Bets

Family 2nd Street Festival. Founders of the 2nd Street Festival join with the Philadelphia Folksong Society to throw a free party Sunday along six blocks in Northern Liberties. The festivities will include performances, kids' programs, and workshops. An array of music - hip-hop, indie, R&B, featuring artists such as Tune-Yards, Black Landlord, and Delicate Steve - will be played on three all-day stages at the Second Street intersections with Poplar Street, George Street, and Fairmount Avenue.

PETE RUGGIERI thought he had it all, the inside track to winning the majority of bets he would place on the NBA. The method was simple: bet games that Tim Donaghy officiated. Ruggieri, a noted professional gambler, told federal investigators 2 weeks ago that he picked up a trend over the last several years from betting acquaintances who were winning at a 60 to 70 percent rate on games officiated by the disgraced NBA referee, his lawyer told the Daily News yesterday. The alarming rate caused Ruggieri to take a closer look.

A Center City lawyer yesterday described his three-year betting relationship with the alleged sports-gambling operation run by Joseph V. Mastronardo Jr., detailing for a federal court jury how his bets increased from between $100 and $200 an event in 1981 to as high as $5,000 for single sporting events in 1983. The lawyer's testimony in U.S. District Court here marked the beginning of a parade of government witnesses who will testify how they placed bets with Mastronardo and his alleged bookmaking operation, prosecutors said.

Oregon Lottery retailers began accepting bets yesterday for Sports Action, the nation's only lottery-sponsored game based on point spreads of NFL contests. Tickets for the game, in which players bet on NFL contests, went on sale at about 1,500 locations around the state at 6 a.m., according to lottery officials. Lottery director Jim Davey said about $1,100 in bets was sold statewide in the game's first three hours of play, a figure he called "pretty good. " "I imagine the betting will pick up toward the weekend," he said.

Detroit Pistons guard Richard Hamilton last week confirmed a Bloomberg News report that he participated in high-stakes, post-practice shooting contests with Michael Jordan when the two were members of the Washington Wizards in 2001-02. But Hamilton, a Coatesville High graduate, said that money never changed hands, even though the pots reportedly reached as high as $40,000. That's because, according to Hamilton, Jordan was the one always losing and would never leave the gym until he broke even.

"I got a horse right here, the name's Paul Revere, "And here's a guy that says if the weather's clear, "Can do! Can do! This guy says the horse can do. " - "Fugue for Tinhorns," "Guys and Dolls" Alfred "Sassy Doc" Manuszak has cashed in his last marker. A character as colorful as the singing hoodlums Nathan Detroit and Loose Lips Louie from "Guys and Dolls," the 85-year-old Manuszak died Sunday in Fort Myers, Fla. The former Northeast Philadelphia resident, who had a record of 38 arrests for numbers writing and sports gambling dating back to the 1940s, was a frequent target of the late Capt.

Phoenix Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky denied that he or his wife placed bets through a nationwide gambling ring that New Jersey authorities say was financed by Coyotes associate coach Rick Tocchet. New Jersey law enforcement sources told the Daily News on Tuesday that Gretzky is alleged to have placed heavy bets through his wife, supermodel/actress Janet Jones. Authorities have not publicly named any alleged bettors, but said six current NHL players were among them. They were not betting on hockey, authorities said.

ATLANTIC CITY — At the East Coast Gaming Congress here on Thursday, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno sounded more like she was on the campaign stump than simply speaking to gambling-industry executives. Guadagno, a fill-in for Gov. Christie, dodged all questions regarding Internet gaming and sports betting at the gathering in the new Revel Casino. Instead, she chanted a familiar chorus: That it was her boss who ensured that Revel got built with $261 million in state tax credits, who streamlined regulations in the battered gambling town to entice investors, and who was going all-out to get Atlantic City back on track.

Could misdirection over the meaning of a simple, five-letter word - hedge - be at the heart of the roiling controversy over JPMorgan Chase's embarrassing $2 billion loss in European trading? CEO Jamie Dimon tried to quiet the storm at JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s annual shareholders' meeting Tuesday, just days after he called the bank's actions "stupid" and "sloppy" in a TV interview and the bank announced that chief investment officer Ina Drew, whose London office orchestrated the costly trades, would resign.

WHEN the state Gaming Control Board revoked the casino license for Foxwoods in 2010, we didn't breathe a full sigh of relief, since we figured, like a bad penny, the license for yet another casino in the state wasn't going to go completely away. Sure enough, the Legislature is now moving toward putting the license up for bid — to any and all comers in the state. That means it's no sure bet that Philadelphia will have a second casino. Although many in the city — including us — wouldn't consider that a heartbreak, we are concerned that this decision to flout the original 2004 state gaming law that mandated two casinos in the city has no basis other than purely political.

ATLANTIC CITY - Free parking! Low limits. Free parking! Cheap food. Free parking!! In the long shadow of the new Revel Resort (double R, like a ranch), the casino formerly known as the Hilton, then ACH, and now the Atlantic Club (and, once upon a time, the Golden Nugget) has fashioned a marketing strategy aimed at the people everyone else wants to snub: the regulars who don't want to pay for anything. "The rest of us," as one of their slogans goes. The ones who value a comfortable seat, penny slot machines they haven't seen before, casino comfort-food offerings (Chinese, steaks, Italian)

Music Rodrigo y Gabriela. It's hard to believe that it's been 11 years since album-buying audiences first got a taste of Mexico's Rodrigo y Gabriela — or Rod y Gab as they're affectionately known — when the duo's Foc was released. Now, they offer their first-ever run at Cuban arrangements on the new Area 52. "We have to just play what we like and break all the rules, ours and everyone else's," Quintero says. "We do metal. We can shift to "Take Five" and jazz. It's all a fusion in every sense of the word, what we do. Personally, though, we would like to think that there is alien life out there.

Music Pat Martino. Chris' Jazz Cafe offers one of our hometown's own black-and-blue soulful greats, South Philly guitarist Pat Martino, and his crew. It's been a banner year for the quiet, peaceful six-stringer. He's not only penned a new book, Here and Now! The Autobiography of Pat Martino (written with jazz scribe Bill Milkowski), but also released his first new album in five years, the live and vibrant Undeniable. Make it a (Jazz) day. — A.D. Amorosi Pat Martino & His Quartet Featuring Eric Alexander play at 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday at Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St. Tickets: $35, $30. Information: 215-568-3131, www.chrisjazzcafe.com.

If Gov. Corbett wants to privatize operation of the state lottery system, he needs to do a better job of selling the idea. Turning over some services and agencies to the private sector, such as the state's wine and liquor stores, may make sense. But the lottery, with its revenue dedicated to helping the state's elderly, may not. Corbett said a private management organization may adapt new technologies more quickly, develop new games, and improve retail outlet performance.

An Internet gambling bill working its way through the New Jersey Legislature would let Atlantic City casinos take bets from gamblers in other states and even other countries, as long as federal and state authorities agree it's legal. The measure was approved Tuesday by a state Senate committee. "This is another step forward toward my goal of New Jersey becoming the Silicon Valley of Internet gaming, generating hundreds of millions in revenues for our casino industry, thousands of jobs for Atlantic City, and tens of millions of revenues for our Casino Revenue Fund to help seniors and the disabled," said Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union)

PHILADELPHIA is literally in "poor health. " In a study released Tuesday, the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ranked Philly as the least-healthy county in Pennsylvania for the third consecutive year. But it's not entirely city residents' fault. "Much of what this is about is poverty and socioeconomic factors that go beyond individual action," said Donald Schwarz, the city's health commissioner and deputy mayor for health and opportunity.

Television Getting soapy with the stars. Fans of The Young and the Restless can ask its stars the burning questions at a no-holds barred question-and- answer session Saturday at Bally's in Atlantic City. The resort is hosting Soap Opera Weekend, when fans can ask questions beginning at 11 a.m. with Greg Rikaart (Kevin Fisher), noon with Stephen Nichols (Tucker McCall), 1 p.m. with Michelle Stafford (Phyllis Newman), and 2 p.m. with Michael Muhney (Adam Newman). Tickets ( www.ticketmaster.com )