By JEFF HANEY, Las Vegas Sun

LAS VEGAS -- It has been an unwritten rule in Nevada sports betting for decades: A sports book will virtually always cash a winning ticket even if the bettor redeems it after its expiration date.

For one thing, it's good customer relations, plain and simple.

LAS VEGAS -- Pound for pound the most politically incorrect man in boxing, Bernard Hopkins was at it again this week on the Las Vegas Strip.

Preparing at Planet Hollywood for Saturday's light heavyweight showdown with Joe Calzaghe in Vegas, the 43-year-old future Hall of Famer made some distinctively Hopkinsesque predictions as to the outcome.

LAS VEGAS -- I don't know how many times I've been banned from playing blackjack in casinos.

In the parlance of the game, I've "lost the count."

I savored the irony when it happened for the 21st time (get it, 21?), but now I usually just say "dozens."

LAS VEGAS -- Nine point two quintillion.

The number nine followed by 18 more digits.

Two to the 63rd power.

It sounds like a number from the realm of physics or astronomy, not sports.

It's also the number of possible standard brackets that could be filled out for the NCAA Tournament, according to Las Vegas sports betting analyst R.J. Bell.