Betting on sports hasn’t been more accessible or high-stakes. But with the invasion of Europe-based companies in the game, the pros are feeling pumped and routinely getting banned from plying their trade. Is this the end of this sports bettor?
I’m not a bookmaker,» Gadoon Kyrollos informs me as we walk through the Hard Rock Casino in Atlantic City, enjoying with penny slot machines. «I am a sports bettor.» Kyrollos is one of the highest-rolling sports bettors in the United States. He bets millions of dollars every year from NFL games, on sporting occasions into the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. He’s known throughout the gambling world by the name Spanky, also in his hoodie, sweatpants, and backpack, he very much looks like a variant of the Rascal. His backpack, nevertheless, is not currently carrying snacks and school books. It is full of bricks of cash, nearly $150,000 worth.
«Bookmakers hang a number,» he explains, as he pantomimes holding a gun sight up to his eye and pulling the trigger. «And that I snipe’em»
Despite the bag filled with money, Spanky is transfixed by the penny slot machine, pumping one invoice after the following into it. On his phone he consults a recorder which tells him how to perform this specific machine so that it is»plus EV,» or positive expected value, meaning the player has an edge over the machine with time. «Here is some real insider shit I’m showing you right here,» he tells me, referring to his spreadsheet, which has formulas for dozens of different slot machines plugged into it. «I mean, it’s probably an edge of, like, $12, but if you’re walking down the street and saw $12, you’d bend down and pick it up, right?»
It is important to Spanky that I know the difference between bookmaking and betting, because a great deal of folks don’t understand or appreciate the distinction, such as the Queens district attorney, who charged Spanky with bookmaking at 2012, a fee he states stemmed from a widespread misunderstanding of this enterprise.
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