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Gambling & Journalism

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Lugnuts, Nov 5, 2019.

  1. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Just before that scene was the famous "Bye-bye belt!" that always makes me laugh


     
    Donny in his element likes this.
  2. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Great article, thanks. It was like going into a time machine.
    Note that they called a "parlay" a "round robin".
     
  3. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    SI Vault is really a visit back to my childhood.

    The ads are awesome.

    U.S. Postal Service; Mail your Christmas packages by December 10 and your cards by December 15.
    Fort Pinto: compared to the Model T. Whoops.

    Also a story in that one on a 2 year old horse named Secretariat, where trainer Lucien Laurin hints he might just skip the Derby (sounds like because his nose was bent out of shape that Riva Ridge didn't win horse of the year in 1972.

    Great stuff.

    Sorry for the threadjack. To get back on track, give me the Jets/Giants over 43 and a hook and the Cowboys -3 this weekend.
     
  4. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    I think I started reading it a year or two later. And all the booze ads stuck out to me.

    And look at the college basketball top 20. So many non Power 5 schools! A Long Beach State shout out!
     
  5. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    I haven't gambled since college; used to make some pretty good change then, though, betting SoCon football because back in the day me and a few buddies knew a helluva lot more about the teams than Vegas did.

    I couldn't image trying to gamble today, what with all the built-in advantage the algorithms provide the saviest of bettors.
     
  6. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    That's the beauty of sports betting, though. You're not playing against better players, like in poker. There aren't situations where it's impossible to win, like in blackjack or slots. When you bet sports, every game is a winner. You just have to figure out which side is the right one.
     
  7. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Dunno. If point spreads do a reasonable job of evening the field for both teams, that might not be any different than saying "When you flip a coin, every flip is a winner. ... as long as you pick the right side."

    The only way sports gambling can possibly be a profitable enterprise is if there are spreads that don't even the field. And there you would need to give yourself at least a 2 to 3 percent edge to just break even, because of the vig.

    That very well may be the case about there being inefficient spreads. ... no market is priced with perfect efficiency up to the moment (for a variety of reasons), but then the problem is how do you as an individual find the spreads that offer value and bet them in a systematic way?

    I would bet there are methodologies being used that give an edge of some sort. I am also quite sure that 99 percent of people trying to find inefficient spreads, in a discretionary, non-systematic way, may as well be flipping coins -- actually, worse because of the vig, which makes it worse than a 50/50 proposition. Even if anyone has had any amount of success at it over any period of time, it's almost certainly luck (1 person who has been profitable, versus a multiple of people who have lost money).
     
    sgreenwell likes this.
  8. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    It was closer than expected, but Colorado just voted to allow sports gambling starting in May. In-person or via an app. That's the 19th state to legalize it.
     
  9. Huggy

    Huggy Well-Known Member

    My brother is a pretty serious horse player, doesn't do it for a living or blow every dime he has at the track like our old man did but man, he works at it. Records the local track's races off TV, familiarized himself with horse anatomy so he could understand how injuries impact performance, makes notes of horses he is following, exchanges notes with other handicappers, reads the ink off the Racing Form, scours websites and Twitter feeds for info and there are days when he just gets clobbered at the track. Other days he does well or breaks even.
     
  10. Dog8Cats

    Dog8Cats Well-Known Member

    I heard the converse of that ... that the guy bet overs on the second half when each half's total was one-half of the full game's total. With fouling and constant clock-stoppages, the second-half over was easier to achieve.
     
    Lugnuts likes this.
  11. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    I imagine being a successful sports better is like being any other kind of successful gambler. It's more work than real work. Early in my career, the Phoenix sent me to a blackjack card counting course. Guy's business card said his name (clearly not real) and said he was the Silver Fox. Made it past the first cut of the basic strategy stuff and advanced to the group where he taught us not just card counting, but how not to get spotted by casinos while doing same. Even at the tender age of 30, I knew he was looking for recruits. At the end I told him, "man my job is way easier than yours." He was very disappointed in me. Sometimes, not often, I wonder what it would've been like to join his crew.
     
    Donny in his element and Batman like this.
  12. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

    Your description makes more sense. Seems to be the better angle. The strategy rested on the fact that the O/U betting lines didn't account for the differences in scoring in each half.
     
    Dog8Cats likes this.
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