Legal sports betting is available to you

May 12 @ 10:35pm Basketball - NBA Lines

Game can be seen on TNT

Houston Rockets

 +12 (-105)

 -

199

 o (-110)

 u (-110)

Los Angeles Lakers

 -12 (-115)

 -

Last week, I wrote an essay here urging Iowa legislators to make sports betting legal in the state.

I neglected to mention there is at least one Web site where you can legally bet on sporting events. It's centsports.com.

Two important things to know:

1. It's free. You bet play-money to try to win real money. That's what makes it legal.

2. It's very, very difficult to make real money doing it.

You register for an account and are given a "dime." From there, you can wager on all sorts of sports from around the world. Bet the entire 10 cents on one event, make 10 penny bets, whatever it takes to start growing your total.

The centsports FAQ is here.

Tonight, you can bet NBA and NHL playoffs and major-league baseball. There seems to always be a soccer game or tennis match somewhere in the world.

The odds are the same as you'd find in a Las Vegas sportsbook. For instance, at 2 p.m., Iowa time, the Boston Celtics were a 2.5-point pick over the Orlando Magic in tonight's Game 5 of their NBA playoff series. The Los Angeles Lakers are 12-point picks to win Game 5 tonight against Houston.

Here's the kicker: You can't cash out until you've accumulated $20 in play money. As you'll learn if you use the site, it is extremely difficult to consistently hit enough winners to reach $20.

I've been using the site off and on for over a year, and $12 was my high-water mark. But I keep doing it for the challenge of picking winners, because it's free and legal, and because I desperately want that 20 bucks.

I'm sitting at $1.30 right now after astutely tabbing the Chicago Blackhawks to beat the Vancouver Canucks. I'm putting that whole stack of dough on the Lakers to cover the 12 tonight. I think the Lakers, embarrassed by their lethargic effort in Game 4 at Houston, will come home and maul the Yao Ming-less Rockets.

If I'm wrong, I go back to zero and get another free "dime." It's like pushing a piano up a mountain, minus the physical exertion and damage to an expensive musical instrument.

The best thing about this site, in my mind, is it painlessly teaches you how hard it is to make money betting on sports. Sometimes you peg games perfectly. Just as often, though, you find out you really don't have a clue.

Better to learn that lesson with play-money.

But I'm telling you, the Lakers are going to crush the Rockets tonight.