Bet Bash Recap

I feel as though, much like my Bet Bash panel, I am set to disappoint many of you reading. I’m telling you from the jump, I don’t have too many insults to throw around, nor has gambling Twitter provided much content of note. I was taking in this week’s Risk Takers Pod with Gina Fiore (sup?) as the guest, and early in the episode, they briefly mentioned how awful/toxic/generally bad sports betting Twitter has always been. Not only do I agree with the sentiment, but I’ve very much been a part of it in the past. But it also felt off - because I truly haven’t felt that way about the space in some time. I could be way off, but to me, it feels like so much of the animosity is gone.

Why is it gone? I don’t know, your guess is as good as mine. I’m just the dumbass writing a blog on a very outdated blog site. But here are a few hypotheses I’m throwing out:

1. Several of the main perpetrators have faded from the spotlight. Rufus, Spanky, Pizzola (to an extent), RAS (Ed), Knish, and some of the others who used to sling mud have either moved on or stopped caring. Probably a little bit of both. But, lightning rods have to exist for the real shitshows to happen.
2. Some of the bigger players are no longer fighting over PPH accounts. Just a few years ago, account aggregators had to be cutthroat when it came to obtaining accounts. That meant talking a lot of shit and convincing potential partners why other people suck. With the rise of legal outs, prediction markets, and other opportunities, the “kill or be killed” account-gathering mentality has largely disappeared.
3. Those who used to absolutely lose their shit and become unhinged when someone produced content, rather than bet, started producing content themselves. There was a time when going on a podcast to talk about sports betting was enough to make C-ville collectively lose their minds and threaten to burn your house down. Now, they’re more likely to ask you to like and subscribe than to off yourself.
4. Events like Bet Bash have broken down barriers. It is hard to continue talking shit or strongly disliking someone when you’ve sat down and had actual conversations, face to face, with that person. Bet Bash has given bettors of all backgrounds the chance to see a different side of their competition, partners, counterparties, online acquaintances, online sparring partners, etc. (no one tell Raheem how welcoming Bet Bash is!). As a result, I believe it’s helped people find a lot of common ground they didn’t expect.

Those are some of my guesses. I would love to hear yours. Overall, it’s probably for the best, right? So many of us won’t be as pissed off over the dumbest online arguments and can be a little more productive with our time, like constantly tweeting about how you hit your daily AI usage limit. Question: Are you even a winning bettor if you don’t tweet about hitting your usage limit? Answer: No, you’re a fucking lifetime loser who can’t afford Claude MAX PRO PLAN GOLD VERSION MEGA DATA LIMIT.

Bet Bash was over a month ago. There were a hundred tweets recapping everything. Several pods discussed the event in excruciating detail. We’ve all heard the exact same stories, so what better time to drop my Bet Bash blog than now, 43 days later, as MLB crunch time, CFB, and NFL are all in full swing?

Unlike Fezzik, my recollection is still pretty solid, but since a lot of time has passed, I’m not trying to put things in chronological order. Here’s a random shotgun spray of things that happened throughout the week:

Prediction Markets were the talk of the town. Every year, Bet Bash ends with a common theme that spans the four days. Years back, it was account gathering; then it switched to everyone and their brother being a “mover”; and this year, it was the rise of prediction markets. And I have to say, it brought an entirely different energy to the conference. Bettors who were burned out, or close to burned out, seemed rejuvenated and, dare I say, happy? I understand the long-term viability of PM’s has yet to be determined, and there’s a monster case waiting for SCOTUS, but I don’t think too many of the participants care about that in the here and now. There’s money to be made. A lot of money.

In its most basic form, what we’re seeing is bettors with incredible skills and abilities have been freed to use those skills and abilities once again, without the absolutely soul-sucking grind of legal limiting, PPH stiffs, and deadbeat partners. I’m barely on PM’s, but I am a fan. I’m not one of these big-boss originators with an API hookup, complete automation of my betting process, and the ability to quote RFQs in fractions of a second. I’m a regular bettor who enjoys a frictionless betting experience with an easy-to-use platform (lol Polymarket) and little to no threat of having my bets limited and/or rejected.

But I don’t know, the vibes just felt different this year. Different in a good way. People seemed friendlier and more open to conversation. Way less doomer speak about the industry's future and why everything in sports betting sucks. It felt light and cheerful rather than dark and secretive. I might be making something out of nothing, but those were the impressions I got from the general vibe of this year’s Bet Bash.

Quick Prediction Market talk. I’m a broken record when it comes to hatred of disingenuous people, but I am sick and tired of these bullshit arguments being made by legal sportsbooks. Jeff Benson had a great thread detailing his thoughts on PMs, but I felt his rant came more from the marketing side than from the “should these be legal?” side. Before both sides attempt to kill each other over their differences, let’s try to find some common ground. It needs to be agreed that:

• Prediction markets contain sports betting
• Prediction markets should be subject to many of the same laws and regulations that apply to legal sportsbooks
• Prediction markets found a loophole in the system that allows them not to pay their fair share of betting-related taxes
• Because of the previous point, sportsbooks are not competing on a level playing field, and it’s not particularly close.

Especially when considering that last point, I understand the frustration traditional sportsbooks are experiencing with PM’s. In their minds, they did everything the “right way.” They filled out documents 194726B, 40OBST93, and 109MNST per guidelines and filed them with the proper authorities. They lobbied and paid the right people to get things done. They waited their turn and busted their ass so they could legally extract as much money as possible from each customer. Then these PMs came along, jumped to the front of the line, pretended they did nothing wrong, then had the audacity to tell us what they’re actually doing isn’t what they’re actually doing. It’s pretty fucked up.

With all of this said, stop it with the bullshit, disingenuous arguments about how you care whether PMs are offering addiction support or informing the masses they’re losing to “Wall Street market makers” when it’s marketed as peer-to-peer competition. People are losing the money to someone other than you - that’s why you’re butthurt. Just once, I would like to see a sportsbook acknowledge:

• Prediction markets are competition
• Even if they do things the right way, they do not want to see more competition in the market
• The way PMs are structured is inherently fairer than the current legal sportsbook model
• The way PMs are structured can also beat your pricing
• You’re upset that the big, bad sharps, who you won’t let bet on your book, are taking the recreationals’ money instead of you taking the recreationals’ money.

Instead of productive discussion, we get disingenuous, cringeworthy videos of a guy saying the term “cap” like 17 times too many. That’s cap, man. Total cap. Complete cap. Cap. Some people in sports betting wish there was a button they could push to make it all illegal again. I wish there were a button we could push to skip ahead to the time when this mess is met with its final, defining ruling.

Squeeze in one more bit of prediction market talk. I’ve always been someone who gives the benefit of the doubt to others. Stupidly, I’ve always assumed other people generally know what they’re doing in almost any given situation. When I’m driving behind a truck with a bunch of shit in the back, I assume it’s all tied down and perfectly safe to be in transport. Then one day, you and your wife go to pick up your new mattress, plop that bad boy down in the bed of the truck with zero bungee cords or things to weigh it down, then rip 80 down the highway, taking it home. It’s at that moment you realize that other humans may not always know what they’re doing.

I’m sure there are others like me, but I’m especially gullible when it comes to people I consider “experts” in their field. They’ve put in the time and effort! They seem intelligent when they open their mouths! They’ve convinced others to believe in them! I build them up, and continue to be blown away when things aren't quite as ‘buttoned up’ as I’ve assumed they are. For instance, we came across Flup at Circa Sportsbook and spent a few minutes discussing NoVig and the broader prediction market space. I made a comment along the lines of “Well, I’m sure you’ve had several calls and meetings with legal experts who make you feel confident in the future of what you’re doing.” His response? A laugh in my face and a “Hell no.”

I was super caught off guard, but the more we spoke, the more it made sense. These prediction market pioneers… no, the term "pioneers" doesn’t do it justice. These prediction market heroes are all-in. It feels like they have to have unwavering faith in what they’re doing and a full belief that the actions they’re taking, whether from a regulatory standpoint or a customer-offerings standpoint, are the right calls. And it makes sense - look at how some of the founders of the larger, more established exchanges carry themselves, like God’s gift to Earth for reinventing a wheel with another wheel. If they don’t stay steadfast in their beliefs that they’re going to win the war, everything else falls apart. Flup put it perfectly towards the end of our convo - he hit us with the old Tom Moore quote regarding Peyton Manning’s high volume of practice reps. "Fellas, if 18 goes down, we're fucked. And we don't practice fucked.” If prediction markets are eventually ruled against by the highest courts of law, they’re all fucked anyway, so might as well go full steam ahead in the present day.

The seminars are cooked. Listen, I’m now a big fucking deal. I had the privilege of serving on a Bet Bash panel and understand they’re a necessary part of the conference. Spanky is doing his best to put together a worthwhile group of seminars that can add value to bettors of all levels, from novice to pro. But, in my opinion, it’s just not possible to do it well anymore, at least not in the way he’s been doing it. We have a bunch of retreads, like Banking for Sports Bettors (I think it got canceled this year), Sports Betting 101, and Previews of Upcoming Seasons (like CFB). Maybe sprinkle in something on CLV or Horse Racing, then call it for the week. I don’t recall having one conversation with another attendee about any seminar of note (including my own) over the course of 3 days, and that tells me something has to change. The live podcasts are fantastic, but that’s because they’re entertainment. They’re meant to be light and fun - audience engagement is encouraged. The seminars that are supposed to be value-adds can include useful information, but it’s useful for maybe like 5 out of 800 people, at best. The root cause of the issue is sports bettors’ unwillingness to share edges and alpha, and who can blame them? But something has to be done to pass the time in more meaningful ways at future Bashes.

Never meet your heroes. Speaking of underwhelming seminars…I attended “How Baseball Betting has Changed in 20 Years,” hosted by Joe Peta. I’m not going to spend a bunch of time shitting on Joe, just a little bit of time shitting on Joe. First of all, Trading Bases was my first introduction to real, meaningful sports betting content. I don’t care if the concepts are dated, or if you don’t believe in his previous success, or if you just think it’s lame to have enjoyed the book. I loved it, and I read it multiple times. It made me think differently and want to take sports betting seriously. Did it prevent me from developing really bad habits that lead to problem gambling tendencies? No! But I don’t blame you for those things, Joe. I want you to know that. Anyways, his seminar - it wasn’t very good. What I assumed could be a discussion about an ever-changing ball, or the difference in run environments, or the effect of ABS on the strike zone/overall game, or the way team travel has changed, or the advancements in teams’ access/use of advanced data and technology, or the differences in lineup construction, or….you know what? I think we’re good. What wasn’t good was how the 1-hour session turned into an infomercial for prediction markets. Yes, the big takeaway is that prediction markets now exist and you can get different pricing on different exchanges. That was the BIG change in baseball betting over the course of 20 years. He laid out a beautiful example of how he was able to create a synthetic Zack Wheeler over 7.5 strikeouts at +127, or something along those lines. I’m not totally sure, I was quietly sobbing with my head down when I realized we were watching Patrick Ewing play for the Magic.

I’m a high school teacher, and I’ve seen my fair share of brutal presentations. This reeked of “Oh shit, I forgot I have to lead a seminar tomorrow and the intro to 60 Minutes just hit me like a ton of bricks.” Last note here - and please, roast me accordingly. I brought my copy of Trading Bases to Bet Bash to see if Joe would sign it. I’m sitting in the Circa sportsbook the morning of his seminar and I mention this harmless, some might say adorable, piece of info to Not Chicago Josh (Spaceman) and Pizzola. I turn to Rob and say, “Is that a loser move?” He looks me dead in the eyes, no hint of humor, and says, “Yeah, that really is a massive loser move,” then turns back to scrolling on his phone. I left Las Vegas with an unsigned copy of Trading Bases.

Legacy Club has more variety! Clearly, Derek Stevens reads the blog and figured out how to serve drinks that aren’t stale beer or gasoline mixed with club soda. An absolute pleasure to be given a menu with a wider variety of drinks and cocktails. Fun fact: Legacy Club is really high in the sky, and I’m not good with heights. Whenever I step out to the balcony or get too close to the windows, it kinda fucks me up. Fun anecdote: I’m standing at the end of the Legacy Club bar bullshitting with Spanky when Derek Stevens is walking by. He pulls the “Howdy partner, you mind if I slide in here for a second?” while he’s in the process of sliding a chair and sitting down between Spanky and me as he asks. No sarcasm, getting big dicked by the owner of the place was a highlight of the week.

Getting old sucks and it’s harder and harder to hang at these events. The fact that Spanky goes all out, balls-to-the-wall for 4 days straight, is a true testament to being built different. I do not bounce back like I used to. It’s Thursday, my last night there. I never stay for the HOF dinner on Friday night as it sounds as fun as attending Fezzik’s 2-day betting bootcamp. With all due respect to the attendees and entrants into the HOF, and I mean all due respect, I would rather have my vasectomy undone, then redone, than attend an event where the speeches are going to go on for hours with references no one born after 1955 understands.

So it’s Thursday night and we just had a lovely dinner at Barry’s Steakhouse, per usual. I make an emergency pit stop in the room before heading down for some drinks. I’m sitting at that really long Circa bar (is it called Long Bar?) with Spaceman when I pop a couple of Imodiums before we head over to the Golden Nugget to play in a friendly poker game. Bless his heart, Spaceman asks, “Oh man, you ok? You think it was one of the appetizers we had at Barry’s?” I told him, “Yeah, it definitely could have been one of the appetizers. There’s also a slight chance it was the 72 beers, 21 rum and Cokes, and 2:00 AM meals I’ve had this week, but there’s just no way to know.”

The podcasts are the highlight of the week. I think the live podcasts are a blast. They put a QR code up in the room so you can ask the hosts questions as they’re speaking, which of course leads to good old-fashioned fun for the whole family.

Risk Takers and Inside Prediction Markets (not to be confused with the new, exciting, polished, enlightening podcast with the same name) were two of the most sought-after podcasting seminars for the week. I could not attend Risk Takers as my baseball betting idol would be speaking at the same time, but I did manage to sit down for IPM. And at the risk of getting myself invited to the next CJ with Flup, IRB, and Mr. PB, the two hosts are pretty incredible on the mic. Henry and Flup spoke with ease (I know, weird!) and broke down complicated topics in an easily digestible way. Which I think is even tougher than usual cause it’s a live crowd and you can look like a real moron if you’re off. Flup is as unintentionally funny as a person can be. I hope you take that as a compliment because it is. And Henry is seemingly as relaxed as they come, even though he’s navigating a landscape that is literally changing by the day. As someone who may or may not actually listen to Inside Prediction Markets (the old version) regularly, I found it really fascinating.

And since I’m already sucking people off, I might as well keep going. IPM brought on Pads (@padadiso), and if I could buy stock in a person, Pads is where I would invest heavily. I don’t know the dude, I’ve really never spoken with him, but the guy carries a room. I’m not going to put words in his mouth, but he seems to have a really strong grasp of the “big picture” when it comes to all things sports betting/prediction market related. I’m going to tell on myself here - I don’t really have an idea of what Bookie Beats is or does. I’ve never looked into it, and like most things in the betting space, I assume I’m already too late to the party. However, I would guess that, because of his involvement, they’re able to deliver a ton of value to those who took early advantage.

We were playing injured. This year’s Bet Bash had no Mike Craig, no JFBS, no unknown name bald guy who’s drinking and gambling 26 hours a day, no Juan Martinez, no producer Zack. When you really do only have the opportunity to see people once per year, it’s a super bummer when they’re not around.

It’s really fucking hot in Las Vegas during the month of August. There was a heat advisory the week of Bet Bash. A heat advisory. In Las Vegas. The city where it’s standard for it to be hotter than the devil’s dick. It was the first time I didn’t even consider venturing out to Stadium Swim. What do we need to do to get Spanky to consider changing the dates of Bet Bash to take advantage of better weather? Plus, some of the attendees are teachers whose school year starts the following Monday, every single year and they get crippling Sunday scaries on the flight home and stroll into their school building with the sounds of slot machines and casino chips bouncing around their heads. You need to think about the masses, you selfish prick.

But I don’t see the Spank man changing dates, just like he would never change the venue, right? Vegas will definitely be friendlier towards PMs in the future, leading to more sponsors with very deep pockets, providing additional funding for the conference, and keeping everyone happy. There’s no way anything different could ever be in the works to make this a reality.

The 3 dumbest things I heard all week.

3. "People don’t think Todd (Wishnev) is a winning bettor because he’s super fat, comes off as a goof, and behaves like Fred Flintstone. Just because he’s super fat doesn’t make him a bad bettor.” - Steve Fezzik.

No, Steve. That is not the reason why we think Todd is a losing sports bettor, and those words came from your mouth, not mine. Earlier this week, Fezzik’s “selective recollection” recalled me judging another bettor by his appearance and using it as a reason to belittle his sports betting abilities. Because Fez is most likely struggling with early-onset dementia, I would like to set the record straight.

During our panel, I asked if Todd was the guy featured on the show Action. You might remember the 2019 Showtime production that chronicled the lives of several bettors in Las Vegas. The show was absolutely terrible and showcased some of the worst of what sports betting has to offer, yet even with a show about a bunch of losers, the producers made Todd out to be THE loser. He was a fish in every scene, betting with heart and portrayed as making ill-informed, last-minute decisions for his bets. He was supposed to be the “degenerate gambler,” a comedic reprieve for the audience who was watching “professionals” in all the other scenes. The hilarious irony is that the featured “pros” were KIV, Krack, Warren Sharp, and Vegas Dave. Vegas Dave!

So sure, I did tell the audience not to buy anything from Todd. But it had nothing to do with his appearance. In fact, Steve, I have now heard you refer to your ‘friend’ as a fat goofball more than anyone else, which feels super weird. Are you projecting some of your own insecurities? Do you consider him to be overweight? Does it bother you? Is his personification of Fred Flintstone an affront to the cartoon character? Let’s discuss all of this over some Starbucks. Your treat, as you can use your dumbass customers’ subscription money to pay for both our drinks.

2. “Why would you ever bet an MLB team -150 or worse when the best teams in the league only win at a 60% clip?” - random audience member towards the end of Joe Peta’s baseball betting seminar.

1. “Does his betting impact you? No? Ok, then why do you even care?” - Live Dog Luke at Legacy Club when discussing the Ethics of Touting panel.

What an asinine, lazy, gravel-eater way to look at the world.

Because Steve Fezzik’s betting does not impact my own betting, I should not care about what he does or attempts to do in the betting industry. Hey Luke - the guy slinging crack in downtown Columbus doesn’t impact me either. Is it alright if I prefer he doesn’t sling crack?

I understand Luke has inherited Spanky’s operations, and to put it frankly, they don’t give a fuck what anyone is doing if it doesn’t make them more money. But what a god-awful way to view the world. Imagine what would or wouldn’t get done if everyone adopted that attitude? To be clear, I’m a big believer in the whole ‘control what you can control and don’t let the other stuff bother you’ mentality - I think it especially helps students focus on what matters. However, attempting to educate people and prevent them from falling for tout scams feels like minimal effort for some effective results. 

Furthermore…read the fucking room, buddy. You’re at an event filled with sharp bettors who feel as if they’re smarter than everyone, not only in sports, but in most aspects of life. I watch them spend their time up on soapboxes, letting everyone else know just how wrong they are. An NBA or NFL analyst being wrong about why a player had a bad game has no impact on a bettor’s life, yet there they are, making more disparaging comments by the day. We listen to podcasts like Circle Back, whose entire premise is dissecting things people say that have no impact on their lives or their listeners’ lives. I guess there’s no market for something like that and they’re making new episodes for pure shits and giggles.

I attempted to get my point across on that fateful Tuesday up at Legacy Club, but Luke isn’t exactly open to hearing other viewpoints. Sadly, I don’t think his mom ever explained to him that God gave us two ears, but only one mouth. And to make matters worse, we were in a trio up there, as Jeff from RAS was also standing with us, unbiased as always when it comes to discussing touts. I’m sure most of you have heard this, but when you’re in a group of 3, two people will ALWAYS team up on the third. It doesn’t matter if it’s 3 strangers or 3 best friends - human nature has this weird requirement to create imbalance. No matter what I attempted to say, I was getting Bonnie Blue’d left and right.

Speaking of Jeff from RAS, have you guys ever heard that offshores used to take $500 max bets a game 20 years ago? And even after inflation, risk changes, and a wildly different sports betting landscape, they’ll still only let you bet up to $500? Oh, you have heard him say that? I guess you’ve stood next to him for longer than 30 seconds, just like I have. I don’t understand why the guy wants to be anywhere near me at Bet Bash. All he wants to do is pick apart what other people are saying, (LUKE WHAT GIVES? IT'S LIKE HE CARES ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING) and insist he doesn’t have a strong preference about anything in life, even after he spent the last hour trying to pick fights with his own super strong opinions. By far one of the weirdest things that happened all week was Jeff going all aggro on me while we were discussing the charity dunk tank. I had no clue the dunk tank was happening, and Luke explained that, at some point in the process, they were struggling to find volunteers. Conversation:

Luke: “Yeah, it’s all being done for a charity called Autism New Jersey.”

Me: “Oh, that’s awesome, what a good cause to raise mo-”

Jeff: “AWESOME, FERRIS VOLUNTEERING FOR THE DUNK TANK. GREAT!

Me: “Yeah, I have family members who work with similar found-”

Jeff: “COOL! GREAT! PROBLEM SOLVED YOU'RE GOING IN THE DUNK TANK!”

Jeff snapping at me while I was trying to ask Luke about the charity and how it was decided on was bizarre. Truly bizarre. Weirded me out so much that I think our conversation ended right about there. It’s a shame, as I probably was in for another hour of listening to how good Luke and Jeff’s shit smells.

The dunk tank was a great addition. There is absolutely zero reason there can’t be a philanthropic component to each Bet Bash. If you’ve attended, even once, you understand just how much money is out there that week. So much money is being gambled away during late-night craps sessions because Golden Pants can’t roll a fucking 7. Supporting a cause, even if it’s not a major part of the conference, is a win-win. Make us feel like less of a piece of shit by giving back and helping a bunch of people in need. I don’t remember the exact total, but the dunk tank raised tens of thousands of dollars in a couple of hours. Make it a tradition.

Late-night gambling remains undefeated. I won’t rehash the same things we’ve heard on recap pods, but it’s by far my favorite part of every Bet Bash. There is nothing like late-night craps or blackjack - when you have the perfect table makeup, the drinks and cigs are flowing, and money is being bet as if we have an edge. I love every minute of it. Not one person at the table cares whether they walk away up or down. There’s just a hope that a few things are going to happen that will make you laugh to yourself on the plane ride home. Or the memory randomly pops into your head in a quiet moment you’re by yourself a few weeks later. It’s where legends like Sleepy Joe are made. This isn’t hyperbole - I could not pick Sleepy Joe out of a 2 man lineup. We were both on the flat side (stick man side) of the table, and it was too crowded to take in the whole scene. But what I do know is that Sleepy Joe made me considerable money during his 20-minute craps roll, when those closest to him weren't convinced he was alive.

There are so many late-night gambling things you can’t write about because it’s “you had to be there” type humor. What I would like to highlight is Thon Misser’s focus and determination at the table. One of my longest tenured betting partners and friends is Robert. Robert is one of the quietest, nicest, most trustworthy guys you’ll ever meet in sports betting. You could ask him to hold $10 million cash for you without the slightest hesitation. He very rarely makes it down for late-night drinking and betting, but on one particular night, he joined in the crowd. When it comes time for his roll, he goes back-to-back rolling one of the dice off the table. People don’t give a shit, we’re drinking and joking and laughing. But for whatever reason, like divine intervention, I lock in on Thon at the other side of the table. He’s laser-focused, looking down at Robert, who’s at the exact opposite end. In a perfect, old-school BigCat impression, he puts both hands straight up and screams, “FIGURE IT THE FUCK OUT.” 

I lost it. I almost pissed myself laughing. Robert then proceeds to rattle off multiple 7’s and points, and I have this memory of Thon forever.

Do not go to Bet Bash by yourself. No duh. But every year, I hear people say that Bet Bash is for everyone, regardless of whether you show up with pre-existing relationships. Maybe there really are guys who have the balls to shell out a relatively large sum of money to fly out to Vegas, all by themselves, and make the trip into a worthwhile experience. I am for sure too much of a pussy to do anything like that. And we know the only way to get rich is to not be a pussy, hence why I’m not rich.

You need to have a solid group of 3-4 people you can fall back on at Bet Bash. I go out there in the hopes of seeing all the people I only get to see once per year, but I also know I have the ability to call up a few guys for a meal, or gambling, or whatever other shit pops up with a moment's notice. I like to hang with Spaceman, Robert, and Jamie (he’s the Jungle on Twitter, don’t get me started on the fucking name). Ken is usually around the sportsbook with typical big-dick swag. This year, my guys introduced me to Seattle Mike, Gator, and Roy. Absolute beauties of sports bettors. I need the world exposed to Roy. The self-proclaimed worst bettor at the entire conference, he is everything I need for 4 days in Vegas. To give you an idea of what we’re working with, 4 of us made a MAX PLAY, GAME OF THE YEAR on the Calgary Stampeders -1.5 to pass the time on Thursday. Benson was so nervous, he moved the line to -2 on our action. Please ignore the game closing Toronto Argonauts -1.5. Anyways, Roy took us seriously and had a dime on the game through his PPH because we had somehow given him the impression we were Canadian Football League sharps. We then sweat out the game in Barry’s, with terrible reception and no clue of the actual rules of Canadian Football. At one point, we were in danger of losing the game with one team kicking the ball through the other team’s end zone? I don’t know what those loonies have going on up north, but we lost the bet.

Bet Bash open bars are fantastic. This year, it seemed they managed to expand the open-bar area, resulting in more space and a lovely atmosphere. I think they’re a perfect way to get each of your nights started. Even if you don’t want to be down there for the full 4 hours, it’s a super low-pressure environment. We’d be cooking with gas if we could find a way to get a few blackjack, roulette, and craps tables in that roped-off area.

Get out of Circa for a meal or two. 8 East, Barry’s, and a couple of super hungover brunches at Saginaw's Deli are must-haves during any Bet Bash. But this was the first time I ventured out to hit Tacos El Gordo. Listen, that place fucks. You know it’s good when you don’t hear a lick of English the entire time you’re there. The only downside is the 50/50 chance that one of the homeless encampments in areas outside the strip will unite and steal your rental car while you're dining. Jeff from RAS would be appalled to learn that the Vegas homeless aren’t draped in Lulu and Jordans. The horror.

People I met for the first time I thought were awesome.

Sports Projections - you know that feeling you get when you quit a job, and your future feels filled with endless possibilities? And people with kids - you know that feeling when your first child is born and you don’t yet realize how average a parent you’re gonna be? Well, combine those two feelings and that’s the SP we got. Just a goddamn ball of aura. I watched a woman on Fremont Street faint just looking at him. Now, she was homeless and lying on 200-degree pavement, but it gives you an idea of what SP is capable of.

Calvin and Hobo - he served on the Ethics of Touting panel with Ricky Gold, Fezzik, and me. I also had the pleasure of eating lunch with him earlier in the week, and let me tell you, that man is too nice to be in sports betting. Or, I guess, he’s too nice for the old sports-betting world. He will fit in beautifully in this newfound utopia of a sports betting ecosystem. Just a really, really good dude. I want to apologize one last time if I made our panel uncomfortable or into something you weren’t hoping for because of the scum who shared the stage.

Ricky Gold - moderator of our panel. Is it still cool to call someone a Chiller? Ricky is a textbook Chiller. I’m sure I didn’t make the panel easy for him, but he handled it perfectly. He was also a late-night gambler, built for a good time. Every time I listened to him speak, I became more confused about how he ended up in sports betting and not running some sort of surf shop on the beach. Big time glue guy.

Mr. Peanut Bettor - he and I live maybe 15-20 minutes apart and we had never actually met in person. He kept promising to give me a shirt he had brought me, and continued to string me along until the very end of the conference before finally handing me said shirt with a couple of hours to spare. Other than being a shirt-tease, Mr. PB is the lifeblood of a group setting. Also, he kept attempting to shorten his name/Twitter handle, which is only going to make everyone else be 10x more brutal.

Jacob Gramenga - insanely nice and has busted his ass to get where he’s at. Seemingly very good at drinking beer, but I did not get to hang out with him nearly as much as I would’ve liked. Führer Pizzola has him filming content on the casting couch all week when the rest of the crew is out living it up.

People I wish I got to talk with more.

Chinamaniac - he’s just a pleasure to be around. I think he had a secret dinner I didn’t get an invite to, but I pray his plate didn't look like his typical plate.

Jeff Benson - 4th year out there, first time I actually got to shake the man’s hand. All of us want to see him, but none of us wants to bother him during our stay. He is busy finding ways to bring Circa to all states, where they will welcome all bettors, including the masses who will surely win in their sportsbook.

Golden Pants - he just seems really nice, other than some of his terrible TV takes. I think he spent a lot of time hiding in poker rooms and checking his numbers to make sure he had enough money for cold brews.

Most awkward encounter. I’m walking back towards the elevators to head up to my room when I bump into Mr. PB and Flup in the lobby. We’re making small talk as a guy walks past us to use the turnstiles that give you access to the elevators. He keeps scanning his room key to open the door in front of him, but doesn’t realize it’s opening the turnstile to the right. He scans his room key at least 10 times. He’s visibly frustrated/embarrassed, and even more so when a Circa employee walking by has to almost physically hold his hand to direct him through the correct turnstile. He walks away, and Mr. PB lets out a booming laugh accompanied by “What a fucking idiot!” Unfortunately, I had to share that I caught a glimpse of the Bet Bash name tag he was wearing. It read ClevTA.

Let’s end this with some sentimental, mushy bullshit.

I wasn’t joking when I started this 7,000-word journey claiming that much of the animosity has seemingly disappeared from the betting space. When I go to Bet Bash, I have a legitimately wonderful time, and every year, I’m bummed to get in the Uber to the airport on Friday. How much of that feeling stems from the fact I’ll be heading back to work for the first time in 3 months about 48 hours later? Who’s to say!

Joking aside, those 4 days at Bet Bash are unique. I don’t think I’m making some sort of grand proclamation, but we just don’t get that type of experience at any other point in the year. So many of the people you meet at the conference have sports betting as their full-time profession or are trying to make it a bigger part of their lives. But the immersiveness of Bet Bash, even for the full-timers, has to feel so different from the role sports betting plays in our day-to-day lives. There is no ramp-up, there is no feeling out the reason why you’re there. You don’t have to explain the basics as you do with your in-laws or friends who are casuals. You get there and are thrown immediately into the deep end, surrounded by people who you know, without a doubt, share one of your major passions. As I reach my late thirties, I’m not going to sit here and act like I have things even close to figured out. But something I have realized is just how hard it is to meet new people in general, let alone people who share a passion for a niche industry to the extent that you do. Bet Bash can provide us with that opportunity.

I got to play in a poker game set up by Isaac Rose-Berman on Thursday night over at the Golden Nugget. I’m convinced it was an accidental invite, and even if it was, I don’t give a shit. That poker game was an absolute blast. It quickly rose as one of my favorite memories. IRB had booked two tables, so about 20-24 guys were ready to go. I sat at the kiddie table. I think the adult table was filled with Citadel and Prediction Market guys. I cannot imagine how much truth was being discovered at that table.

Over the course of maybe 4 hours, we sat in a group and gambled casually. I cannot tell you the last time I gambled casually. There was maybe $30-40k on the table? I have no clue. At no point do I think any of the players analyzed the size of a person’s chip stack, nor did they give two shits about how much money they could potentially make. It had an incredibly old-school feel, a throwback to when you first started betting with your buddies. We sat around, busting balls, highly entertained by the event organizer and his antics at the table. We talked about sports betting as well as our families, and sprinkled in some of the most nonsensical ‘would you rather’ questions you’ll hear. I had goals of telling China his food plates look like dogshit and explaining to GP why Traitors is the most overrated, shit show on TV. I accomplished both of those things.

And I really hate to admit this, but for all the people pounding the table and saying that betting should be treated as a form of entertainment, they have a small point. Every player sitting at the table had an amount of money in front of them that they were more than comfortable losing. We weren’t mortgaging the house or blowing the kids’ college fund to feed a gambling addiction. The game wasn’t being played out of a need to feel the rush of action. We socially gambled to have fun. It got me thinking about how many groups of people do that every Saturday and Sunday during football season. The group sweats as your favorite team tries to cover the spread. A 10-team parlay where each of your friends got to pick one of the legs. The one magical day where a guy went 8-0, betting amounts they are super comfortable with and feeling untouchable. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t do any of that anymore. It’s all serious and almost robotic at this point. This year’s Bet Bash got me feeling differently about the role sports betting can play in our lives. As usual, IRB nailed it with one of his main takeaways from Bet Bash:

Bet Bash is an amazing event as it allows us to continue learning in so many different ways, and I hope the conference continues to bring bettors together.

Until next time.

Ferris

@FerrisB_86