The current popularity of Smarty Jones can be measured in many ways.

Here in Vegas, most things are measured in cold, hard cash. The Smarty Jones bandwagon led to a record Preakness handle in Nevada of $2,135,945, according to Paul Dresser, controller for the Las Vegas Dissemination Company, which acts as the wagering hub for the state. That's up a whopping 60.5 percent from last year's race when Funny Cide, a popular horse in his own right, won the second leg of the Triple Crown and Nevada handled $1.33 million. That $800,000 spike also accounted for the overall 20 percent rise in the statewide handle for all horse racing last Saturday as Nevada handled $4,656,171 compared to $3.87 million last year.

But the evidence of Smarty Jones's allure is also anecdotal. John Avello, director of race and sports at the Bally's and Paris hotels and horse racing oddsmaker for the Caesars Entertainment properties, learned that first-hand.

Shortly after Smarty Jones's impressive 11 1/2-length romp, Avello sat down to discuss his Preakness matchups and other proposition wagers, as well as his risk in his Triple Crown futures. Smarty Jones had opened at 35-1 prior to the Derby and was pounded down to 20-1, and then was adjusted to 7-2 after the Derby and was bet down again to 3-1.

"There are a lot of people out there with a lot of nice tickets on him," Avello said.

When asked if he would put up an adjusted price now with just one race remaining, Avello said: "No, I don't think so. We have three weeks until the Belmont, so I'm not in any hurry."

Then a funny thing happened. One customer asked him what the odds would be on Smarty winning the Belmont. Then another asked what the odds would be to bet against Smarty Jones. Any oddsmaker loves to hear when he can get action on both sides of a proposition.

"Scratch what I said before," Avello said. "I guess I'm putting up the bet after all."

He made Smarty Jones a -250 favorite (bet $2.50 to profit $1, or the equivalent of 2-5) to win the Belmont, with +210 (bet $1 to win $2.10) offered on the rest of the field.

"That price on Smarty might be better than you'll get on race day," Avello said. "Of course, we don't know exactly how many horses will be running. But either way, I know he's going to get bet pretty hard just by the way he was bet in the Preakness."

Avello said he originally thought he might have to make the line around -350 or -400 if the Belmont was looking like a six- or -seven-horse race, but he said from reading many early reports that there could be a decent-sized field trying to thwart the Triple Crown bid.

Two popular offshore books have the same prop with Olympic (thegreek.com) offering -225 on Smarty Jones winning and +175 on him losing, and Pinnacle (planetpinnacle.com) having it at -229/+199 as of noon Monday.

"I can certainly afford to take some money on the +210," Avello said, alluding to his future-book liability.

Unlike other futures in which all bets are action, in this case, Smarty Jones must run in the Belmont or all wagers will be refunded.