Episode 41

Shane Mercer [00:00:00]:

So many of the other pros look at games and I kind of know I could be off stream and know these guys are gonna bet this at time, in this spot.

Shane Mercer [00:00:18]:

Hello and welcome to another episode of Behind the Lines, the only sports betting podcast purifying sports betting an industry. And how do we do that? Well, we teach you all the tricks and traps that the sports books deploy to try and take your money, hopefully making you a better bettor over time. Remember to, like, download, subscribe, follow us on all the socials @inplayLIVE. And if you want to see what inplayLIVE is all about behind the scenes, we got a promo code for you that is 'BEHINDTHELINES'. All caps. All right, joining me as always, we've got the founder of inplayLIVE, Andrew Pace in the chair over there. Pace, how you doing, buddy?

Andrew Pace [00:00:51]:

Good, man. How are?

Shane Mercer [00:00:52]:

Good, good, how was your weekend?

Andrew Pace [00:00:55]:

Betting wise? Phenomenal. One of the best weekends I've had in a long time. It was one of those ones where just everything was kind of clicking for me. And that's always welcomed as a sports bettor, as you know.

Shane Mercer [00:01:07]:

Yeah, well, there's so much going on, right? We've got NFL, we've got college hoops on Saturday. It's college football. We got NBA and NHL in the mix at all times. It seems like every day it's such a busy, busy time of, you know, it's great to hear that you did well because that means that the whole community of inplayLIVE and everybody who's tailing you on the streams did well too, right?

Andrew Pace [00:01:30]:

If only it were that simple. Hey, hopefully I would presume that the likelihood of the rest of the group.

Andrew Pace [00:01:38]:

Doing better is higher.

Andrew Pace [00:01:41]:

But how that actually all shakes out, you never really truly know. But, yeah, actually that's something I can touch on really quickly if anyone is ever interested. You can always kind of see how we're doing when you head over to our website. I'll just share my screen here really quickly. If you're on audio and not joining us on YouTube, this is our

Andrew Pace [00:02:01]:

inplayLIVE stream unit tracking that we have posted on a regular update that.

Andrew Pace [00:02:07]:

Just shows our results over time. And if you go to all here.

Andrew Pace [00:02:12]:

This is from NFL preseason until now, and you can see 162 units were done.

Andrew Pace [00:02:20]:

But especially even if you're an inplayLIVE member, you can just fire on here and go, I wonder how they did yesterday. And you can see it's not always sunshine and rainbows. There's a couple red blocks on this.

Andrew Pace [00:02:32]:

Calendar here, but up 59 units in November.

Andrew Pace [00:02:38]:

And, yeah, seven unit day yesterday, 6.4 unit day on Saturday. So those are the official calls that were made on our Live streams where.

Andrew Pace [00:02:47]:

You can wager with us in real time. And, yeah, you can check that out.

Andrew Pace [00:02:52]:

And as well as our other free tools, you just go to the inplayLIVE.com website, you click on Free Tools and there's a whole series of different things there that you can use to benefit your sports betting journey at no cost. And, yeah, how we're doing?

Andrew Pace [00:03:05]:

You can always check in and see.

Shane Mercer [00:03:08]:

That's just great to be able to have that kind of transparency, to be able to go and look and take a look, and you can see if you miss a day, you can go and see, well, how did the group do today, and what were they doing? What were they betting on? It's just fantastic to sort of have that that available. Really appreciate that pace. You and I were just talking ahead of the show, and it's great to hear that. Overall, the weekend went really well. My weekend with inplayLIVE. I participated all day Sunday. Saturday I was a bit busy. I had a birthday party, my daughter middle daughter's birthday party.

Shane Mercer [00:03:40]:

But Sunday I was very locked in. Saturday, not at all.

Shane Mercer [00:03:43]:

It was good to have a bit of a break.

Shane Mercer [00:03:46]:

But as we were chatting about this sort of before the show started, I was sort of saying how expectation and perspective is always changing. And on Sunday, I made $500.

Shane Mercer [00:03:59]:

And if you asked me last year.

Shane Mercer [00:04:00]:

At this time when I was still fairly new inplayLIVE, I would have said, hey, I had the greatest day ever. I made $500 betting on sports. It was awesome. And this past Sunday afterwards, I was chatting with another, remember, and I was.

Shane Mercer [00:04:10]:

Kind of a little deflated.

Shane Mercer [00:04:12]:

I was sort of thinking to myself and talking to him saying, look, I only made $500. I expect to do better than that now. I expect to make more than that. And I've had many days where I've made significantly more than that. And so sort of just trying to find that balance between perspective and expectation because you want to keep growing, and that's part of the game. And when you don't grow as fast as you want on a particular day, it can be a little bit disheartening. But it's always so important to just.

Shane Mercer [00:04:40]:

Kind of pull back and say, well, hold on a minute. I still made $500 today.

Shane Mercer [00:04:46]:

Better than losing $500, I guess.

Shane Mercer [00:04:48]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:04:48]:

I think just as a general statement and I think it's a really good message for anyone when it comes to really anything in life is your expectations. Your expectations as they relate to your individual betting profits, your expectations with your career, with your family, with your day to day activity, with managing your finances.

Andrew Pace [00:05:10]:

With the stock market.

Andrew Pace [00:05:11]:

It's really important to recognize that, as Kobe Bryant says, the beauty is in.

Andrew Pace [00:05:18]:

The journey, not in the destination.

Shane Mercer [00:05:20]:

Right?

Andrew Pace [00:05:20]:

And we've had some people that reach out where they'll say things like, I'm really not where I wanted to be at this. You know, you dive into it a little bit more, go back and forth.

Andrew Pace [00:05:30]:

Get some information about how their journey.

Andrew Pace [00:05:34]:

Has gone, where they're at, and you'll get these comments like, I started with two or $500 or something like that. And however many months in and I'm sitting at 6000 or I'm sitting at.

Andrew Pace [00:05:45]:

1000, things like that. And every time I receive the same.

Andrew Pace [00:05:52]:

Message, but like we were talking about.

Andrew Pace [00:05:53]:

Before the show started, Shane, sometimes the.

Andrew Pace [00:05:56]:

Way someone says something isn't the way it's received by someone else. So you intend to send a message that maybe tells a sad story and it's received as a happy one, or vice versa in so many different ways.

Andrew Pace [00:06:07]:

That the way you speak can fall.

Andrew Pace [00:06:12]:

On people's ears in a different way. So when I hear these stories, I go, wow, a sports betteor.

Andrew Pace [00:06:18]:

Who's been betting on sports, an area.

Andrew Pace [00:06:21]:

That'S known for losing, just contacted me.

Andrew Pace [00:06:23]:

Frustrated about four figure returns over a significant period of time on a significant number of wagers. So when you gain that perspective, where.

Andrew Pace [00:06:35]:

You go, holy smokes, I had a bad Sunday, I made $500, I expected it to be more. And you rewind the tape and you.

Andrew Pace [00:06:41]:

Go, hey, this time last year I would have been ecstatic had I made $500 in a Sunday.

Andrew Pace [00:06:49]:

So having that perspective, enjoying the journey, and obviously at the same time, if you were a little bit disappointed with the end result on a particular day.

Andrew Pace [00:06:59]:

Looking at it and going, okay, why was I disappointed?

Andrew Pace [00:07:03]:

And it might be for a series of potential mistakes or things that you.

Andrew Pace [00:07:07]:

Would have done differently that you can sort of pack into your arsenal for.

Andrew Pace [00:07:12]:

The next time around. I know for myself, there's a particular account that I've had a bit of a battle with this football season that I notoriously get on a real significant run. And I haven't had that run yet, and I zeroed it out yesterday. And zeroing out an account is something that I think is common for big sports bettors.

Andrew Pace [00:07:33]:

So if you deposit a small amount.

Andrew Pace [00:07:36]:

Of money into an account and maybe your unit size is much larger than that small amount, it wouldn't be uncommon to zero that out.

Andrew Pace [00:07:45]:

Now, when you go to responsible gambling.

Andrew Pace [00:07:47]:

And what you should do from unit sizing, not your bankroll, but one account really shouldn't zero out because you scale with percentages based on how much you're deploying on your bankroll. But I zeroed it out again yesterday. And it's funny because I keep finding.

Andrew Pace [00:08:02]:

Myself doing something where I'm like, I'll.

Andrew Pace [00:08:06]:

Just take my crack here and see if I can double my balance or something like that and get it going on a run.

Andrew Pace [00:08:11]:

And I don't do that with other accounts.

Andrew Pace [00:08:13]:

And I realized that that's something related to bad habits and also related to.

Andrew Pace [00:08:17]:

High expectations from a previous metric that.

Andrew Pace [00:08:20]:

I had been on in a previous season in that exact same spot with.

Andrew Pace [00:08:23]:

That exact same sports book. So am I happy that I zeroed.

Andrew Pace [00:08:29]:

Out that book yesterday? No. Did I have a massive weekend separately from that? Yes.

Andrew Pace [00:08:34]:

So take that with you on your.

Andrew Pace [00:08:38]:

Journey into the next weekend, the next day, whatever it may be. And sometimes that means that you have.

Andrew Pace [00:08:46]:

To put a message up as your screen saver or slap up a postit.

Andrew Pace [00:08:51]:

Note or go for a walk in certain scenarios you never really know what that is.

Andrew Pace [00:08:55]:

But just taking that sort of approach.

Andrew Pace [00:08:59]:

And I certainly will be doing that with that particular account going forward where I just go, hey, it's just another account. And manage your money properly and stop engaging in the bad habits that you previously were that are causing this trend.

Andrew Pace [00:09:12]:

To continue and go from there and enjoy the journey.

Shane Mercer [00:09:16]:

Got to enjoy the journey, right? That's what it's all about. And having fun. And I got to say, as part of this conversation, too that I was having with this other member. I was saying how a big part of the streams now for me because I kind of know, Pace. I know. What bets coming when. And I know you learn things over time and right. I just sort of learned how to at games the way you and Kenny and so many of the other pros look at games.

Shane Mercer [00:09:38]:

And I kind of know I could be off stream and know these guys are going to bet this at this time in this know, and you sort of pick these things up over time. And a big part of enjoying the journey now is the stream is more about camaraderie and just being there with the group and betting with the group and having a good time and having a lot of fun, which is a big part of it.

Shane Mercer [00:09:58]:

But you've touched on something and I.

Shane Mercer [00:10:00]:

Want to get to the topics on today's show because none of this was pre planned for today's show. We are talking about responsible gambling. We are also going to be talking.

Shane Mercer [00:10:09]:

About points bet as it relates to.

Shane Mercer [00:10:11]:

Responsible gambling and something that happened in the province of Ontario. We're also going to be talking about ESPN bet. So we've got a lot to get through. Pace, why don't we dive in with this first topic of responsible gambling, responsible gaming. And there's a couple of things sort of underway, and this is a bit old so for people who have been watching over the past couple of months and you've been following us along on the podcast. You probably saw this on NFL broadcast. But I'm going to share my screen here for a moment because this is Kurt Warner. We often talk about or we have done shows about celebrities and their involvement in sports betting and the messages that they're putting out there and so many celebrities being used by sportsbooks to advertise their products and sort of really kind of make it mainstream and anytime now you watch any kind of sporting event.

Shane Mercer [00:10:54]:

You see all the ads plastered everywhere.

Shane Mercer [00:10:56]:

And so we've actually got Kurt Warner, who is now participating in an ad.

Shane Mercer [00:11:04]:

But this is more of a PSA, and it's something that I think is.

Shane Mercer [00:11:10]:

Personally, it's great to see athletes like.

Shane Mercer [00:11:13]:

Him putting messages out there like this, but why don't we watch it, Pace? And then we can kind of get your take on it on the other end: “In 44% of games, the winning team came back in the fourth quarter and 24% of games were decided by three points or few. Here's the snap, and it is good. A heartbreaking defeat. This game is unpredictable, an unbelievable happened. So if you bet set limits, never chase your losses and only bet what you can afford to lose. Learn more@responsibleplay.org”

Shane Mercer [00:11:50]:

All right, so there it is.

Shane Mercer [00:11:52]:

So pretty hard to kind of disagree with what he's saying, right, Pace?

Andrew Pace [00:11:54]:

Yeah, that's one of the things I love about data, right?

Andrew Pace [00:11:57]:

When you provide information that's factual, it.

Andrew Pace [00:12:01]:

Can be more challenging to argue against it.

Andrew Pace [00:12:04]:

And obviously, the whole celebrity space really.

Andrew Pace [00:12:09]:

Right now is focused on supporting the sports know, making it seem easy, making winning seem simple.

Andrew Pace [00:12:15]:

Bonuses, free bets, how you can make.

Andrew Pace [00:12:19]:

Money betting on sports. And I give props to Kurt Warner for entering the space and entering it in a different fashion than any other celebrity that we've seen. I think that it's a good message. It's one where he's not telling you not to bet. He's saying there's data and information and.

Andrew Pace [00:12:38]:

Resources out there and you should expect.

Andrew Pace [00:12:42]:

The unexpected and the unpredictability unpredictable nature of sports in general. And obviously, we've talked about chaos in pretty big detail in one of the episodes of this podcast as well. So, yeah, I think it's a great message. I give him huge props and kudos for saying the things that he did.

Andrew Pace [00:12:59]:

And partnering with the responsible gaming company that he did. So, yeah, I love it.

Shane Mercer [00:13:07]:

One of the things that I am concerned, though, when I do see some of these responsible gaming messages that are PSAs and they're coming from groups that aren't the sports books, but these are sort of organizations on the side that are there to promote responsible gambling within a particular jurisdiction? Is that this idea that maybe sports.

Shane Mercer [00:13:28]:

Bettors are being conditioned in a certain way? By seeing these conditioned in a way.

Shane Mercer [00:13:34]:

That sort of reinforces the message of.

Shane Mercer [00:13:37]:

This is recreational, it's just for fun and don't plan to win.

Shane Mercer [00:13:42]:

And I think messages sometimes like this can kind of reinforce this idea that you shouldn't expect to win in this arena. That's kind of my personal sort of opinion on it when I see it sometimes. And that's the only area, I think, where maybe I have a bit of disagreement with it. But I don't know.

Shane Mercer [00:13:59]:

What do you think?

Andrew Pace [00:14:00]:

We've actually had some in depth and long discussions on the inside. Know the RGC and some of these.

Andrew Pace [00:14:08]:

Regulators and having been in those conversations.

Andrew Pace [00:14:13]:

And kind of in a focal point, know some of those key people that are responsible for what ultimately gets put.

Andrew Pace [00:14:20]:

Out there, I would say that it's a challenge for them because their entire presence is built on the betting world.

Andrew Pace [00:14:30]:

So if the betting world ceased to.

Andrew Pace [00:14:32]:

Exist, which isn't going to happen, that.

Andrew Pace [00:14:34]:

Whole organization would also cease to exist.

Andrew Pace [00:14:36]:

So if the whole gambling space and.

Andrew Pace [00:14:39]:

Industry just fell off a cliff and didn't exist anymore, you could argue that they'd be like, oh, mission accomplished, inplayLIVE does, like.

Andrew Pace [00:14:50]:

inplayLIVE in this podcast exiss because

Andrew Pace [00:14:54]:

Of the whole betting space. So.

Andrew Pace [00:14:57]:

They have to present information that's.

Andrew Pace [00:14:59]:

Hopefully going to be well received.

Andrew Pace [00:15:01]:

And I think at the end of.

Andrew Pace [00:15:04]:

The day, a lot of them don't know necessarily what would really help bettors. They just want the information out there to let people know, like, hey, you're not just going to win money. You're in an area known for losing and you shouldn't enter it thinking that.

Andrew Pace [00:15:17]:

You'Re going to win.

Andrew Pace [00:15:20]:

That is a very factual and true message. Like you shouldn't enter it thinking that you're going to win. Are there outlying sports bettors that win money? Well, Shane, I think we know that there are, right? So, yeah, at the end of the day, they're playing the hand they're dealt and that's where some of the meetings that we've had with them and I'm going to go back to how I started this. Some of the free tools that we have available. They really do help you if you know how to use them properly in losing less or winning money over time.

Andrew Pace [00:15:47]:

And actually getting the data and information.

Andrew Pace [00:15:49]:

Like that data and information that Warner throws up there. If you take that to a whole nother level and start diving into it.

Andrew Pace [00:15:54]:

There'S money to be made in this industry, right?

Andrew Pace [00:15:57]:

And in a big way. And we showed the results over the football season from preseason until now with inplayLIVE, that's not fabricated. Those are calls that are made in real time on our live streams.

Andrew Pace [00:16:08]:

So those mostly are backed based on data.

Shane Mercer [00:16:12]:

I was sort of making that point that they're conditioning you to lose, but you're right. We know that you can win at.

Shane Mercer [00:16:19]:

This, but it's not easy either.

Shane Mercer [00:16:22]:

And I think maybe that's the main message they're trying to get across in a 32nd PSA is if you are going to just approach this and you're going to engage with this from the comfort of your couch and your phone, expect to lose, right. And play responsibly. Don't bet more than you can afford. But it's different, I think when you join an organization, a group, like inplayLIVE and you are learning all of the tools, you're learning so many different strategies for different sports and you sort of take all of that and apply it in a space where you are now. I'm not betting from my phone and neither are you, Pace. We've seen your amazing setup. It's not like that, right? It's a different level. So I suppose people sort of need to understand that.

Shane Mercer [00:17:07]:

Okay, let's move on because also coming.

Shane Mercer [00:17:10]:

Up into this space of responsible betting are some new statistics out from BetVision. Now this is the technology provider that is making it more accessible for people.

Shane Mercer [00:17:20]:

To watch the games on the same.

Shane Mercer [00:17:22]:

Platform where they're betting. And so for many people in the states, I think they're using it on Caesars. And the other big one is Fanatics. And you're able to watch Thursday Night Football specifically on Fanatics, and it is really low latency. We've seen that on the stream, Pace, with certain members having the feed and it's coming in 510 seconds ahead of what you've got. And you usually have a pretty fast, very low latent setup coming in. And so the latency is incredible, but they're also finding that people are placing more wagers. Here's what they've got here.

Shane Mercer [00:18:02]:

So during the first two weeks of the NFL season when this technology was.

Shane Mercer [00:18:06]:

Being provided by Fanatics, they're saying that users placed twice as many bets as.

Shane Mercer [00:18:14]:

Those who weren't watching the game on the app. So people are watching and they're betting a lot more than those people who aren't using the app. Surprise, surprise, the number is 54% placing in play bets.

Shane Mercer [00:18:28]:

So the in app viewership, it increased.

Shane Mercer [00:18:32]:

40% from week one to week two with 46% of week one users returning. So the people who are using it are betting a lot more and they're.

Shane Mercer [00:18:41]:

Coming back for it. Now this could turn into some issues.

Shane Mercer [00:18:47]:

Around responsible gambling if people aren't being responsible and they're betting more than they can afford. But it sounds like the technology is.

Shane Mercer [00:18:56]:

Certainly achieving the desired effect for the sports book. Absolutely.

Andrew Pace [00:19:01]:

So I think that on that topic, Shane, there's a couple of things to really unpack. I'd say the first thing is the latency and the product.

Andrew Pace [00:19:09]:

So we've got this spectacular low to no latency product that is BetVision.

Andrew Pace [00:19:17]:

And if we had access to this.

Andrew Pace [00:19:20]:

Outside of the betting app, and this is what YouTube or Google or Alphabet.

Andrew Pace [00:19:28]:

Gave us with our Sunday Ticket product.

Andrew Pace [00:19:30]:

Oh God, what a dream that would be. Hey, but we don't have that.

Andrew Pace [00:19:34]:

So the whole argument of companies like, you know, some of these streaming platforms.

Andrew Pace [00:19:40]:

Saying why they need to provide that.

Andrew Pace [00:19:43]:

Latency and buffering and the quality of.

Andrew Pace [00:19:45]:

The product and all that, it is complete utter and total bullshit.

Andrew Pace [00:19:49]:

BetVision has proven that they've got a phenomenal low latency product that is as close to being at the game as you could possibly fathom. So props to them. We've talked about Amazon Prime and how good their Thursday night product is it's.

Andrew Pace [00:20:01]:

Actually a second ahead of that.

Andrew Pace [00:20:03]:

Not that the second is that significant, but it's a phenomenal product. If you have a really good Ota feed or an Ota antenna at your house and you're thinking like, oh, I'm always the fastest. This is faster. It's much faster.

Andrew Pace [00:20:17]:

Right?

Andrew Pace [00:20:18]:

So really cool product. That would be the first thing. The second thing that I kind of.

Andrew Pace [00:20:21]:

Want to touch on relating to some.

Andrew Pace [00:20:26]:

Of the statistics that you just set out. Well, let's just rewind the tape here. Let's take sports betting out of the equation, and let's take the Internet out of the equation entirely.

Andrew Pace [00:20:33]:

Okay. If you are meeting a bunch of.

Andrew Pace [00:20:36]:

Friends and all of your friends say, oh, we're at the bar at the.

Andrew Pace [00:20:39]:

Casino, come meet us there, are you.

Andrew Pace [00:20:42]:

More likely or less likely to place a bet that night than if you didn't go there? Well, of course, the answer is you're much more likely to place a bet if you're having a drink at the.

Andrew Pace [00:20:53]:

Casino bar versus one where you're not.

Andrew Pace [00:20:56]:

So what BetVision is offering these sports.

Andrew Pace [00:20:59]:

Books is a significant competitive advantage.

Andrew Pace [00:21:02]:

And the reason for that is because if I am going to watch an.

Andrew Pace [00:21:04]:

NFL game, I am going to watch it oftentimes now in the world with.

Andrew Pace [00:21:10]:

Cable cutting is on some sort of mobile device that, yeah, maybe I can cast to my TV or put up on my screen. I know that's a challenge with the.

Andrew Pace [00:21:16]:

Sports books and vision, but a lot.

Andrew Pace [00:21:19]:

Of us are using our devices to watch the game.

Andrew Pace [00:21:21]:

Well, I'm going to watch it where I can get the fastest and best access to information. If it's up on my TV and.

Andrew Pace [00:21:29]:

It'S a minute behind this BetVision app.

Andrew Pace [00:21:32]:

I'm probably going to watch it on BetVision.

Andrew Pace [00:21:36]:

On top of that, there's a sense of pride associated with that. You might text your fantasy group that.

Andrew Pace [00:21:41]:

Someone scored, and they'll be like, how.

Andrew Pace [00:21:43]:

Is he doing this? Because you're using this particular app that creates this sort of elusive, like, how is he doing this?

Andrew Pace [00:21:50]:

Right?

Andrew Pace [00:21:51]:

So there's that element to it. But then, of course, once you're in that ecosystem, you are now seeing the betting lines. And the way they've got it structured is some of those lines are actually available in the broadcast. So you're actually seeing some data, some statistics, and some actual real time lines, and that line might pop up and you're just watching the game and you're like, oh my God, my favorite team pays five to one to come back. Or like, oh my God, there's no way this team's losing and look at.

Andrew Pace [00:22:18]:

What the number is, right?

Andrew Pace [00:22:19]:

And then all of a sudden they've got you thinking about betting. They've got you in that casino bar.

Andrew Pace [00:22:24]:

Where the roulette wheel is and the.

Andrew Pace [00:22:26]:

Blackjack table is, and it's all there.

Andrew Pace [00:22:28]:

Now, that would bring me to kind.

Andrew Pace [00:22:30]:

Of my third discussion or third point.

Andrew Pace [00:22:32]:

Relating to BetVision is they have the.

Andrew Pace [00:22:36]:

Most competitive product right now in this space. Sportsbooks are offering it as a competitive advantage. And those statistics that you just threw.

Andrew Pace [00:22:45]:

Out there, they're pretty compelling. Like if you don't have BetVision and.

Andrew Pace [00:22:51]:

Aren'T offering the games with this great.

Andrew Pace [00:22:53]:

Feed, you're missing out on that added.

Andrew Pace [00:22:56]:

Revenue, those added wagers, and that added interaction time in your betting ecosystem on the app. So we've done this whole thing and this whole segment on odds providers and what's under the hood of a sports book, and that some of these sports books aren't exactly the same as the.

Andrew Pace [00:23:14]:

Ones that are the same as some.

Andrew Pace [00:23:18]:

Of the other ones that are their biggest competitors. Now you throw in this whole bet vision discussion and what's going on with them, and now it is the sports books not only reliant upon the odds providers, but now how they're also going.

Andrew Pace [00:23:31]:

To be offering these games.

Andrew Pace [00:23:33]:

So it's pretty crazy.

Andrew Pace [00:23:38]:

Long term.

Andrew Pace [00:23:39]:

Does everyone have to have a bet vision to succeed? Will new competitors come into this space? Will it be the norm to be watching sports on the sports books instead of on our TVs? That's kind of where this is all headed.

Andrew Pace [00:23:50]:

And it's interesting.

Shane Mercer [00:23:52]:

Yeah, it's very interesting.

Shane Mercer [00:23:53]:

It's very exciting though, to think that, jeez, if sports books want to compete, they're going to have to go down this route and provide this ultra low latent feed. I mean, it's a music to our ears. I think as sports bettors to be able to have these feeds, which is just incredible. But yeah, it also sort of fits into the whole cable cutting and that whole trend and people moving away from old fashioned television, maybe they will be watching it not just on their sports books, but on their phones. And you've got the big 80, I don't know, I'm going to say 80 inch. It's probably a lot bigger than that. But you're a big TV wall and meanwhile you're watching the game right here on your phone, like this close. It's just such an interesting time we live in and the way it's developing.

Andrew Pace [00:24:42]:

Right, it's bigger than 80.

Andrew Pace [00:24:44]:

And no, I'm not watching on my phone, but yeah, I'm using devices like that to get it up on I'm using devices to get it up on the wall. Right? Yeah. I mean, I just look at this.

Andrew Pace [00:24:55]:

Whole thing and it's like the betting.

Andrew Pace [00:24:56]:

Companies are becoming reliant upon these other companies to stay competitive, but then the competitive advantage gets taken away because then they're all using the same odds providers or similar odds providers.

Andrew Pace [00:25:06]:

And then now these same data services and then now these same streaming services. Yeah, interesting times.

Shane Mercer [00:25:15]:

It really is. Okay, moving on, I want to talk about another sports book and this sort of fits into the whole responsible gambling conversation because it's really sort of fascinating what took place here in the province.

Shane Mercer [00:25:26]:

Of Ontario earlier this month, points Bet.

Shane Mercer [00:25:29]:

Was fined to the tune of $150,000 for failing to meet Ontario's responsible gambling requirements.

Shane Mercer [00:25:37]:

So let me set the stage here.

Shane Mercer [00:25:40]:

For you and kind of give you the backstory. A player lost $500,000 over a three.

Shane Mercer [00:25:46]:

Month period, and the Alcohol and Gaming.

Shane Mercer [00:25:49]:

Commission of Ontario, which enforces the regulations here in the province of Ontario, said.

Shane Mercer [00:25:53]:

Points Bet should have intervened and provided.

Shane Mercer [00:25:56]:

Assistance to this player who is potentially experiencing gambling harms.

Shane Mercer [00:26:00]:

The AGCO says PointsBet's own systems flagged this individual, but nothing was done.

Shane Mercer [00:26:07]:

It also says the company, there were some other alleged violations that included communicating gambling inducements bonuses or credits through direct.

Shane Mercer [00:26:17]:

Advertising without the player's consent.

Shane Mercer [00:26:19]:

So that would be emails, texts without the player consenting to it. And then it also failed to enforce the 24 hours cooling off period when.

Shane Mercer [00:26:30]:

The player canceled their per day deposit limits.

Shane Mercer [00:26:33]:

So $500,000 lost over a three month period. They kept texting and emailing this player and they didn't respect the 24 hours cooling off period. Player loses $500,000. The sports book fined by the regulator for $150,000.

Shane Mercer [00:26:53]:

What do you think?

Andrew Pace [00:26:54]:

The book made 500 grand off this guy. They only got fined 150 grand. If the guy truly had opted out for not being contacted by the sports.

Andrew Pace [00:27:06]:

Book, and then he keeps getting contacted.

Andrew Pace [00:27:08]:

For these promotions and it caused him to keep losing. Who gets the $150,000 fine? It doesn't go to the player.

Andrew Pace [00:27:15]:

I feel like the player was actually sounds like he was I'm a big.

Andrew Pace [00:27:20]:

Believer in like you're an adult, you.

Andrew Pace [00:27:22]:

Make your own decisions, all that kind of stuff. He could have not gambled that money.

Andrew Pace [00:27:26]:

Away and lost at all.

Andrew Pace [00:27:27]:

But at the same time, if he.

Andrew Pace [00:27:28]:

Had opted out of some of these.

Andrew Pace [00:27:31]:

Promotions and put cooling periods or restrictions on his account that then got bypassed, I think he would be entitled to some of that money back. If there is any sort of legislature written around that. Yeah, the whole industry is full of this. Obviously these sports books have a fiduciary responsibility to make as much money as.

Andrew Pace [00:27:51]:

They can and they're going to do.

Andrew Pace [00:27:53]:

That in a whole series of different ways.

Andrew Pace [00:27:55]:

The regulators need to be there to protect all parties. They're not in my opinion, but they.

Andrew Pace [00:28:02]:

Need to protect the player in that circumstance.

Andrew Pace [00:28:04]:

And at the same time, the sports.

Andrew Pace [00:28:06]:

Books need to be profitable.

Andrew Pace [00:28:07]:

So what do I think about that, Shane?

Andrew Pace [00:28:09]:

Well, I want that points bet account.

Shane Mercer [00:28:11]:

Give it to me.

Andrew Pace [00:28:13]:

That one's nicely buttered.

Shane Mercer [00:28:17]:

Yeah, maybe you can help that guy out too, down the line or something, right? But to think that $500,000 lost the company fine, so they're guilty of violating the regulators laws and regulations that are.

Shane Mercer [00:28:36]:

Put in place, but $150,000 penalty seems like absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Shane Mercer [00:28:44]:

And clearly Points Bet, if you sort of just take the $150,000 out of the 500 they made, well, they're. Still left with $350,000. For them, it was a profitable rule break. And will this $150,000 make them think twice?

Andrew Pace [00:29:03]:

Yeah, totally. Good point.

Andrew Pace [00:29:05]:

On top of that, this is such an outlying example. How many of us have 500 grand to lose?

Andrew Pace [00:29:11]:

Right?

Andrew Pace [00:29:12]:

So this is happening probably that spotlights this scenario.

Andrew Pace [00:29:17]:

Well, those practices would be happening at the 1000, the $500 level, like the smaller player level that just don't get exposed or talked about or that people necessarily care about. But there's also an argument to be made that that $500,000 that person lost.

Andrew Pace [00:29:32]:

Well, he had access to $500,000, which.

Andrew Pace [00:29:34]:

Means he's in a much better financial situation than a lot of the people.

Andrew Pace [00:29:37]:

That have lost 100 or 500 or $1,000.

Andrew Pace [00:29:41]:

So if the masses are being exposed to these practices at a much smaller.

Andrew Pace [00:29:45]:

Scale, those are the people that need.

Andrew Pace [00:29:48]:

The money the most and oftentimes are using this space as sort of like a get rich quick scheme or like, maybe I can pay my rent if I just hit this parlay. Those types of discussions will go through people's minds as they're placing the bets like, oh, my God, if I win this, I'm going to do this. All the behavior associated with the gambling space. So when you put that all together.

Andrew Pace [00:30:06]:

You go, this is barely even a.

Andrew Pace [00:30:08]:

Slap on the wrist for a pretty prominent sports book and betting company that is likely doing this on a much bigger scale.

Shane Mercer [00:30:16]:

Yeah, that's a great point. Like, the damage done to this individual.

Shane Mercer [00:30:20]:

Player may not be as significant in.

Shane Mercer [00:30:25]:

Their life as maybe another player losing.

Shane Mercer [00:30:29]:

$100,000 over that same time frame.

Shane Mercer [00:30:33]:

Right, because maybe that player who lost $100,000 is now losing their home or losing their family and going through a divorce or something because of it. Whereas maybe this other player who lost $500,000 is kind of like, well, I've got a couple of million still in the bank and he's good to go.

Shane Mercer [00:30:50]:

Kind of thing, right?

Andrew Pace [00:30:51]:

Yeah, exactly.

Shane Mercer [00:30:53]:

Yeah, it's sort of an interesting way to kind of look at things. Okay, I want to move on to another sports book.

Shane Mercer [00:31:00]:

ESPN Bet.

Shane Mercer [00:31:02]:

Now live in the United States. Pace, we've talked about this significantly here on the podcast and sort of the winding road that has led to the creation of this sports book.

Shane Mercer [00:31:12]:

So you'll remember Barstool Sports, owned by.

Shane Mercer [00:31:16]:

Dave Portnoy, was operating as a sports book. Barstool Sports, the sports book and they had cambie lines and they were a source that people could go to to get those cambie lines. And for anyone out there who's listening and going, what does camby mean? You've got to go back and listen to that episode that Pace already referenced where we dive into odds providers and how they work with the sports books. Pace, I know there's some people in the community who are a little bit newer right now because they've been joining over the last couple of months and some of the comments they've made it's clear they don't understand how odds providers work. So if you're in the inplayLIVE community and listen to that episode, go back and listen to our odds provider episode. And if you're not in the community still, it's very important that you understand how odds providers work.

Shane Mercer [00:32:00]:

So I got off on a bit of a tangent there.

Andrew Pace [00:32:02]:

Back to Barstool.

Shane Mercer [00:32:03]:

Barstool was offering Camby lines. Dave Portnoy sold barstool to Pen Entertainment. Pen Entertainment then sold the Barstool brand back to Dave Portnoy, which was kind of funny to sort of watch it all unfold. They sold the brand back to Portnoy, but they essentially kept the sports book. And then they reached a deal with ESPN Bet where ESPN Bet would take.

Shane Mercer [00:32:27]:

Over the sportsbook itself.

Shane Mercer [00:32:30]:

And now we have another major sports.

Shane Mercer [00:32:33]:

News network and broadcaster operating in the sports betting space.

Shane Mercer [00:32:39]:

We saw Fox Bet try to do this and get in on the sports betting gold rush. That didn't work out so well for them. They folded up.

Shane Mercer [00:32:46]:

But now here we are, we have ESPN Bet. Pace, what have you heard so far about ESPN Bet?

Andrew Pace [00:32:54]:

A few things. So first thing I would say is the discussion that we had previously on.

Andrew Pace [00:32:59]:

An episode about Barstool Sportsbook and the.

Andrew Pace [00:33:02]:

Score Bet and the way they handled a whole series of broken lines, we referenced Daniel Jones rushing on this podcast.

Andrew Pace [00:33:10]:

They are the same company now.

Andrew Pace [00:33:12]:

So that is the book that we're referencing.

Andrew Pace [00:33:14]:

A lot of those bad lines and.

Andrew Pace [00:33:15]:

A lot of this bad UI, it's.

Andrew Pace [00:33:17]:

Just a bad site.

Andrew Pace [00:33:19]:

They really haven't caught up from an overall developer standpoint in their product, both in the odds provider that they're using, which like you said, they switched off of Camby, they're internal with their own odds provider. And in that sense, and then also.

Andrew Pace [00:33:37]:

In the user experience, which leads to.

Andrew Pace [00:33:40]:

Mostly just sharp players using your sports book.

Andrew Pace [00:33:43]:

So when you have sort of a.

Andrew Pace [00:33:45]:

Really bad site, for lack of a.

Andrew Pace [00:33:47]:

Better term, the masses will use the.

Andrew Pace [00:33:51]:

Really user friendly sites like Bet365.

Andrew Pace [00:33:54]:

DraftKings and FanDuel maybe Bet NGM. And then what you end up having.

Andrew Pace [00:33:59]:

Is all these sharp bettors that are looking for these other sports books that then obviously go to a place like Fox Bet, a place like Win, Bet.

Andrew Pace [00:34:06]:

A place like ESPN Bet.

Andrew Pace [00:34:08]:

Now ESPN and Disney, they're big enough. I think they can figure this out.

Andrew Pace [00:34:12]:

But for the time being, they're probably.

Andrew Pace [00:34:14]:

Just going to get a lot of sharp players.

Andrew Pace [00:34:15]:

Now that's the first thing.

Andrew Pace [00:34:18]:

The second thing is, overall the site.

Andrew Pace [00:34:20]:

Sucks as of right now, right? They can improve.

Andrew Pace [00:34:23]:

Now the second thing that I'm seeing is they've tried to capitalize on some social trends and it's working.

Andrew Pace [00:34:30]:

So they're offering this no touchdown score.

Andrew Pace [00:34:34]:

Or parlay and they're claiming that they're.

Andrew Pace [00:34:36]:

The only sports book that yeah, I.

Shane Mercer [00:34:38]:

Was going to bring that up, right? Exactly.

Andrew Pace [00:34:41]:

They're claiming that they're the only sports book that offers it.

Andrew Pace [00:34:44]:

Now, what they've done is worked with.

Andrew Pace [00:34:47]:

Some influencers, parlayed some promotions and things like that to get that message out there. And that is working. So all over social media now, are.

Andrew Pace [00:34:56]:

People trying to hit these.

Andrew Pace [00:35:00]:

No touchdown score parlays. So, as an example, it's Monday Night Football. This past week we're shooting this. We haven't watched it yet, but is pretty big matchup. The Eagles are playing the Chiefs.

Andrew Pace [00:35:11]:

So you might take some players that.

Andrew Pace [00:35:14]:

Are against you in fantasy because a lot of people have Chiefs and Eagles fantasy players playing. And you want to bet with your fantasy team. So you bet for your opponent not to score touchdowns.

Andrew Pace [00:35:24]:

You can bet a whole bunch of.

Andrew Pace [00:35:25]:

Players that aren't likely to score a touchdown and parlay them together to try to get plus money on a bunch.

Andrew Pace [00:35:32]:

Of these guys not to score.

Andrew Pace [00:35:34]:

So there's this whole trend of people trying to hit these no touchdown score bets. I don't have access to that information.

Andrew Pace [00:35:42]:

But I think that that is probably going to be a negative EV wager.

Andrew Pace [00:35:47]:

Or situation over the long term.

Andrew Pace [00:35:49]:

But new books have exploitable markets, so.

Andrew Pace [00:35:53]:

They could I genuinely don't know, but they could be exploited on the very.

Andrew Pace [00:35:57]:

Thing that they're marketing.

Andrew Pace [00:35:59]:

Finally, the last thing about them that.

Andrew Pace [00:36:00]:

I think is extremely important is they are the first major regulated sports book to enter North America with the rollover requirements on their bonuses of an offshore sports book.

Andrew Pace [00:36:17]:

So a lot of these promotions that we're seeing from these books, we are.

Andrew Pace [00:36:21]:

Getting these one and two X rollovers. And not only that, the books were.

Andrew Pace [00:36:27]:

Ripped for them, they were ripped all.

Andrew Pace [00:36:29]:

Over the major legislature.

Andrew Pace [00:36:32]:

The ads had to come down because they're saying things like free bet or risk free. But the rollover was one to two X. So at inplayLIVE, we were licking our chops, teaching people how to turn those bonuses into free money. And with such little rollover, it was.

Andrew Pace [00:36:47]:

Very simple to do.

Andrew Pace [00:36:49]:

So much so that a lot of these books that if you just opened up new accounts, got all the bonuses, played them against each other, you could.

Andrew Pace [00:36:56]:

Find yourself with a nifty four plus.

Andrew Pace [00:37:00]:

Figure starting bankroll or extra money from flipping these bonuses over. Very easy to do. So this ESPN bet, they brought in the 20 X rollover, which is something that you see offshore. So if you deposited $1,000 to maximize their $1,000 deposit bonus, you would have to wager $20,000. And not just any 20 grand, there's certain OD requirements to hit it $20,000, which is very challenging for the average player to roll over in a short period of time in order to actually.

Andrew Pace [00:37:28]:

Have access to your money.

Andrew Pace [00:37:30]:

So you're locked in their ecosystem.

Andrew Pace [00:37:32]:

Now with all that said, if you're.

Andrew Pace [00:37:34]:

Watching this and be like, oh, I.

Andrew Pace [00:37:35]:

Just won't take the bonus there at.

Andrew Pace [00:37:37]:

Imply live, since we do make high volume plus expected value wagers that we call value wagers. Since we do that and we are.

Andrew Pace [00:37:45]:

Wagering live, a 20 X rollover usually for me is a cakewalk.

Andrew Pace [00:37:49]:

I don't know what your experience is.

Andrew Pace [00:37:51]:

Like that with that, Shane, but when.

Andrew Pace [00:37:53]:

You'Re wagering live and you're betting this stuff anyways, I just view that as a $3,000 as long as I have.

Andrew Pace [00:37:59]:

The ability to roll it over. And where things get really sketchy is.

Andrew Pace [00:38:03]:

When they limit you right away and then you can't roll the money over, but you're still required to.

Andrew Pace [00:38:08]:

And there are many stories of

Andrew Pace [00:38:10]:

inplayLIVE members making one dollars bets to roll over 20 grand. So they're making hundreds of one dollars bets every single day just to get their money unlocked. So there's that to be aware of. But I guess what I'm getting at is even if it is a 20 X rollover, I'm not saying to take.

Andrew Pace [00:38:28]:

The bonus, I'm saying wagering with the.

Andrew Pace [00:38:30]:

Style that we have or some of.

Andrew Pace [00:38:31]:

The styles that we have, make 20 X a pretty easy feat to accomplish.

Andrew Pace [00:38:37]:

So that's what I know about ESPN.

Shane Mercer [00:38:39]:

Yeah, I think you nailed it by saying within the community, rolling over 20 X is well, first of all, we understand what the rollover is, we know what that means. We see that portion of the fine print and are able to sort of.

Shane Mercer [00:38:53]:

Make.

Shane Mercer [00:38:56]:

A fact informed decision to accept the rollover requirements and then proceed to roll it over because we know we're going to be making so many wagers. And I've never been limited before completing a rollover, so I'm lucky in that sense. But I think the average recreational bettor out there who may be listening to us here has no idea what rollover even means or has never actually rolled anything over before and they don't know what that little bit of fine print means. If it says five x 15 x or in this case of ESPN 20 x, which is a significant amount of rollover, right, I think they could easily, easily be caught off and not understanding what that means and what those requirements mean to unlock those funds. And so there's a certain amount of education that needs to take place amongst average recreational sports. Bettors to kind of understand that. And I don't know a VSPN that is making that very clear to people when they sign up about what it means to roll over.

Shane Mercer [00:39:58]:

But I think there's a lot of.

Shane Mercer [00:40:00]:

People out there who probably don't understand what that means and that's what we're here for. That's why we do the show, to help you understand what it means. I'm glad you sort of touched on that because I think that's a really important thing for people to get their.

Shane Mercer [00:40:14]:

Heads around and understand.

Shane Mercer [00:40:16]:

Now you mentioned the interface, I wanted to bring that up too because I thought this was hilarious. But over the I think it was yesterday on the stream, we had the golden goose himself, Kenny, out there saying it took him 15 minutes to spin in a bet. I think this is his quote, it takes 15 minutes to spin a bet.

Shane Mercer [00:40:33]:

It sucks.

Shane Mercer [00:40:34]:

It has the worst UI I've ever seen. This was Kenny. It just made me laugh knowing that we were going to be here talking about it on the show. But obviously you're not alone in thinking it's so bad.

Shane Mercer [00:40:45]:

But Penn is expected to spend one and a half billion to support this brand and help it gain market share. So they're willing to put the money into it.

Shane Mercer [00:40:58]:

As you mentioned, they have this whole influencer campaign around the whole no touchdown.

Shane Mercer [00:41:02]:

Thing, but maybe some of that money is better spent enhancing the product itself.

Andrew Pace [00:41:09]:

It's a really tricky argument, right.

Andrew Pace [00:41:11]:

To succeed. I want these books to stay competitive. I want ESPN bet to get in the conversation. I don't want to see Winbet and.

Andrew Pace [00:41:19]:

Fox Bet fall off.

Andrew Pace [00:41:22]:

And in order to do that, they're.

Andrew Pace [00:41:24]:

Going to have to figure something out to be competitive. Because people genuinely just will not use the site. Because a guy like Kenny or any inplayLIVE member for that matter.

Andrew Pace [00:41:35]:

They'Re going to be the ones that stick it out. Because they'll be like, okay, I know on this book I have to wait for a timeout. This is where they're soft.

Andrew Pace [00:41:42]:

This is why I'm taking advantage of them and why I'm using them right.

Andrew Pace [00:41:47]:

Versus the average recreational player where they.

Andrew Pace [00:41:50]:

Can'T spin that bet in and they.

Andrew Pace [00:41:51]:

Go, I'll just place it at DraftKings.

Andrew Pace [00:41:53]:

I'll place it at FanDuel, and it's done. It's done.

Shane Mercer [00:41:59]:

Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:42:00]:

The other side of this, too, about remaining competitive, I wonder if a company like ESPN, a broadcaster owned by the Walt Disney Corporation, would be willing to go in the BetVision direction and bring that into the platform. I mean, it might compete, though, with some of its other products that are being broadcast over traditional broadcasting. I don't know all the ins and outs of it, but it's something that kind of has me thinking.

Andrew Pace [00:42:27]:

I wonder if oh, certainly, yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:42:30]:

I think with this live data information, the way we're viewing games is obviously going to change over time.

Andrew Pace [00:42:37]:

It's the tip of the iceberg with.

Andrew Pace [00:42:39]:

What'S to come in the industry as a whole. So it's exciting stuff. I love following it all, and I think that ultimately, to exploit all this stuff, it's great to join inplayLIVE.

Andrew Pace [00:42:50]:

You can use the promo code:

Andrew Pace [00:42:51]:

'BEHINDTHELINES' if you want to check us out and get a bit of a discount there. But yeah, staying on top of this stuff is important because you just never know with these new books where you find something that's available for maybe one day only, and that one day might.

Andrew Pace [00:43:04]:

Be potentially life changing in the opportunity that it presented.

Andrew Pace [00:43:09]:

So yeah, staying on top of that stuff, being in a community where multiple people have eyes on those different opportunities.

Andrew Pace [00:43:15]:

And you start asking questions like, what was the one on Saturday?

Andrew Pace [00:43:19]:

This was a good one. Actually, I think it might have been ESPN bet. It was either ESPN Bet or Hard Rock. Shane, you weren't on, but it's a great one.

Andrew Pace [00:43:28]:

So there's 14 points in the first quarter of the LSU college football game.

Andrew Pace [00:43:34]:

LSU has the ball on their own 35 yard line. I believe there's four minutes left in.

Andrew Pace [00:43:41]:

The quarter and everywhere has over 14 and a half points in the quarter at plus money.

Andrew Pace [00:43:49]:

So like 2.02.5 plus 150, that kind of thing. And someone goes, hey, I think it was ESPN bet or, whatever it was one of the soft for these soft books, he goes, they have under 20 and a half in the quarter and it's.

Andrew Pace [00:44:04]:

Plus money, so you have a big.

Andrew Pace [00:44:06]:

Arbitrage and middle pay and it's plus money, you have a big arbitrage or middle opportunity there. And if you don't know what that means, you could take the over on.

Andrew Pace [00:44:15]:

One book, the under on the other.

Andrew Pace [00:44:17]:

Book, and provided that both of those books will pay out. So that's always a question is if there is a bad line, will that company actually pay out that line? In this particular example, you could have.

Andrew Pace [00:44:27]:

A field goal to win both bets, two field goals to win both bets, or a touchdown with a missed conversion.

Andrew Pace [00:44:34]:

To win both bets. And it's funny because just because a book is soft or has a bad line doesn't mean that you necessarily like it. And I saw the message come in the chat, he asked me if he.

Andrew Pace [00:44:44]:

Should take it and I said, look.

Andrew Pace [00:44:45]:

Like if you want a middle or arbit, by all means go nuts, but.

Andrew Pace [00:44:48]:

The line shouldn't be there.

Andrew Pace [00:44:50]:

It's a bad line. So there's theoretical value on it.

Andrew Pace [00:44:52]:

And I'm like, if I had that.

Andrew Pace [00:44:54]:

Line in front of me right now, I would absolutely not bet it because.

Andrew Pace [00:44:57]:

LSU is playing I don't know what.

Andrew Pace [00:44:59]:

It was and I'm like, they tend to score.

Andrew Pace [00:45:02]:

So bam, LSU goes down the field.

Andrew Pace [00:45:04]:

Scores the TD, and the book with the soft line got rewarded for posting it in the first place. And I know that there are sharp sports books that hate those scenarios and they'll actually just close their lines once they've been hit a certain amount. Because irrelevant of them having the right line and the sharp line. They know that the other sports book has exposed them to significant risk in.

Andrew Pace [00:45:26]:

That spot that they don't want to take.

Andrew Pace [00:45:29]:

But yeah, really good example of a community having eyes in that spot where all it takes is one person on one game. There's hundreds of games on, college basketball has got however many games on at once, like literally well into the double digits, maybe even potentially a hundred games at one time. Sometimes it's nuts. And then we got dozens of college football games. NBA, NHL, NFL, it's all running, right? So that excludes, know, tennis, soccer, all the other things going on.

Andrew Pace [00:46:00]:

And it just takes a big community.

Andrew Pace [00:46:02]:

Where people are like minded looking and.

Andrew Pace [00:46:03]:

You go, bam, we have an opportunity.

Andrew Pace [00:46:05]:

Here and we can exploit them. So that happened in that case, that happened to lose. But with these new books, ESPN, Bet Hard, Rock, the Legalization in Florida. Hard Rock is becoming more prominent, obviously because their main book in Florida is Hard Rock right now. But other people have access to those lines. You get these opportunities, they come your way.

Shane Mercer [00:46:26]:

Yeah, we were going to talk more about that, but I'm glad you brought it up. I'll just reference it very quickly. It's crazy what's happening in Florida right now. This indigenous tribe, the Seminole tribe, has.

Shane Mercer [00:46:39]:

This monopoly on sports betting in Florida.

Shane Mercer [00:46:42]:

Because they own the brand Hard Rock within the state. And right now, they're the only organization allowed to provide sports betting to anyone in the state. So if you want to bet on sports in that state, you have to.

Shane Mercer [00:46:54]:

Use the seminal Tribes Hard Rock product.

Shane Mercer [00:46:58]:

And it's pretty amazing. We'll see how it all plays out legally because there's a whole bunch of cases. But one case that was just before the state Supreme Court got shot down, essentially maintaining the status quo for this seminal tribe really sort of fascinating there.

Shane Mercer [00:47:13]:

And that's what we're here for on.

Shane Mercer [00:47:14]:

Behind The Lines to keep you, all of you, up to date on the latest news and trends in the sports betting world. I know that we talk a lot about what we're doing at inplayLIVE, and we like to talk about the sports that are sort of taking off in action. But a big part of what we're doing, too, is trying to bring you the latest news and updates and that.

Shane Mercer [00:47:28]:

Kind of stuff so that you can be aware, stay informed, and potentially exploit.

Shane Mercer [00:47:33]:

Some books and make some money over the long term. All right, Pace, you brought up college basketball. There is a ton of college basketball taking place right now underway. I've got to get to that take off and dial into some lines. All right, buddy. Till next time. Keep eating those books, budy. Thanks for tuning into another episode of Behind the Lines.

Shane Mercer [00:47:49]:

Remember to, like, download and subscribe. We are on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and everywhere you get your podcast, 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'.