Trials and Tribulations of the “Vegas Man” known as Jimmy the Greek (part 1)

Jimmy brought further legitimacy to gambling and sports in America

Known to US gambling news, bookmaking rose to prominence after the re emergence of horse racing. After the peri muteul gambling, bookmakers concentrated towards sports betting. The practice would make bookmakers legitimate as they were able to organize more stable betting through the use of the point spread. Nowadays bookmaking which involves the ability to look at statistics, set a betting line and establish odds are invaluable skills that are esteemed.

• Jimmy had the gift of doing mathematical calculation in head
• Jimmy made his his first wager of USD 80 on a horse at the Kentucky Derby
• Jimmy won USD 62,000 against Notre Dame equivalent to USD 800,000 today

No other individual in the latter part of the 20th century nor has brought more commercial prominence to sports betting as Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder. This handicapper carried with him a style that gave him instant credibility and would bring him to the every living room through his television spot on CBS. From then on, everyday people were talking about the “line” and Jimmy’s sports picks.

Along the banks of Steubenville, the Greek was born

Steubenville, Ohio, a blue-collar town on the banks of the river is where Jimmy grew up. Although gambling and prostitution was illegal, most grew up didn’t realizing it was against US gambling laws. Many people including police had involvement with some form of gambling or another. Jimmy was born, Dimetrios Georgio Synodino, in 1918.
Jimmy’s gambling career began when Jimmy was 13 year old. At that time, during the 1930’s, there were only 11 bookmaking places.

Jimmy, having an insatiable appetite for this atmosphere, worked in the bookmaking places doing everything from sweeping the floor to helping collect bets. This eventually led him to drop out of school after 10th grade. Jimmy had the gift of doing mathematical calculation in head. In 1934, Jimmy took what little money he had, forged his father’s signature to get a bit more money from his bank account and made his first wager of USD 80 on a horse at the Kentucky Derby.

The horse Jimmy selected, Calvin King, won the race by two and half lengths. From then on, Jimmy was “hooked” on gambling for life. His father would soon discover his son’s skills when he saw USD 1,400 Jimmy was carrying. Upon realizing the money came from gambling, his father struck and forbade him to do it again. A week later, Jimmy’s father asked him for USD 1,000.

His son gladly gave him the money and started calling his father by “George”, his first name. Gambling on everything, Jimmy was beyond addiction and took on a lifestyle in which he would live for the moment. To add to his repertoire, Jimmy began to study people and took pride on being able to read people for the information he needed.

Gambling became a permanent fixture in Jimmy’s life

<img src="/images/newsimages/Jimmythegreekyoung.jpg" title=" ESPN documentary: The Legend of Jimmy the Greek” alt=”Jimmy Snyder young”>

Jimmy would go to the strain station and pay porters on trains coming and going from all routes to pick up newspapers everywhere they went. Studying these papers from cities all over the country, Jimmy took notes on all the “small facts” that most people couldn’t learn from radio. Jimmy would learn about games, the players, their personal relationships and drama in order to properly predict the outcomes of games. Jimmy would be the first person to establish the betting line in pro football in 1940.

In 1945, Notre Dame had a perfect season and Jimmy, normally feeling the underdog and having a hunch, bet on the opposite team Great Lakes in the last game of their season. The 17-point favorite Notre Dame had odds in their favor that Jimmy found too unrealistic after talking to area locals. Putting all his money on Great Lakes, Jimmy won USD 62,000 which was today’s equivalent of USD 800,000.

In addition, Walter Witchell, a writer, published in his small column the account of a young Greek kid, who went against all the oddsmakers and won. After being referred to in the column as the Greek from Stuebenville, the name Jimmy “the Greek” took a hold. In 1948, the presidential election took place between Harry S. Truman and Thomas Dewey. Jimmy, at that time, suggested having a moustache. Upon his sister saying “women don’t like moustaches”, Jimmy formed a hunch about the election.

It was well known that Truman wasn’t “very well liked” during that time and that Dewey had a moustache. Furthering his need for information, Jimmy hired three women to stand out in front of shops and ask women to take polls about men who had moustaches. Revealing that three out of four women said they didn’t favor men with moustaches, Jimmy placed USD 10,000 at 17 to one odds that Truman would win. Not only did Truman win, Jimmy would make a sound USD 170,000 and gambling news as well.