The standing-room-only crowds from the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament are long gone, but that does not mean the sports books here have become ghost towns. The books continue to see a steady stream of customers, but it’s not due to one big event, but rather the convergence of all the sports seasons at this time of year. Baseball started this week, and the Final Four is this Saturday, and the NBA and NHL regular seasons are heading down the stretch. There’s also soccer and NASCAR and golf’s Masters next week, and don’t forget that football is a year-round betting sport, with Super Bowl odds being up since January and Cantor Gaming and the South Point already posting NFL over/under win totals. DRF SPORTS: Latest betting lines, StatFox matchups, and handicapping news for every game Horseplayers also know this is an action-packed time of year with Kentucky Derby preps bringing the field into shape. This Saturday, the Wood Memorial and the Santa Anita Derby take center stage with a lot of drama as several top contenders probably need a first- or second-place finish to secure a spot in the Derby starting gate. Social Inclusion is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the Wood Memorial but does not have any prep points and was available at 25-1 at the William Hill books here in Nevada for those who think he can do the job this Saturday and parlay it in a Derby win. His odds will certainly be a lot lower after this weekend if he runs well. Samraat, the 7-2 second choice in the Wood, is safe with 60 Derby points, and he was 20-1 at the Wynn Las Vegas earlier this week. Uncle Sigh, third choice in the Wood at 5-1, has 24 Derby points and probably needs just a fourth-place finish to secure a spot in the Derby field, yet the Wynn had him at 45-1 earlier in the week. California Chrome is the 6-5 Santa Anita Derby morning-line favorite and the 8-1 Kentucky Derby choice at the Wynn. He’s safe with 50 points, as is Hoppertunity (3-1 in Santa Anita Derby, 14-1 in Wynn’s Kentucky Derby futures), but Candy Boy, the 9-5 second choice in the Santa Anita Derby, needs a big finish to get in the Derby field. Future-book bettors here in Vegas have not shied away from him yet as he’s 12-1 at the Wynn and 15-1 at William Hill. If you think the horses who need to run big this weekend will, now is probably the last chance to grab a price in excess of what they will be on the tote board on Derby Day. Early betting on New York racing cards One more horse racing item before we get back to the sports side of the race and sports books: Las Vegas Dissemination Company, the wagering hub for Nevada books, announced that starting this weekend that they are going to offer advance wagering on races at New York Racing Association tracks. We often see this offered for big events like Kentucky Derby Day, Breeders’ Cup, etc., but this wagering opportunity will be for every Saturday NYRA card, wagering being available on Fridays. “We were brainstorming internally,” said LVDC spokesman Vinny Magliulo. “[LVDC owner] John Gaughan gives us the freedom to think of ways to promote the industry and serve the customers. We brought the idea to NYRA and they loved it and we decided to launch it for the big Wood Memorial card.” All parimutuel race books in the state will offer the advance wagering, as well as account wagering (ITTs) and phone accounts. Bettors just need to specify that they want the Saturday card and then continue per usual with their wagers. Magliulo said the hope is to offer this for more tracks for the convenience of the bettors. “We have more overnight betting in other sports, so why not in horse racing?” Magliulo said. “We have all the information ahead of time, so it just makes sense to have it available longer for the players.” Sports book notes The NCAA Final Four is Saturday and Florida was made the even-money favorite at the LVH SuperBook after the regional finals were completed Sunday. Florida had opened as the 5-1 favorite on Selection Sunday before Louisville and Michigan State were bet down and vied for favoritism before being eliminated last week. Florida is a 6.5-point favorite over Connecticut in Saturday’s first national semifinal game, with Kentucky around a 1.5- to 2-point favorite over Wisconsin despite UK being a No. 8 seed while Wisconsin a No. 2 seed. In the futures, LVH has Kentucky at 5-2, with Wisconsin at 7-2 and UConn 8-1 to cut down the nets on Monday. ◗ The Dodgers opened the MLB season as the 6-1 favorite at the LVH this past week (though they actually started their regular season two weekends ago in Australia). The Tigers, Nationals, and Cardinals were next on the list at 7-1, with a gap to the defending champion Red Sox at 12-1. The Astros were the longest shot on the board at 200-1, though they started the season with two straight wins over the Yankees (heading into Thursday night’s game). It’s strange looking for the Astros in the standings as they’re now in the AL West. ◗ Tiger Woods withdrew from the Masters on Tuesday. He had been lowered to 10-1 co-favoritism with Rory McIlroy at the LVH in recent weeks with his health problems. After making sure it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke, the LVH made McIlroy the 8-1 favorite, followed by Adam Scott and Jason Day at 10-1, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson at 15-1, and Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson, and Matt Kuchar at 20-1. ◗ In the other major sports, the Heat are again the favorite in the NBA at 2-1 after moving ahead of the Pacers (3-1) for home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference; the Bruins are the 7-2 favorite to win the Stanley Cup; and the Seahawks are the 4-1 favorite to repeat as Super Bowl champions, with the Broncos right behind at 5-1, the 49ers at 6-1, and the Patriots at 8-1.