Can you bet on the election in Vegas?

My father just called. He was asking me to find out the Vegas betting-line odds on the presidential election. I was bemused and explained to him that there is no such thing. The Brits are known for this sort of thing, but I don't believe that betting on electoral politics in the United States is legal. I mean, how would that work, anyway? What sort of handicapping would go on?

Sometimes, I told him laughing, casinos put out odds just for fun on some things. He seemed convinced such a betting construct exists.

Am I right or wrong?

A record-setting betting line today in Vegas

We rarely deal with gambling too much here or on the podcast and I generally never place bets on any games other than the Super Bowl, but this weekend's Patriots-Eagles match-up has drawn unusual interest because the Patriots are favored by bookies for a record-setting number of points, 23.5 the last I saw on the news. So my brother-in-law, Tom, in New York has called upon me to go place a $100 wager for him on the Pats. I'll probably toss $50 on there myself just to make it interesting. Isn't Miles gonna be excited that we have to watch football tonight! But, hey, at least I get to employ a totally gratuitous picture of Tom Brady on the blog. So there.

BREAKING: MGM Mirage Sportsbook Outage

On what is undoubtedly one of the biggest betting days of 2007 for Las Vegas with the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight and the Kentucky Derby going on, the sports book at every MGM Mirage property is currently NOT able to take any bets.

The outage seems to have started around 3 pm PT, just before the Kentucky Derby began. I was at the Monte Carlo attempting to place a bet and the huge line wasn't moving. I asked; system is down across the company. I returned about 45 minutes later to place a bet on the big fight and the system remained offline.

This is a major, major problem for MGM Mirage, which is hosting the fight of the decade at the MGM Grand Garden tonight.

I have calls out, will update. Developing...

**UPDATE: MGM Mirage spokesman tells me system returned online at about 3:55 pm, down for about one very precious hour that included the top of the Derby. They're too busy today to say what happened, but that's got to be a multimillion-dollar system failure.**