout is more than $1,500! To me, it’s one of the funner type of bets. You don’t have to lay a lot to swing for the fences.”