Lay the Favorite

A Memoir of Gambling

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Games, Gambling, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book Lay the Favorite by Beth Raymer, Random House Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Beth Raymer ISBN: 9781588369857
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group Publication: June 22, 2010
Imprint: Spiegel & Grau Language: English
Author: Beth Raymer
ISBN: 9781588369857
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication: June 22, 2010
Imprint: Spiegel & Grau
Language: English

“Beth Raymer’s crackling, hilarious memoir ricochets through the gambling underworld in Las Vegas, and is peopled with all manner of lovable wack-jobs, none of whom is quite as wacky—or lovable—as Raymer herself.”—Marie Claire

Beth Raymer waited tables at a dive in Las Vegas until a customer sent her to see Dink, of Dink Inc., one of the town’s biggest professional sports gamblers. Dink needed a right-hand man—someone who would show up on time, who had a head for numbers, and who didn’t steal. Beth got the job.

Lay the Favorite is the story of Beth’s years in the high-stakes, high-anxiety world of sports betting—a period that saw the fall of the local bookie and the birth of the freewheeling, unregulated offshore sports book, and with it the elevation of sports betting in popular culture. As the business explodes, Beth rises from assistant to expert, running an offshore booking office in the Caribbean. As the men around her succumb to their vices—money, sex, drugs, gambling—Beth improbably emerges with her integrity intact, wiser, sharper, nobody’s fool. A keen and compassionate observer of the adrenaline-addicted roguish types who become her mentors, her enemies, her family, Beth Raymer depicts an insanely colorful world teeming with pathos and ecstasy.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

“Candid, smart, funny, wild and crazy.”—Elle

“Raymer gleefully shatters the myth of the modern gambler. . . . Seduced by her stories, we long for this strange, sleazy and alluring landscape.”—Los Angeles Times

“[Raymer depicts] a sordid, florid microworld lurching along the edge of society, not to mention legality. . . . She never condescends or indulges in reality-show caricature; she finds charm in the charmless, a point of light in the most lost of souls.”—The New York Times Book Review

Lay the Favorite reads more like a novel than a memoir. The rich characters are drawn in depth, yet simply and honestly.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Entertaining (and often quite funny) . . . a delight to read.”—The New Yorker

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

“Beth Raymer’s crackling, hilarious memoir ricochets through the gambling underworld in Las Vegas, and is peopled with all manner of lovable wack-jobs, none of whom is quite as wacky—or lovable—as Raymer herself.”—Marie Claire

Beth Raymer waited tables at a dive in Las Vegas until a customer sent her to see Dink, of Dink Inc., one of the town’s biggest professional sports gamblers. Dink needed a right-hand man—someone who would show up on time, who had a head for numbers, and who didn’t steal. Beth got the job.

Lay the Favorite is the story of Beth’s years in the high-stakes, high-anxiety world of sports betting—a period that saw the fall of the local bookie and the birth of the freewheeling, unregulated offshore sports book, and with it the elevation of sports betting in popular culture. As the business explodes, Beth rises from assistant to expert, running an offshore booking office in the Caribbean. As the men around her succumb to their vices—money, sex, drugs, gambling—Beth improbably emerges with her integrity intact, wiser, sharper, nobody’s fool. A keen and compassionate observer of the adrenaline-addicted roguish types who become her mentors, her enemies, her family, Beth Raymer depicts an insanely colorful world teeming with pathos and ecstasy.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

“Candid, smart, funny, wild and crazy.”—Elle

“Raymer gleefully shatters the myth of the modern gambler. . . . Seduced by her stories, we long for this strange, sleazy and alluring landscape.”—Los Angeles Times

“[Raymer depicts] a sordid, florid microworld lurching along the edge of society, not to mention legality. . . . She never condescends or indulges in reality-show caricature; she finds charm in the charmless, a point of light in the most lost of souls.”—The New York Times Book Review

Lay the Favorite reads more like a novel than a memoir. The rich characters are drawn in depth, yet simply and honestly.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Entertaining (and often quite funny) . . . a delight to read.”—The New Yorker

More books from Random House Publishing Group

Cover of the book Terrorist by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Call Me Anna by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Shopping, Seduction & Mr. Selfridge by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Mindless Eating by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Off the Rails by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Dolphin Chronicles by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Moon Women by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Criminal (with bonus novella Snatched) by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book A Flaw in the Blood by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Courting Trouble by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Two Fronts (The War That Came Early, Book Five) by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book The Age of Sacred Terror by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book The Goodbye Cousins by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Vanish by Beth Raymer
Cover of the book Good Food, Good Life by Beth Raymer
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy