Episode 37
The Odds(Jam) in our Favour, with Alex Monahan
In this episode, "The Odds(Jam) in our Favor," we have a special guest joining host Shane Mercer: Alex Monahan, the co-founder of OddsJam.
OddsJam is an odds comparison site dedicated to providing sports bettors with the best odds and tools in the sports betting industry. As the sports betting landscape in North America continues to evolve, with the rise of regulated sportsbooks and increased competition, OddsJam is at the forefront, empowering bettors to make well-informed decisions and maximize their chances of success.
We'll explore the challenges and misconceptions in the sports betting world, the importance of data-driven approaches, and the exciting partnership between OddsJam and inplayLIVE.
🔑 Key Topics
00:01:39 Influx of books as sports betting grows.
00:03:57 Starting OddsJam to learn about sports betting.
00:07:32 Books lose life, OddsJam sees activity, positive value.
00:10:09 Comparing lines, legal books, fantasy sites. Opportunities and edges for betters.
00:14:27 Industry incentivizes dumb stuff, not data-driven.
00:19:10 Golf fitness, entertainment, gambling, informed decisions.
00:21:32 Uneducated people risking money without understanding gambling.
00:24:28 Financial industry, quick money, GameStop hype.
00:27:58 Community conversations drive greater data insights.
00:33:13 OddsJam has influenced decision-making. NFL and NBA have lucrative live lines.
00:35:15 Discount code inplaylive15 gets perpetual discount. Not a replacement for inplayLIVE, but a complement. Offers pregame betting and real-time value propositions.
00:40:49 Join the inplayLIVE live streams, use the OddsJam tools and win with sports betting.
📚 Timestamped Overview
00:01:39 The rise in regulated sports books led to an increase in people considering gambling. Many states and companies are entering the sports betting market.
00:03:57 Starting OddsJam was prompted by the legalization of sports betting in order to understand promos and sports books. Most of the content lacked substance, with focus on superficial factors like player injuries. The author sought more analytical and number-based content, as they observed discrepancies in betting recommendations.
00:07:32 Books lose life in a minute, OddsJam tracks activity, finding value in opposite bets. Betting strategy matters more than what is bet.
00:10:09 Comparing lines on prize picks and sports books, interest in different betting platforms across US states, seeking opportunities for value and edge in betting platforms like prize picks.
00:14:27 The sports betting industry is designed to promote irrational gambling rather than data-driven strategies. Many people are data-driven in other aspects of their lives but not when it comes to sports betting.
00:19:10 inplayLIVE exists to provide tools and information for more informed and responsible gambling decisions, enabling engagement in fun activities with reduced losses.
00:21:32 Many people get into gambling without knowledge or desire to learn, leading to financial problems. Some enjoy it as a fun activity, while others take it too seriously and lose money. Gambling brings joy to the author's life.
00:24:28 Many people in finance are driven by quick riches.
00:27:58 The power of collaboration and accessing valuable data in the sports betting community.
00:33:13 Some decisions based on OddsJam, Kenny's NFL insights, and NBA's live lines benefit the community.
00:35:15 Use promo code inplaylive15 for perpetuity discount on OddsJam premium tools. Compliment to inplayLIVE with access to pregame betting and real-time value propositions.
00:40:49 We'd love to have you participate on a live stream, Alex. This partnership is a huge win for both communities. Learn and grow in sports betting.
00:41:18 Two guys, Alex and Pace, promote reading and invite listeners to subscribe to their podcast on various platforms.
🎞️ Top Quotes & Hooks
What Is OddsJam?: “OddsJam, a website dedicated to providing the very best odds, giving you a tool to shop odds online."
— Shane Mercer [00:00:54 → 00:01:01]
North American Sports Betting Landscape: "We famously say on this show, we don't give out picks, we don't give out predictions. There's no crystal balls here. We talk about the landscape."
— Shane Mercer [00:01:28 → 00:01:35]
The Rise of Sports Betting: "Everyone wants a piece know sports betting, they want a piece of the handle."
— Alex Monahan [00:02:25 → 00:02:30]
The Dark Side of Sports Betting: “This is a whole industry designed to profit off of people's losses, right?"
— Shane Mercer [00:03:46 → 00:03:51]
Diverse Content in Sports Betting: "Most of the content didn't speak to me. It was so much like, oh, LeBron's knee, lakers are a lock, I'm taking the Lakers. There wasn't much substance and I guess I played poker. I come from a background where I'm kind of like wanted to hear numbers, was used to thinking that way and it just wasn't there."
— Alex Monahan [00:04:16 → 00:04:40]
The Limitations of Line Shopping Culture: “I think, obviously, when it comes to the line shopping culture, I think there's actually something missing when it comes to the educational side of things."
— Andrew Pace [00:06:50 → 00:07:00]
The Importance of Understanding Market Dynamics: "You see the line on books just get the life sucked out of it. Not in like ten minutes, but in 60 seconds or less. So that means that when the other side of the line is growing."
— Andrew Pace [00:07:32 → 00:07:45]
Revamped OddsJam Website: "I was totally impressed. It is completely revamped from the last time I was there. The website looks very slick and there's a whole bunch of new tools that are available."
— Shane Mercer [00:09:13 → 00:09:23]
Legalized Sports Betting in the US: "So someone in New Jersey may be really interested in Caesar's FanDuel, whereas someone in California is really interested in these fantasy sites, prize picks underdog fantasy that have kind of taken, I guess, you know, on OddsJam, we just listen, I guess, more than other people, and kind of try to listen to what do people want? Where are people betting? Where are they trying to get an edge? And where is there an edge? I would love to have a slots product but you can't get an edge in slots. So where are there opportunities discrepancies like maybe some value for betters and what can we kind of build around that? Because we never knew when we launched prize picks and sites like that were really going to be popular and just how big of an edge you can get on some of these platforms."
— Alex Monahan [00:10:36 → 00:11:29]
Sports Betting Strategies and Hedging Profit Boosts: “Some people come in with like, FanDuel has these 50% profit boosts on college football games tomorrow. I want to hedge those profit boosts and make a risk free profit because I hate gambling."
— Alex Monahan [00:13:19 → 00:13:30]
The Use of Tools in the Sports Betting Industry: "You're really touching on the odds comparisons and the features there, but there's even more than that. When I was looking through it, right, you've got tracking tools, you've got Arbitrage tools, right? Middling tools and pace. These are all kinds of things that we preach about at. And you know, you've got similar tools as well on the website. And you know, we even did an episode recently with a sports book, probably one of the very few sports books out there that I would say align with the inplayLIVE values. And that was Pinnacle, that also has similar tools. Alex, do you think that these kinds of tools are being used enough in the sports betting industry as a whole?"
— Shane Mercer [00:13:45 → 00:14:26]
The Influence of Marketing in the Sports Betting Industry: "No, I would say it's very interesting because if you think about the industry and this isn't meant to be like a conspiracy theory, it's just like the way it's built is, right? All the people with money are incentivized to just push dumb stuff, right?"
— Alex Monahan [00:14:27 → 00:14:48]
The Importance of Targeting Niche Audiences: "So OddsJam and for Smarter, betters or people who have content that is smarter, it's kind of like you kind of have to figure out how to get in front of those type of people who are used to just hearing the mainstream stuff and it's going to sound abnormal to them because you're not used to hearing about it."
— Alex Monahan [00:16:10 → 00:16:31]
The Entertainment Value of Betting: "The thing is, I think on the mission of purifying the betting industry, I think that you brought up something that's really special even though it wasn't related to winning specifically and that was the Jamar Chase Anytime touchdown better... That's not chasing, that might be making bad bets, but they're fun and entertaining bets. And I've always said this. How is that any different from someone going and spending some money to go play golf, to go to a know, whatever the case may be."
— Andrew Pace [00:18:57 → 00:19:10]
The Benefits of inplayLIVE: "Gambling is still gambling for you, but you're losing less because you did make a more informed and responsible decision."
— Andrew Pace [00:19:30 → 00:19:38]
The Dangers of Uneducated Gambling: "But a lot of it is like whenever people hear, hey, get rich quicks, you get a lot of people who take that way too seriously and start putting a lot of money on these bets with zero clue what they're doing."
— Alex Monahan [00:22:17 → 00:22:29]
Getting Rich Quick in the Sports Betting Industry: "This is an industry built around the idea of you can get rich quick. And the fact is that, well, no, you will lose money quick, but there is a way to get rich, and it's just not quick. And it takes a lot of hard work and it takes a lot of time and effort."
— Shane Mercer [00:23:54 → 00:24:10]
Wall Street and the Desire for Quick Money: "And I know this sounds horrible to say, but being a smart better, I mean, just like being starting my career in trading kind of introduced me to this world of how much of the financial industry is just people making wall street money, who understand the math, who just want to get rich quick."
— Alex Monahan [00:24:31 → 00:24:51]
Get Rich Quick Mentality In Sports Betting: “And it's not a way to get rich, which is invest, save a portion of your money, diversify. That's boring. 8% a year is what the stock market does. Screw that. I'm trying to make $50,000 off $10 this weekend.”
— Alex Monahan [00:25:17 → 00:26:04]
Embracing Growth and Learning at inplayLIVE: "I feel like Pace, I think Alex is touching on a lot of the things that you talk about when you and I are having conversations on the show and off the show. You know with inplayLIVE and wanting to attract the right kind of members, right people who are willing to grow, willing to learn, willing to embrace something new. And at inplayLIVE it's exactly that. It's betting live. Totally."
— Shane Mercer [00:27:25 → 00:27:46]
The Power of Collaboration in Sports Betting: "And that's where the power of these types of minds coming together can really benefit."
— Andrew Pace [00:28:35 → 00:28:42]
Sports Betting Strategies: "And then you take consistencies where a site like OddsJam might be putting up a certain sports book in a certain scenario that you are noticing a pattern where you go hey, is there something more here than meets the eye beyond the data? And what is happening in this particular scenario that's allowing for these lines to pop in this spot? And that's where beautiful things can happen long term."
— Andrew Pace [00:29:33 → 00:29:57]
Learning from Each Other and Working Together: "I love that we're talking about learning from each other, working together, like-minded people."
— Shane Mercer [00:30:48 → 00:30:52]
Access to OddsJam Product is a Net Benefit to our Members: "The first is going to be my access to the OddsJam interface and product, which is a net benefit to our members. I'm obviously reading games based on our data, and I'm reading games based on what I'm seeing going down on the field. And I've never had access to, okay, what is this particular machine learning and AI system that's comparing lines, telling us about what values out there? So that's another overall sort of addition to the community with just having the pros that call our wagers in real time, having access to the OddsJam product."
— Andrew Pace [00:32:36 → 00:33:13]
The Power Of Access To Easier Shopping In The NFL: "What Kenny does in the NFL, he's going to find that line a lot quicker and be able to announce it for us sooner because of his access to easier shopping."
— Andrew Pace [00:33:37 → 00:33:48]
About OddsJam: “It's just a no brainer. You sign up for Odds Jam, you get a free trial so you can test it out."
— Andrew Pace [00:35:09 → 00:35:14]
Benefits of Using OddsJam for Sports Betting: "And if you use the promo code inplaylive15, you're going to get a discount in perpetuity to the OddsJam platform so that you can do a lot of this stuff if you want to on your own."
— Andrew Pace [00:35:15 → 00:35:26]
The Importance of Bet Trackers: "Just kind of like I'd say, bet tracker in general doesn't even have to be OddsJam, whatever one you're using, even a spreadsheet. It's just important, which is why we invested in it."
— Alex Monahan [00:37:00 → 00:37:14]
Partnership with OddsJam: “This is a huge win, I think, for both sides, the inplayLIVE community as well as OddsJam."
— Shane Mercer [00:41:00 → 00:41:04]
🤔 Q&A
What is OddsJam and what problem does it aim to solve?
Answer: OddsJam is an odds comparison website that helps bettors find the best odds and opportunities in the sports betting industry.
What are some tools and features offered by OddsJam?
Answer: OddsJam offers tools like tracking, arbitrage, middling, and pace to help bettors analyze data and make more informed betting decisions.
How does OddsJam differentiate itself from other sports betting platforms?
Answer: OddsJam focuses on finding value and discrepancies in sports betting and promotes a data-driven approach, which is not commonly promoted in the industry.
What is the significance of the partnership between inplayLIVE and OddsJam?
Answer: The partnership allows inplayLIVE members to access tools and information from OddsJam to exploit NBA live lines and increase their chances of success.
Why is it important for bettors to understand the mathematical aspect and strategy of betting?
Answer: Understanding the mathematical aspect and strategy of betting is crucial for making more informed and responsible betting decisions, leading to a more enjoyable and successful experience in the long term.
What is the misconception about bluffing in poker and sports betting?
Answer: There is a misconception that bluffing can lead to big winnings in poker and sports betting, but in reality, understanding the mathematical aspect and strategy is more important.
How does the sports betting industry capitalize on the desire for quick money?
Answer: The industry creates allure around "get rich quick" opportunities and focuses on big parlay wins, which may lead to people making uninformed and uneducated bets.
What is the role of education and knowledge in sports betting?
Answer: Education and knowledge are essential for long-term success in sports betting. It is important for bettors to consistently seek information, learn new strategies, and adapt to changing circumstances.
How does OddsJam help recreational bettors avoid getting ripped off by sportsbooks?
Answer: OddsJam highlights discrepancies in odds offered by different sportsbooks, allowing recreational bettors to find the best odds and avoid unfavorable positions.
What are some challenges faced by bettors in live betting?
Answer: Live betting moves at a much faster pace, with lines changing within seconds. Staying logged into sportsbooks and being quick are important factors for success in live betting.
❇️ Important Notes & Bullets
Alex Monahan, co-founder of OddsJam, discusses the importance of finding the best odds in sports betting
OddsJam is an odds comparison site that helps bettors identify discrepancies and opportunities in the market
They focus on various markets, including player props, and emphasize the value of line shopping
Andrew Pace highlights the importance of community and collaboration in the inplayLIVE ecosystem
OddsJam announces a partnership with inplayLIVE to provide information and tools for sports bettors
Shane Mercer discusses the revamped OddsJam website and new tools available
The guests emphasize the importance of data-driven approaches and consistently seeking knowledge in sports betting
They address misconceptions about bluffing and the stigma of using data in sports betting
The guests discuss responsible gambling and the allure of "get rich quick" opportunities
They encourage listeners to learn and grow in sports betting and join the inplayLIVE community
📜 Full Transcript
Shane Mercer [00:00:00]:
Welcome to another episode of Behind the Lines, the only podcast purifying the sports betting industry. Remember to like download, subscribe, follow us on all the socials at inplayLIVE. And if you want to see what inplayLIVE is all about on the inside, we got a special promo code for you that is the 'BEHINDTHELINES' all caps promo code. All right, I am here with Andrew Pace, the founder of inplayLIVE, who's a regular on this show, but who is not a regular is Alex Monahan, the co founder of OddsJam, a website dedicated to providing the very best odds, giving you a tool to shop odds online. But it does a whole lot more than that. Alex, we are so excited to have you on the show. Welcome. How are you?
Alex Monahan [00:01:06]:
Great. Doing great. Thanks for the intro and happy to be on.
Shane Mercer [00:01:10]:
Wonderful. So glad to have you. And first off the top of the show, I always say we are purifying the sports betting industry. I want to get your take on that and sort of get you to kind of give me your take on what the sports betting landscape looks like in North America. We famously say on this show, we don't give out picks, we don't give out predictions. There's no crystal balls here. We talk about the landscape. So give me your thoughts on the North American sports betting landscape.
Alex Monahan [00:01:39]:
Yeah, so I've been betting a long time and I'd say know once it launched. I was living in Pennsylvania at the time when all the regulated sports books came in. It's not that there weren't sports books before, there weren't fantasy websites, but when kind of the money came into marketing, I'd say a lot of my friends who liked sports for the first time, they were now considering gambling, whereas before they could have bet. But using an offshore book or something like that was a little bit maybe too much of a burden. And I would say just like you've just seen state after state fall in book after book, like everyone wants tent or I mean some books have gone out of business or look like they're about to go out of business when I think is going out of business. But you see, everyone wants a piece know sports betting, they want a piece of the handle. You see ESPN trying to enter points bet Australian companies. So you really just got like an influx of books, right? Like everyone raising money and trying to start a sports book.
Alex Monahan [00:02:42]:
I think like Colorado has like 25 regulated sports books. Maybe it's not that many, same with New Jersey, but you just see a ton of books entering, a ton of money entering. And for the customers who are more sophisticated, that's a good thing because all these books have different lines, different promos, stuff like that. So when I really started to take sports betting seriously was when it got regulated. Because these books have a lot of money, they had a lot of good promos and there were just a lot of profitable bets, like a lot of inefficiencies in the market because you have all these books trying to set lines themselves, FanDuel, DraftKing, Caesars, and they're really focused on growth.
Shane Mercer [00:03:26]:
Yeah. You mentioned all the sports books getting in the inefficiencies and how sophisticated sports bettors can really kind of benefit from all of that, but a lot of recreational sports bettors out there. The vast majority of sports bettors are recreational sports bettors, not as many in sort of the sophisticated bucket. And this is a whole industry designed to profit off of people's losses, right?
Alex Monahan [00:03:51]:
Yeah.
Shane Mercer [00:03:52]:
How does OddsJam try to sort of improve that situation?
Alex Monahan [00:03:57]:
Yeah, totally. I mean, I'd say that was kind of one of the maybe reasons for starting OddsJam was when sports betting legalized and I wanted to learn more about some of these promos, some of these sports books. What is a risk free bet? What is a profit boost? Most of the content didn't speak to me. It was so much like, oh, LeBron's knee, lakers are a lock, I'm taking the Lakers. There wasn't much substance and I guess I played poker. I come from a background where I'm kind of like wanted to hear numbers, was used to thinking that way and it just wasn't there. Like people recommending bets at -110 that would be their pick of the day if I looked on YouTube, whereas I'd look on another book and it would be plus 110. And I was like, how does this make any sense? Clearly they're getting ripped off.
Alex Monahan [00:04:53]:
So I think just like, ultimately OddsJam has just kind of started to just be an odds comparison site. Because I'd say too, there were a lot of sites that had moneyline odds maybe for like FanDuel and DraftKings, but a lot of the promos, a lot of the marketing from books centered around player props, a lot of books launching player props, markets getting hot that weren't before nerfies, right?
Shane Mercer [00:05:20]:
Yes.
Alex Monahan [00:05:20]:
We're on first inning. Like, stuff like this that wasn't popular, didn't even exist when I started gambling, like back on the day on offshore books or anything like that. That's what's popular now, right? Like nerfies anytime. TD scores. So OddsJam just kind of the same concepts apply. You don't want to get ripped off. You don't want to bet something plus 300 if it's on DraftKings at plus 600. So ultimately OD Sham was just like, damn, I'm using all this data or I want to see all this data.
Alex Monahan [00:05:51]:
So how can we try to make a product that kind of shows people the full length of stuff they can bet and maybe where there's opportunities and stuff like that? I mean it is very common to see TD scores like four times the odds on certain sports books and some books just like juicing their know essentially ripping people off. I mean there's really no other way to put it.
Shane Mercer [00:06:14]:
Pace. Alex touching on some things there that you love to rip on. He used one of your favorite words. Lock talking about the data and sort of seeing bad lines or he touched on the tipster culture as well and people throwing out a line of -110. Meanwhile, you can get it. Plus, 110 somewhere else. I mean, this is stuff that you've been seeing plenty of.
Andrew Pace [00:06:38]:
Yeah, I think if you just have never watched The Behind the Lines podcast. Alex just summed up the first 25 episodes in. I think, obviously, when it comes to the line shopping culture, I think there's actually something missing when it comes to the educational side of things. And he touched on it there without diving into it crazy deep. And it's that when you're looking at anytime, touchdown, score or market. As an example, oftentimes the option of no TD, so the inverse to the wager is not available. So it gives the sports book free rein to just pump the line with vigorous right. And having been in a sports book or sorry, a sports group where, for example, the no run, yes run, first inning markets get called to a group of potentially 1000 people at once.
Andrew Pace [00:07:32]:
You see the line on books just get the life sucked out of it. Not in like ten minutes, but in 60 seconds or less. So that means that when the other side of the line is growing. You have a site like OddsJam that might actually see that activity occurring where certain triggers are hit. And the other side of the wager, despite the call being the opposite, actually. Hitting a threshold of potential positive EV right where you have value on the other side of it. So I think one of the big things when it comes to some of these smaller markets and the vig and the juice and the way they're moving and things like that are really when you bet it and not about what you bet. So that's what's really cool about the product that I really like is that you do have these.
Andrew Pace [00:08:20]:
Real time representations of value that sometimes can only last for a few seconds. And the parallels to that and what we do with live betting Shane, as you know, being a member of inplayLIVE, we're watching the drive. Of an NFL game where if you didn't get the wager on third down and one you didn't get the wager, you don't bet it. Now, that was the moment. That was the time. Which is, of course, why we live stream at inplayLIVE. But the parallels there, regardless of the fact that it's live wagering or not are crazy because it can be this real sliver of a fraction of time where it's value or not, regardless of the outcome.
Shane Mercer [00:09:02]:
Pace bringing up the product. So I had visited the OddsJam website in quite a long time. The last time I went there was probably several years ago. So in preparation of this episode, of course I went and checked it out and dude, I was totally impressed. It is completely revamped from the last time I was there. The website looks very slick and there's a whole bunch of new tools that are available, new to me anyway, from somebody who hasn't visited it in a long time. But it's much more than just comparing odds now, right?
Alex Monahan [00:09:30]:
Yeah, totally. I'd say a lot of new types of companies have launched, like prize picks. For example, a platform that's gotten really hot in essentially a sports gambling, but it works in a different way. There's no odds, it's fixed payouts. And there are ways to get an edge on prize picks, but it's a slightly different strategy. Right? They have fixed payouts. Any two picks you select, you're always getting a three x payout, putting down 100 to win 300. So the strategy slightly changes of how do you get an edge? Well, you want to find picks that are more likely to win.
Alex Monahan [00:10:09]:
So you want to compare the lines on prize picks to those on the sports books and see spots where books have a line -180 like heavy favorites, zay flowers over four and a half receptions. I think that's one play I got in this morning. But I guess people use different sports books and fantasy sites. That's what's very interesting about the US. Is books are legal but only in certain states. So someone in New Jersey may be really interested in Caesar's FanDuel, whereas someone in California is really interested in these fantasy sites, prize picks underdog fantasy that have kind of taken, I guess, you know, on OddsJam, we just listen, I guess, more than other people, and kind of try to listen to what do people want? Where are people betting? Where are they trying to get an edge? And where is there an edge? I would love to have a slots product but you can't get an edge in slots. So where are there opportunities discrepancies like maybe some value for bettors and what can we kind of build around that? Because we never knew when we launched prize picks and sites like that were really going to be popular and just how big of an edge you can get on some of these platforms.
Shane Mercer [00:11:30]:
I want to ask you about that. When you launched, what was the purpose and how has that purpose kind of changed over the years?
Alex Monahan [00:11:37]:
Yeah, so when we launched, I think it was mainly line shopping and then just showing big discrepancies between books when you could get more value on a specific sports know, FanDuel DraftKing Caesars. I would say overall it's pretty like it really know, trying to highlight out of all the sports books out there, canada, wherever the user is, just like, where's their value? And that's a starting point as a sports. Like, again, I come from kind of a gambling background. Like trading is the hard part is there's thousands of different stocks, millions of different stock options. It's like you have to know what to look at at a given time. Like, if you pull up FanDuel for any NFL game, I mean, there are tens of thousands of lines you can bet every time. TD score two plus know receiving yards, alt receiving yards, passing yards, alt passing yards. But like, the hard part is just knowing, like, okay, all these books have these lines, but where is there some value on FanDuel? And that's kind of like a starting point, I would say.
Alex Monahan [00:12:44]:
Some people kind of know what they want to bet and that's fine. Obviously, I follow a much more data driven approach to my bets. But some people come in with an idea. I want to be on Jamar Chase to score a mean even if maybe the bet isn't, in my opinion, profitable. They want to see where they can get the best price, where they can get the best odds DraftKings, FanDuel or Caesars, whatever books they use, we help them solve that problem. Whereas some people may come in, I just want good NFL bets because I'm going to be sitting there with my friends watching the games. And then some people come in with like, FanDuel has these 50% profit boosts on college football games tomorrow. I want to hedge those profit boosts and make a risk free profit because I hate gambling.
Alex Monahan [00:13:30]:
I just want to know what are the best places I can use my profit boost and then hedge them on DraftKings to make a small profit regardless of what happens. Arbitrage and we try to kind of cater to all those people.
Shane Mercer [00:13:45]:
You're really touching on the odds comparisons and the features there, but there's even more than that. When I was looking through it, right, you've got tracking tools, you've got Arbitrage tools, right? Middling tools and pace. These are all kinds of things that we preach about at. And you know, you've got similar tools as well on the website. And you know, we even did an episode recently with a sports book, probably one of the very few sports books out there that I would say align with the inplayLIVE values. And that was Pinnacle, that also has similar tools. Alex, do you think that these kinds of tools are being used enough in the sports betting industry as a whole?
Alex Monahan [00:14:27]:
No, I would say it's very interesting because if you think about the industry and this isn't meant to be like a conspiracy theory, it's just like the way it's built is, right? All the people with money are incentivized to just push dumb stuff, right? Like FanDuel's just tweeting out here's, the one out of a million guys this weekend. Who won this crazy parlay? Why aren't you betting crazy parlays? Right? Like the whole industry is kind of geared to like FanDuel's not going to tell you to browse, compare their odds to DraftKings, right? So you kind of get this thing where being smart and rational and data driven is like abnormal because that's not what the books talk about. The books are promoting sports, showing highlights of Jamar Chase and just showing you these crazy same game parlays that probably have 70% big and it's a zero sum game. You make money or they make money, but people get used to it, right? So it's kind of the norm. So when you start talking about data or stuff like that, it's like some people are dude, like this is sports betting. What are you talking about? And I would say it's like so many people I meet, they're very data driven in their day to day lives, right? They watch their credit card like a hawk. Oh, what's know, Netflix or Hulu, they're so data driven. But then when it comes to sports really? Yeah, I watched, you know, a couple of weekends ago he had three touchdowns.
Alex Monahan [00:15:58]:
I'm going to hammer his over on FanDuel is like people are so clueless. So I would say part of it is just it's not what the mainstreams are ever going to talk about. So for OddsJam and for Smarter, betters or people who have content that is smarter, it's kind of like you kind of have to figure out how to get in front of those type of people who are used to just hearing the mainstream stuff and it's going to sound abnormal to them because you're not used to hearing about it. Right. You're just not used to hearing about it, at least on the main accounts, barstool FanDuel DraftKings all their commercials, right? This isn't what they're talking about. So it's not like what you're thinking about. You know what I mean? It's kind of like poker, maybe there's a lot of strategy math behind poker. I feel like most people know that.
Alex Monahan [00:16:53]:
But it's like when you kind of start it's like, oh, I'm just going to bluff my way to big winnings. And it's like, well, maybe if you're playing a bunch against a bunch of six year olds, but that's not going to really work. It's very mathematical. There's a strategy. But what's great about it poker sports betting is it's very accessible. So by that I mean you don't need a PhD to understand this type of stuff. Like getting plus 110 is better than -110 most people it clicks once they learn it. They just have to learn it and be open to learning it.
Alex Monahan [00:17:28]:
But the issue is a lot of people just aren't open to learning and aren't open to possibly changing. And also I think there is something where people who love sports feel like it's wrong to use data because you're just a numbers nerd. I'm a football guy, right? I do feel like there's a little bit of this, like nigh know football too well to even think about numbers. Like there is a little bit of.
Shane Mercer [00:18:02]:
That pace any of this sounding.
Andrew Pace [00:18:07]:
I mean, the thing is, the people that you're referring to there, Alex, are the same people that probably say that the house always wins and that OddsJam is a know. The thing is, I think on the mission of purifying the betting industry, I think that you brought up something that's really special even though it wasn't related to winning specifically and that was the Jamar Chase Anytime touchdown bettor. That doesn't care if it's a winning proposition long term, but they're getting the best price. And so when I look at a purified betting industry, you're describing a customer who is engaging in an activity that understands is designed for him to lose over time. That understands he's using entertainment money for entertainment purposes. That's not chasing, that might be making bad bets, but they're fun and entertaining bets. And I've always said this. How is that any different from someone going and spending some money to go play golf, to go to a know, whatever the case may be.
Andrew Pace [00:19:10]:
Obviously golf has a fitness element, but entertainment activities that know, maybe you grab a beer on the couch and you just let go and you get to cheer for Jamar Chase but you got the best price even though it's a losing proposition. Which means that over the course of time, you're still going to engage in all of those fun activities. Gambling is still gambling for you, but you're losing less because you did make a more informed and responsible decision. So that's precisely why inplayLIVE exists. And I think precisely why you're on the call with us today is because there are remarkable parallels regardless of when, where, how and why the bets were placed with giving people these tools, giving people this information, giving this people this power. And the other side to that Jamar Chase bettor is they, wow, you know, it really isn't working over the long term, but I do have access to this information now. You know what? Maybe I should make decisions that are not my own. It is not a lock.
Andrew Pace [00:20:15]:
There is only this theoretical value or lack thereof. And because of that, I can now begin engaging in winning practices. And that's all it takes, right? Pops up on the screen like plus 20% EV situation, it wins and you go, I would have never bet that. I would have never considered this wager. In fact, I thought the Cowboys couldn't lose this game, but the Cardinals found a way to do it. And this site just told me that the Cardinals actually had tremendous value in real time. You make that decision, then all of a sudden everything changes, right? Maybe you don't play roulette the next time you go to the casino. Maybe you look at a sports book and you go, I'm actually not placing that parlay this week.
Andrew Pace [00:21:03]:
I'm going to stick to this winning formula. And I know as a sports bettor myself, that was a recreational player. Once you engage in these winning decisions, it's actually hard to stop engaging in them. It's easier to continue to pursue your long term success because the dopamine no longer comes from the gambling. It comes from the winning. And in order to win over the long term, you have to continue to engage in those positive EV experiences.
Alex Monahan [00:21:32]:
Totally. And it very much is like kind of what you mentioned is if someone's betting, let's say $10 a week, they're throwing down a parlay on their favorite team. None of this is as big of a deal, but the problems really start, I feel like, for some people who they start to see and they don't know what they're doing because in general, these people are not educated. They have zero desire to learn, but they see these big parlay wins, and they think about their debts or whatever. And that's kind of the problem I see kind of with the industry is like, some people, it's like fun, like a 30 cent parlay, whatever. I'll throw one together with my friends for this game. But a lot of it is like whenever people hear, hey, get rich quicks, you get a lot of people who take that way too seriously and start putting a lot of money on these bets with zero clue what they're doing. And gambling brings a lot of joy to my life, and it doesn't take that much time to do these things.
Alex Monahan [00:22:34]:
I hear a lot of people like, man, I got to sign up for DraftKings. It's like, dude, you sign up for DraftKings, they give you a free $250. It takes 20 seconds. Oh, man, I got to sign up and get a free $250. And it's like, oh, my God. And it really is this quick thing because when I started sports betting, probably the first sports betting customer in the United States on a legal book, I was living on the Pennsylvania New Jersey border. So those are the first two states or maybe first two of three to legalize. So I was just arbitrage betting, hit two bets, make a risk free profit of $10, $20, and it builds up.
Alex Monahan [00:23:14]:
But there's so many people who like, why would I do that? When I saw this guy cashed a one dollars to 900,000 parlay or 90,000, it's like, your stuff's dumb. When I can place these degenerate 26, like parlays with no idea what I'm doing, take everyone to score a touchdown on Sunday. Why would you want to make why slow and steady if you can get rich quick? And that, I feel like, is really the entire industry is everyone wants to get rich quick. Nobody even wants to play straight bets. Now, if you look nowadays on social media, straight bets, it's all these crazy parlays and that's get rich quick. It's interesting.
Shane Mercer [00:23:52]:
I think you've nailed it there, right? This is an industry built around the idea of you can get rich quick. And the fact is that, well, no, you will lose money quick, but there is a way to get rich, and it's just not quick. And it takes a lot of hard work and it takes a lot of time and effort. How do you convince people of that, though, Alex? How do you convince somebody who's a recreational sports bettor, who has been sort of conditioned to think that if I'm going to bet on sports, I need to make a big parlay so that I can get rich quick? That that's not the there's.
Alex Monahan [00:24:28]:
I don't ever think it will be mainstream. And I know this sounds horrible to say, but being a smart bettor, I mean, just like being starting my career in trading kind of introduced me to this world of how much of the financial industry is just people making wall street money, who understand the math, who just want to get rich quick. GameStop. You saw it, right? Everyone trying to get in, trying to get rich quick, and a lot of people lost a lot of money. Some people made money, really. But everyone wants kind of the quick hit. What's the option that's going to make me $50,000, right? And what stock is going to go up 30% today? That's what people want. That's what they talk about in this industry has been around forever, but that's still what people want.
Alex Monahan [00:25:17]:
And it's not a way to get rich, which is invest, save a portion of your money, diversify. That's boring. 8% a year is what the stock market does. Screw that. I'm trying to make $50,000 off $10 this weekend. But I do think there's a subset of people who unfortunately, a lot of people just don't get it, right? They want to get rich quick. And I'm not sure what the solution is there because it's the entire financial industry in many ways, trading options in general. But I would say, like in sports betting, there's a certain subset of people who are willing to learn, which I feel like is just a quality and a personality trait, right? Some people want to improve.
Alex Monahan [00:26:04]:
When I started poker, it's like I wanted to learn how to beat other people. I mean, first of all, it makes more money. I don't understand how you can just be like, nah, man, I don't want to learn. I just want to play for fun. But I enjoyed going to casinos, gambling, beating other people. It was fun, it was a hobby. But I also wanted to win, right? I wanted to win money. So I was willing to put in the work, learn, buy courses, whatever.
Alex Monahan [00:26:29]:
And I think it's the same thing with sports betting, is, like, there's so much information at this point, it's so accessible, you don't need a PhD. Most of this stuff is finding a middle bet. Jamar Chase's line is 70 live on DraftKings, 100 live on FanDuel. Hey, maybe take the over, maybe take the under. We see people a lot of OddsJam customers, right? They're not all math nerds. There's a lot of people without college degrees a ton who are sports fans. But what makes them different, I feel like, is they absorbed information. Once they learned how to bet, they kind of get it.
Alex Monahan [00:27:01]:
And even if they don't pay for our tools, a lot of them, we have pretty big followings on social media who just like, they're not going to pay. They don't bet enough to be interested in a product, but they understand it enough where that's what they want to get their picks from. They want to see where the value is on price picks, stuff like you. It's just like people who are willing to learn.
Shane Mercer [00:27:25]:
I feel like Pace, I think Alex is touching on a lot of the things that you talk about when you and I are having conversations on the show and off the show. Know inplayLIVE and wanting to attract the right kind of members, right people who are willing to grow, willing to learn, willing to embrace something new. And at inplayLIVE it's exactly that. It's betting live. Totally.
Andrew Pace [00:27:46]:
I think people that know my story are listening to Alex's story and going like, do these guys know that their.
Shane Mercer [00:27:52]:
Story is the there's so many parallels here, it's crazy.
Andrew Pace [00:27:58]:
Yeah. Anyways, yeah, it's great stuff. And I think know inplayLIVE, one of the really cool things, obviously about our whole ecosystem is obviously the community where those customers that are this person who is willing to learn, coming together and having conversations where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And that's where you can start to actually beyond obviously, I know the data is so important in sports, but beyond the data start to test things, to develop data that you didn't even know that you were looking for in the first place. And that's where the power of these types of minds coming together can really benefit. And I think that with OddsJam and inplayLIVE, specifically that's again, another thing where the sum can be greater than its parts because of the right people getting access to said data, the right people getting access to this information. And especially when you take an inplayLIVE customer whose mind is trained to win, that knows that there's value beyond any one particular line, just an outlying line is a great indicator of value. And I would say like sports betting from the standpoint of an educational journey where you go, hey, how do I find value? I would say the most elementary form where you don't need the game on is an outlying line.
Andrew Pace [00:29:26]:
Is it going to. Win, who the hell knows? Give me volume with that outlying line and let's see how I perform over time. And then you take consistencies where a site like OddsJam might be putting up a certain sports book in a certain scenario that you are noticing a pattern where you go hey, is there something more here than meets the eye beyond the data? And what is happening in this particular scenario that's allowing for these lines to pop in this spot? And that's where beautiful things can happen long term. And also, I'm sure Alex, we haven't touched on this yet, but you know, sports betting is a cat and mouse game. You win some money and you might not be welcome to continue to play on said website or said hundreds or in our case potentially thousands of websites that we've been kicked off of. So you do have to obviously continually be finding new strategies, finding new opportunities, looking into new ways to keep the journey going if this is what you're passionate about and if this is what you're going to continue to do long term. So, yeah, new avenues, new doors opening and learning. Jeez, is it so hard to learn something new on a weekly or daily basis? I find the more people that you talk to, the more people you engage with.
Andrew Pace [00:30:39]:
Especially when you get like minded people. There's nothing but upside. Yeah, you run into some idiots, but you can still learn from them. Right?
Shane Mercer [00:30:46]:
That brings us to this next portion here. I love that we're talking about learning from each other, working together, like minded people. Clearly that's what we've got here with this group right now. And so we have a big announcement to make. I say we give it over to our guest of honor, over to Alex. Alex, do you want to tell the community, the inplayLIVE community and even those recreational sports bettors who aren't a part of our community but are a part of our audience? What's the big announcement?
Alex Monahan [00:31:14]:
We're going to be partnering together and we're more than thrilled to all work together to hopefully try to bring the best information and tools to anyone who wants them. Anyone who's willing to learn, wants to be better and couldn't be more excited. Not every bet is going to win, but I can guarantee you listening to this podcast and just kind of really taking some time to also understand what's going on, why you're doing what you're doing, right? It's a process and it really is the process. It's not always the specific bet, right, is really the key. So doing things like listening to this podcast consistently and trying to get an understanding of how the market works, what's going to make you a lot sports betting long term.
Shane Mercer [00:31:58]:
Give us the details behind the agreement here. How does it work? How can people take advantage of it?
Alex Monahan [00:32:06]:
I forgot the specific code. Pace, I'll let you give the exact.
Andrew Pace [00:32:11]:
I was going to say, yeah. Some of our negotiations haven't been face to face. They've been with other members of the team, which has gone extremely well. But I think from my standpoint, like, obviously being the founder of inplayLIVE with Rodge there, we're both really excited. And we're excited for the prospect of the inplayLIVE community to be able to work with Oddsjam in a couple of different ways. The first is going to be my access to the Oddsjam interface and product, which is a net benefit to our members. I'm obviously reading games based on our data, and I'm reading games based on what I'm seeing going down on the field. And I've never had access to, okay, what is this particular machine learning and AI system that's comparing lines, telling us about what values out there? So that's another overall sort of addition to the community with just having the pros that call our wagers in real time, having access to the Oddsjam product.
Andrew Pace [00:33:13]:
And that's already actually gone underway. So some people don't realize that some of the calls that we've made are potentially based on a line that we've seen pop up at OddsJam. And to give you guys a really good example of that, take things one step further. Like, Alex won't be familiar with this, but Kenny, what Kenny does in the NFL. So now I'm really speaking directly to our community and not necessarily the public, but what Kenny does in the NFL, he's going to find that line a lot quicker and be able to announce it for us sooner because of his access to easier shopping is what I would simply put from that standpoint. Now, this episode is airing the day after NBA has started. So what's really exciting about this partnership is that the NBA I believe to be the single, and I could be wrong on this, but it's my belief the single sport with the biggest discrepancies in live lines. And because of that, the inplayLIVE community has seen more five and six figure club success stories, especially the start of their journey.
Andrew Pace [00:34:23]:
But not only the start of their journey, the ability to mitigate risk through continual success, through some of our MBA strategies. And we're going to be able to be doing a limited amount of sharing of the tools that allow us really in the NBA to exploit them in real time, which is a lot of fun. And that's going to be powered by OddsJam. And then finally is for all the inplayLIVE members that are thinking like, oh, this product is really cool, this does sound great. Like, Alex does have a lot of parallels with Pace. This could be a good step in my personal betting journey. So I'm not referring to some new guy in our community, but the guys that have made $10,000, the guys that have made $100,000, the guys that have made millions of dollars it's just a no brainer. You sign up for OddsJam, you get a free trial so you can test it out.
Andrew Pace [00:35:15]:
And if you use the promo code inplaylive15, you're going to get a discount in perpetuity to the OddsJam platform so that you can do a lot of this stuff if you want to on your own. And I don't view that in any way, shape or form as a replacement to the inplayLIVE product. I simply view it as a compliment. A lot of pregame betting that we don't do at inplayLIVE. Even though there is an element of pregame that we do. You're going to have access to some really great lines, some really great real time value propositions. Kind of like what we were touching on earlier where it might be a line that's a short period of time but you're sitting there at your setup and boom. A 10% EV wager pops through in your notifications and you fly over to Bed MGM or you fly over FanDuel or you fly over to Pinnacle and bang, you've got that wager in.
Andrew Pace [00:36:07]:
And we haven't touched on this. So maybe, Alex, you can touch on this, but the wager tracking system, can you maybe just touch on that for a second? Because that's something that you get access to as well with subscription, right?
Alex Monahan [00:36:20]:
No, our bet tracker is free. I mean, I'd say a lot of our users are betting bets they find on the tools. So not that there's not a lot of bet trackers out there, but OddsJam does have a bet tracker where you can add things from the tools or just from the site as you browse around Odds. That's pretty popular. It's mainly useful for users just because people who don't pay for OddsJam, I mean, they can use our bet tracker fine, but a lot of the value goes away because there's a ton of bet trackers out there. So why use OddsJam if you're not using the OddsJam software type of thing. But yeah, just kind of like I'd say, bet tracker in general doesn't even have to be OddsJam, whatever one you're using, even a spreadsheet. It's just important, which is why we invested in it.
Alex Monahan [00:37:14]:
We don't charge for it. But at the end of the day, if you go through a year of sports betting and if you're placing bets every day, it's not going to be easy to tell if you're up money or you're down money and how much and where did you lose, right? Like, did you make money on player props or where did your success come from? So a lot of people, they decide they want to change their sports betting strategy when they see their results because it hits them in the face, like, oh, I'm down 30% on parlays. I guess my crazy 15 like, strategy that I've used the past few years doesn't work. So, yeah, Odgym syncs with a lot of sports books will automatically grade bets and stuff like that.
Shane Mercer [00:37:58]:
I love that you brought up the tracker, though, and the fact that there's a lot of tracking tools out there that you could potentially utilize. You know, where you don't find any tracking tools on the places where you place bets, right? On the sports books. And there's a reason for that, right? They don't want you tracking your wagers. Right.
Alex Monahan [00:38:17]:
A lot you can't even see your profit. It's like pulling teeth. It's like, how much money am I up? It's like your total amount won is $100,000. It's like that's not what I asked.
Shane Mercer [00:38:28]:
How much profit?
Alex Monahan [00:38:29]:
I don't care about the amount of bets I've won. It's interesting.
Shane Mercer [00:38:35]:
Yeah.
Andrew Pace [00:38:36]:
I would just say there Shane, just from the OddsJam standpoint, like a lot of great free tools, a lot of amazing calculators that are 100% designed to help you improve arbitrage expected value bonuses, implied probabilities Kelly criterion, what the fair odds would be if there's no vig, odds converters, parlay, calculators, all that kind of stuff is over on the website. Check it out. And for the group, at a minimum, sign up for the free trial for seven days. How do you not do that? And just remember, if you want that discount, it's inplaylive15.
Shane Mercer [00:39:11]:
Well, I will certainly be taking advantage of it and checking it out and really looking forward to that and looking forward to seeing this live product in action. I think that's really cool. Alex, is there anything you want to tell us about that before we say goodbye?
Alex Monahan [00:39:26]:
No, I mean, just exactly what Pace said before is just when you're live betting, you can't expect whatever alert to be around in six minutes. If the Steelers money line is good on third and one, it may be a completely different thing. If they throw an interception the next play, these things move quick. So most of my volume comes pre match, like 98% of mine. And it's not because live betting isn't profitable, but you got to be on it. You got to be logged into the sports books, I would say. You got to be quick. And there may be sometimes, too.
Alex Monahan [00:40:04]:
I mean, you guys probably experience it all the time. You're trying to get down a bet. The sports books take a little long to load or accept the bet if it's live, and then they blast his line down is, I think, just live betting. Everything is going at 30 x times the pace. So it's not like pre match lines don't move. Obviously they do, but when you're live betting, you got to be on it.
Shane Mercer [00:40:27]:
Yeah. Alex, you're definitely speaking. We know a little bit about that. We would love to probably have you join us for a live betting session. We'll bring you up to speed on how to stay up to it because there's a serious learning curve there and you're absolutely right. Six minutes. Forget six minutes apace. It's more like 6 seconds.
Alex Monahan [00:40:45]:
6 seconds.
Andrew Pace [00:40:46]:
Yeah, we're ready.
Shane Mercer [00:40:49]:
We'd love to have you on a live stream or something, Alex, and have you participate. I think that'd be pretty absolutely, yeah. All right. Well, I think this is an amazing partnership. I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes. This is a huge win, I think, for both sides, the inflate live community as well as OddsJam. And for all of you out there listening that aren't a part of either of these groups, just please take in some of what these guys are saying in terms of learning, growing, becoming a better sports, bettor it is possible to win long term at sports betting.
Shane Mercer [00:41:18]:
We got two guys here who are a testament to that. All right, guys. Well, this has been a lot of fun. Alex, look forward to working with you and chatting with you again at some point in the future. And, Pace, I guess, both of you guys, till next time, keep beating those books. Thanks for tuning into another episode of Behind the Lines. Remember to, like, download and subscribe. We are on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and everywhere you get your podcast.
Shane Mercer [00:41:40]:
Have a betting story or want to be featured on our podcast, drop a note in the comments below. And if you want to join inplayLIVE. Use promo code 'BEHINDTHELINES'
Alex Monahan, OddsJam, sports betting industry, North America, regulated sportsbooks, increase in competition, promos, opportunities, sophisticated bettors, odds comparison site, valuable data, best odds, player props, inefficiencies, discrepancies, ripping off customers, transparent platform, line shopping, positive EV, smaller markets, getting rich quick, absorbing information, middle bets, inplayLIVE ecosystem, community, collaboration, strategies, website restrictions, partnership, tools, Prize Picks, different gambling options, data-driven approaches.
👋 About The Host & Guests
Shane Mercer is the host of Behind The Lines and a journalist with nearly two decades of experience covering news and sports in Canada. He is well versed in digital, television and radio platforms. Shane enjoys the outdoors, sports, and spending time with his wife and three daughters.
Andrew Pace is a regular guest on The Behind the Lines podcast where he explores the world of line shopping culture. In the first 25 episodes, he analyzes the educational side of line shopping and points out a missing component. Specifically, he discusses the lack of options such as the inverse wager or the "no TD" option when looking at touchdown, score, or market predictions. This absence allows sportsbooks to manipulate the odds in their favor. Andrew draws from his experience in the inplayLIVE Community where markets like "no run" or "yes run" for the first inning are determined by a potential audience of 1000 people.
Alex Monahan is the co-founder of OddsJam, and also an experienced bettor who has witnessed the evolution of sports betting firsthand. Living in Pennsylvania when regulated sports books started emerging, Alex noticed a shift in attitudes towards gambling. As more people became interested in sports betting, the availability of fantasy websites and marketing efforts propelled the industry forward. Alex observed the rapid expansion of sports books, with numerous states legalizing gambling and established companies striving to secure a piece of the market share.