Episode 50

Shane Mercer [00:00:00]:

So winning $500 for me was winning too much. I've won enough according to BetMGM. Pace, have you won enough on BetMGM, and how much was enough?

Andrew Pace [00:00:13]:

So it sounds like you, you look a lot like Tom Brady, Shane. I think it's a huge compliment.

Shane Mercer [00:00:31]:

Hello, and 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 wanna see what inplayLIVE is all about on the inside, we've got that promo code for you 'BEHINDTHELINES', all caps. Alright. Welcome back to Andrew Pace, the founder and CEO of inplayLIVE. Pace, you're back from Hawaii. You made it back just in time for the Super Bowl. And on today's show, we are recapping the big game.

Shane Mercer [00:01:03]:

We'll give you, some of the the betting takeaways. We're also gonna talk about, trendy MGM ad featuring a Super Bowl and NFL great, Tom Brady. We're also gonna get to a brand new sports streaming service that's in the works. So all of that on today's show. But, Pace, how is Hawaii? And you made it back just in time for the game. How was the Super Bowl party?

Andrew Pace [00:01:26]:

Oh, awesome. Amazing vacation. A a hell of a time. It's it's interesting being on Hawaii time. So if you guys don't know, they are 2 hours behind Pacific time this time of year. They don't do the daylight savings, so they become 3 hours behind, in March once we once we spring forward. So from a sports betting standpoint, that means that a lot of those 7 o'clock eastern games, which are the is the early slate of the night games on any given weekday. Those are coming through, at, as early as 1 o'clock in Hawaii.

Andrew Pace [00:02:00]:

And, your typical NFL Sunday would start anywhere from, 8 AM to 9 AM depending on the time of year in college. Football starts at 6 or 7 in the morning there. So, it's, it's a bit of an adjustment from a sports betting standpoint, but, yeah, amazing place. And, it's more of a 9 to 5 there if than it is a nighttime thing betting on sports. So I I was kinda getting used to it a little bit. I was like, you know what? I think I could do this from here and just maybe leave Vancouver behind me. And, of course, came back to Vancouver to just, like, absolutely pouring rain, but it's beautiful today. So It's great.

Shane Mercer [00:02:36]:

There there you go. It might be hard getting all the books in in Hawaii. I don't know what their what their situation is like.

Andrew Pace [00:02:43]:

Yeah. You you gotta go offshore there. Right. Offshore, and, we were talking to one of the bartenders that, was working at the Fairmont, and he he said that he had a couple of bookies there. So there's there's always opportunities.

Shane Mercer [00:02:58]:

Well well, as I mentioned, you made it back in time to host a Super Bowl party at your place and in time to have the live stream for the for the inplayLIVE community, and we all got to sit back and just watch the greatness that is Patrick Mahomes. I mean, I can't think of anything more fun in the NFL right now than to watch this guy do what he does on the biggest stage imaginable. It's just something to behold.

Andrew Pace [00:03:23]:

You know what's actually interesting, though, is so the niners are up 10. I think were the Eagles up 17 at one point last year? They I know they're up 10. I know they're up 10.

Shane Mercer [00:03:32]:

They got up. They got up. They definitely got way out in front. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:03:36]:

Yeah. And, obviously, we saw him with the the crazy comeback. It was that was against, Tug, Deshaun Watson. Yeah. This was a few years back, but he's down 24 to nothing against, Houston in the playoffs. When when the niners were up 10, I was just thinking to myself, like, they're they're just not really up. Like, they could they it it felt like almost all game, they could've really put the game away, and they just never did. So you gotta credit the Chiefs defense for that.

Andrew Pace [00:04:06]:

But then when it comes time to get the job done, is there ever a doubt with this with this guy, Mahomes? I think there's like, he just gets it done. 4th and one, out of the shotgun, down 3, Super Bowl on the line. He he fakes it to Kelsey and runs it himself. Like, you know, it's just one of these things where he he's just the guy to get it done. And and then they had a third and was it 3rd and 10, and they threw the ball to Rashi Rice on that same drive, which actually got them into field goal range to set up the the the tying field goal, of course, to to to go to overtime. It just just clutch clutch. Yeah. Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:04:51]:

Yeah. It's, it's just, you know, unbelievable. It's funny to, in the postgame, you know, the the game winning, touchdown, you know, Mahomes to to me call Hardman. And I don't know if you heard this, but Hardman talking about it right after the game there. And he goes, I just caught the ball, and and I blacked out. I just couldn't help but laugh because I was thinking to myself. I'm like, that sounds about right for me. The guy, you know, who if the ball is coming to him, he's about to catch it.

Shane Mercer [00:05:17]:

I could just see him blacking out with all of the drops that he typically has in his career, but he caught that one and and won the Super Bowl with it. So, I mean, hey. Kudos to him. Hats off. Well done, Nicole Hardman. Not something I wouldn't expect it.

Andrew Pace [00:05:32]:

Yeah. We we have a nickname for him at inplayLIVE that's been, pretty prominent. We call him hard hands, and, we have a that nickname for a few different people, but he's he's the he's kinda because the name hard man her her, McColl Hardman. Hard man. So hard hands. But, yeah, he he he got the job done when it mattered, and he was actually really clutch in the playoffs when I know he got traded and came back, but, he he was pretty clutch in the playoffs for them, in previous runs. So he he's done well when when the moment has mattered most. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:06:01]:

We had some fun things going on. Like, obviously, every Super Bowl party is is different, but we do a in room prop sheet. I got a basketball hoop, so we do, like, all these, basketball shot contests throughout the day, and then we were bet we were betting we were betting on everything, man. So, like, first couple people show up, and as soon as they show up, you have to buy in to my Super Bowl party. So when you buy in, you get a stack of poker chips and inplayLIVE poker chips as well, so it's a sponsored party. But when you buy in, each one of these chips is worth $5. And before you know it, there's just a couple people there, and we're already laying chips down on who's the next person to walk through the door, what jersey team jersey they'll be wearing, like, all these things. So, like, there was a moment where there was a everyone was there except 2 people.

Andrew Pace [00:06:51]:

So everyone was betting on who would show up next, but it was a couple. So when the couple shows up, will will he be chivalrous and get the door for her? Who will step through the door first? And you just watch them show up, him hold the door for her. She doesn't walk through the door, then he walks through because she didn't take the chivalry, and the room just erupts because the room split. Half the room's on her, half the room's on him.

Shane Mercer [00:07:16]:

That's awesome.

Andrew Pace [00:07:17]:

You know, it it's not that that I think, honestly, that is the beauty of the Super Bowl, and I think that that is born. And I this is kind of tooting the sportsbooks' horns a little bit. It's born in all the props that you can bet on in the Super Bowl. So in my party, it transcends beyond the lines of the sportsbooks and into the hands of the room. So, like, one of one of the worst bets yesterday, was there was a guy in the room that said there would be, more than 5 fumbles in the game, but that they didn't need to change hands. So as long as a player fumbled the ball, and I think he won in the Q3, which is it was just the worst bet to take. Like, the underside of that is such a good bet, and he won in, like, 3rd quarter. So, but, yeah, lots of fun stuff like that going, going around.

Andrew Pace [00:08:05]:

And, yeah, I mean, it's I've always said this. It's a celebration of the game. So, you know, the 2023 NFL season is behind us, and, hopefully, a lot of people you know? Obviously, there's gonna be a lot of fans that are really upset. I try to coach people out of thinking that way and get them into the mindset of watch the game, enjoy the game. If some value presents itself, great. Don't worry about betting on anything before the game starts. I know there was a discussion in last week's episode that was I wasn't on about the under, which actually became sweaty with the new overtime rules. So Very sweaty.

Andrew Pace [00:08:41]:

Had it have been a field goal back and then a walk off touchdown, the pregame over would have cashed, which is just crazy, but drop all those pregame bets. So shout out to that shout out to that under from last week. But drop all those pregame bets and just focus on value. And then if you're going to a Super Bowl party, focus on just having fun and celebrating the game. And and it it it really changes your approach to this, like, be all, end all. I've got, you know, all these celebrities putting 1,000,000 of dollars on one side of the game. You just don't need to do it that way. And, that's the approach we've taken, for

Andrew Pace [00:06:50]:

For a good few Super Bowls now at inplayLIVE and and done exceptionally well, on those games as a result.

Shane Mercer [00:09:20]:

Yeah. And, and and yesterday was no different. I mean, the the team at inplayLIVE sort of collectively should have, come out come out looking pretty good after that game. As you mentioned, the under, that was discussed on last week's episode of of behind the lines and was sort of out there for for the entire world. But, you know, there were some calls made on the live stream as well that that cashed, you know, Mahomes over on on rushing yards. That was a big one. I think, you know, that that was, that was an awesome hit right there because I think, you know, we took it at halftime, and it was it won by, what, halfway through the Q3, something like that. I think he he ripped off, like, a 20 yard rut or something and boom sealed sealed the deal there for us.

Shane Mercer [00:10:00]:

And, the other one in that Q3 too, we we took the minus there. Right? Chiefs Chiefs minus a half. And, you know, again, that was another one where, they got the ball. They they scored. And then we thought we might have a sweat, you know, on the on the way back with with San Fran driving down the field. And, and instead, it it ended up being Chiefs ball. The, San Fran side muffed the punt. Right? It it Right.

Shane Mercer [00:10:25]:

Yeah. It took off Buddy's foot and yeah. And when Chiefs had the ball back right away. So it was another one that was kind of no sweat.

Andrew Pace [00:10:32]:

Yeah. And a huge momentum swing in the game.

Shane Mercer [00:10:35]:

That was a big moment. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:10:36]:

And and, you know, you take that away and you take the McCaffrey fumble on the opening drive away and you really do kind of envision this, could the Chiefs be able to come back type score that could have transpired? But, again, credit the Chiefs' defense for for, how how well they shut down those niners. And and Brock Purdy, I I do really like this kid. I do. He was a I'm sorry. Like, I some people are gonna be like, oh, you know, haters, all this kind of stuff. The guy was a pile on out there. You know, whatever stats you say he he has or has, a lot of it is is not in the moment where you really need him to perform. And I hate to say this because he had a great season, and I really do want him to do well, and I do think he can.

Andrew Pace [00:11:26]:

But he reminded me of Jimmy Garoppolo in that game.

Shane Mercer [00:11:30]:

Not really a comparison you want. I I'm I'm glad you brought you brought that up, though, because I made a comment to to my group of friends in in my fantasy football league, just sort of shortly after the game was over. And I said to them, I'm like, the intensity difference between Brock Purdy and Patrick Mahomes was night and day in that overtime. Like, you saw Brock Purdy walk into the huddle, and he just, you know, had this sort of expressionless space. And, you know, he's listening to the call and, you know, nothing on there. And then I think he just gets into the huddle, and he tells everybody the call, and it was just very sort of muted. Whereas you see Patrick Mahomes, and he's yelling at everybody, and he's fired up as they're driving, and he's just, you know, he's got that that sort of, you know, Patrick Mahomes energy going. Right? Where you just know he's coming down the field and winning this game, and and there's nothing anyone's gonna do to stop him.

Shane Mercer [00:12:20]:

And it was just, you know, that that intensity level and just here you are in the Super Bowl. Like, you know, you think you're gonna try to really kinda bring it, and and I just didn't see that from from Purdy in in that moment in particular.

Andrew Pace [00:12:35]:

Yeah. I think there's something about Purdy's energy, though, that I actually really like. So this a lot of people know he's extremely religious, but he he leading up to the the Super Bowl, he was referencing Psalm 23, in in a media interview. And, I'm I'm not necessarily the most religious person, but the Psalm itself references that I have everything that I need. So it's it's a mindset thing, and I think that what that is is not freaking out, not getting angry, staying level headed, and saying I have everything I need, I'm calm, and I'm gonna go perform based on that. And he embraces and embodies that in a big way. Now when it comes to overtime in the Super Bowl, you know, leadership and energy, kinda go hand in hand because who do we think of when we think of the Super Bowl? You know, over the last 20 years, we're gonna we're gonna start talking about Tom Brady. Mhmm.

Andrew Pace [00:13:28]:

Look at his energy and intensity. And, again, Mahomes' energy and intensity, and then also, of course, with that is is the mind the mindset part of it. So I do want Purdy to do well. I do think he can I do think he can be great, but he missed he missed Deebo on it for a TD? He missed Ayuk for a TD. Both of them were open. I just don't think he was good enough, and it's it's just that simple.

Shane Mercer [00:13:55]:

Yeah. Now on that topic of of not being good enough, I think we have to bring up this, the this report that came out today and and some, this was on the score. And I I couldn't I couldn't really believe this at first, but then I think back to all of the coaching mishaps we see all season long, and it's it it's sort of like, yeah. Of course. You know? Of course, this is the situation. But let me just kind of, you know, bring, you know, our audience up to speed a little bit if they haven't seen it yet. But, basically, the San Francisco 40 niners were not prepared for overtime. So here's here's some of the quotes, and I'll and I'll read them to you.

Shane Mercer [00:09:59]:

This is what this first one here is from defensive lineman, Arik Armstead. He said, I didn't even know about the new playoff overtime rule, so it was a surprise to me. I didn't even really know what was going on in terms of that. Okay. Like, that's a problem right there. Kyle Ushchek, juice. One of one of our faves at inplayLIVE. We love this guy.

Shane Mercer [00:15:00]:

And here are his comments on the overtime in the regular season versus playoffs thinking it's the same. He says, I guess that's not the case. I don't really know the strategy. Coach Kyle Shanahan, here's a quote from him. None of us have a ton of experience with it, but when we went through all the analytics and talked to those guys, and we we just decided we wanted the ball 3rd. Let's just pause and think for a moment. There was no 3rd possession in that overtime because it wasn't guaranteed to begin with. On the KC side of things, though, one of their defensive tackles says, we talked through this for 2 weeks.

Shane Mercer [00:15:43]:

How we were going to give the ball to the opponent if they scored, we were going to go for 2 at the end. At the end of the game, we rehearsed it. So, I mean, you have 2 complete polar opposites here. We had KC that talked about the overtime rules, walked through it regularly, rehearsed their plan, and had it completely thought out. And you have this other side on the 40 niners. Didn't know the rule change, didn't understand it, didn't really plan for it. You know, and it makes me think for a moment. You know? Kyle Shanahan is one of, I think, you know, I think we could probably agree that he's one of the higher level coaches.

Shane Mercer [00:16:24]:

One of the one of the typically more smarter coaches that tends to make better decisions on a more regular basis. But we see so many bad coaches out there and and bad coaching decisions, and it just made me think, jeez, these guys really do need a common sense coordinator. Even a guy like Shanahan needs a common sense coordinator. How could you not plan for overtime or at least think about it and and strategize a little bit? It I just I can't believe it.

Andrew Pace [00:14:59]:

Yeah. One of the things that we find funny sometimes at inplayLIVE because, you know, this this, podcast so far has kind of been about wrapping up the NFL season. Well, we bet on the CFL at inplayLIVE, which, if you guys don't know, is the Canadian football. And it it there's a lot of humor with it, and the thing is is a lot of the players, if not the great majority of them, they actually have jobs, on top of playing in this league because or they have jobs when the season isn't on because, they need some more income on top of, what what the CFL salaries are. They don't know a lot of the rules, and the rules are weird in the CFL, and we'll make fun of it because we will know them to a certain extent, but even sometimes they get a little bit confusing for for even avid watchers. Now I don't find it funny when we get to the college football level, in American football when coaches don't know the right things to do. I don't find that funny. They're multi multimillion dollar salaried coaches.

Andrew Pace [00:17:55]:

In a lot of cases, some of the coaches make more in college football than they do in the NFL. And there's a lot of mistakes. There's a lot of issues. There's a lot of analytics that are not brought into the discussion, and then there's this new wave of analytics which tells you what to do in certain down in distances based on probabilities and not actually based on a whole series of, other things like situational awareness or maybe game flow. Like, 4th and 3, it tells us to go, but we're just not playing good offense, and we can take 3 points that are really important right now that the analytics won't factor in. Right? And then you look at this storyline from the Super Bowl. So what is Kyle Shanahan saying when he says we'll get the ball 3rd? Well, what he's saying is we score a touchdown, we score a field goal, and that is exactly answered by our opponents, And then we get the ball back where a field goal or a touchdown wins the game. Right? And, of course, these overtime rules were put in place because of the Chiefs' Bills game where, we saw the Chiefs walk it off with a TD, in they actually didn't make the Super Bowl that that year in the divisional round against the Bills.

Andrew Pace [00:19:13]:

So this is kind of the 1st time that it came into play. Now in this particular case, it's a bit of a a moot point because of the fact that it didn't matter. Field goal walk off TD would have been the same as regular season. It would it would have ended. Now the difference here is remarkable preparation from 1 coach versus someone, versus a squad who who wasn't ready for the situation. And regardless of how it all transpired, that speaks huge volumes, to the Chiefs and to Andy Reid and to Patrick Mahomes versus Shanahan in this particular spot. Now going back to college football, overtime rules, you are totally different from the NFL. You start from the 25 yard line.

Andrew Pace [00:20:00]:

Each team gets a gets a possession for the 1st 2 overtimes, and then it it goes to that new weird rule where they just do 2 point conversions over and over again until someone eventually wins the game. We talk about this like crazy in college football, but if you get the ball as the 2nd possession and you're down 7, the probability of you winning by going for 2 is much higher than going into the 2nd overtime and no coaches do it. We just read and saw that the Chiefs were planning to go for 2 had the Niners have scored the opening drive touchdown to put the game away right then and there, where you do not give your opponent quote unquote the ball 3rd. The game is won or lost on that PAT try. So, again, huge level of preparation and already ready for that similar analytic scenario as we've seen in college football not be executed on by coaches time and again. So, yeah, just credit the Chiefs' credit preparation. And for all of these multi multimillion dollar players and coaches, the fact that they don't know the rules is crazy. I felt like so I was explaining the rules in my room to the less prominent football fans, yesterday as we entered overtime because they didn't know.

Andrew Pace [00:21:27]:

But to not know and be in the league is nuts. It is nuts. I'm sorry.

Shane Mercer [00:17:54]:

I just I don't understand. How can you make as much money as you make and not know the rules? Like, it's just it's unbelievable. It it really truly is. And I I don't even think that that's the player's fault necessarily because the rules change, but it's up to the coaching staff to make sure that all your players know and understand the rules of the game you're about to play. I mean, it's it's it's just, you know, such a basic level. And I think I think as sports bettors, we often just make the assumption that the coach or the players understand the rules, know what to do in these scenarios, and are going to do the smart thing or the correct thing. And we've seen that so often, it seems to not play out that way. It's almost like for them to make the right decision is is a rare occurrence these days.

Shane Mercer [00:22:28]:

I don't know. It's just it's just wild to me that that this is such an ongoing thing.

Andrew Pace [00:22:35]:

Yeah. Agreed. Agreed.

Shane Mercer [00:22:37]:

Anyway, we wanna move on though to somebody who clearly always knew the rules, was always prepared, and he has 7 7 Super Bowl rings to show for it. Tom Brady, who is featured in a new MGM ad that I I think I think, first of all, I think the ad is fantastic. I think in terms of it being a marketing tool, it's very solid ad. It's funny. It's it's relatable. You know, it features some some star power with not just Tom Brady, but you got Vince Vaughn in there. But at the same time, it's as somebody who has experienced the MGM sports betting platform, it's completely laughable. But, why don't we why don't we run it for everybody first, and then you and I could kinda talk about it on the other side.

Shane Mercer [00:24:25]:

I mean, pretty pretty good. Right? Pretty funny. But but here's the thing, BetMGM, is that I used your sports betting platform. I think I won about $500 in profit, and I got limited. So winning $500 for me was winning too much. I've won enough according to BetMGM. Pace, have you won enough on BetMGM, and how much was enough?

Andrew Pace [00:24:53]:

So it sounds like you, you look a lot like Tom Brady, Shane. I think it's a huge compliment. Well, I mean so one of the things on behind the lines, if you guys have followed our journey, especially our early episodes was exposing a lot of the practices of the sportsbooks and the betting industry. And since those have been exposed, obviously, we try to keep up to date with with what is going on. In this particular case, I get rubbed the wrong way because the ad is simply lying to you. Mhmm. They say it's the sports betting app for everyone. They pause and say everyone again.

Andrew Pace [00:25:28]:

And then there's a line later that says, what if I'm the Tom Brady of spreadsheets? And the Tom Brady of spreadsheets means that you are elite when it comes to data management. Like, spreadsheets is is managing that's managing data. Mhmm. And precisely what BetMGM doesn't want is people that are are winners. Not only that, there are some sportsbooks that you can win quite a bit of money off of that have a reasonable leash and they will still limit you, but they're comfortable with a certain amount of risk with with any given player. And sometimes I wonder with BetMGM how even losing players play there with how quickly they'll cut you off for making just 1 1 even 1 pregame bet. So the ad rubs me the wrong way from that standpoint. It's fun.

Andrew Pace [00:26:23]:

I'm a huge Tom Brady fan, and that part of it kind of makes me smile because it's like you're too good, Tom, but everyone else can play. That that part's funny for sure. But, again, it's just another major sportsbook spending massive ad dollars and massive money on some of the biggest celebrities in the world. You know, Vince Vaughn, Wayne Gretzky, Tom Brady, of course, and and all to collect losing players. Because if you win there, you will not continue to play. Yeah. I it's it's everything wrong with the industry, and, yeah, I I wish there was some sort of recourse you could take based on this at where you're like, hey. They said I could play here, and I can't.

Shane Mercer [00:22:27]:

Yeah. Really. Right? I know I can't. I can't go back there. I think I could bet a dollar on on something over at BetMGM. And I know there are many people within the inplayLIVE community that, have, yeah, been down on a BetMGM and still got limited and aren't allowed to place any kind of significant wager there or couldn't, you know, bet enough to to win their money back because they they just got limited so fast. When when it comes to books limiting players, I think they are one of the fastest out there. Like, they will limit you, you know, in in a matter of moments.

Shane Mercer [00:27:39]:

You could be on the site for less than an hour and place a couple of live wagers and boom. It's it's done. It it's just it's yeah. The the sad in that in that sense is just so laughable. And I think there are many people in our community who are the Tom Brady of spreadsheets and, you know, tried to go and apply those those talents and skills that they have at BetMGM. Maybe they made a little bit of money, but I I think it's highly unlikely that they made any kind of significant money over at BetMGM because they just limit so quickly.

Andrew Pace [00:28:10]:

Yeah. Well, people certainly have made made a lot of money at BetMGM. I I know people that have broken through the cracks and Yeah. And have done really well there, but they still obviously still ended up getting getting limited. But it's actually a really interesting discussion, and that switches us over to the NHL. Gary Bettman was approached in an interview recently

Shane Mercer [00:28:28]:

Yep.

Andrew Pace [00:28:29]:

Where he specifically was asked about if he knew that his major league partners and reference some of these major regulated sportsbooks Yep. That are on the boards, on the hockey rink, that are on the ads, paying the league ad dollars that are official partners of the NHL, and was was directly and specifically asked about how he felt about winning players being unable to play at a major partner of the NHL. And I personally believe that his answer was genuine. He turned and he said, I'm unaware of this practice, and it's something that I will look into more. And whether you all these commissioners of all these leagues, they come out and get booed like crazy. Whether you like these people or not is irrelevant. The sportsbooks have a real way about them when it comes to all these practices where if you are limited, they say it's another department that they have no information about. So it's 1 company, and all of a sudden, we're starting to get this real Elizabeth Holmes vibe, you know, going on here where everyone's kept in the dark about where they're going to work every day and what's going on behind each individual wall.

Andrew Pace [00:29:48]:

And I feel like the sportsbooks should be public about those practices, not necessarily, oh, like, come to BetMGM. You know, we're going to limit you if you win money. Not like that, but with a major partner like the NHL, with regulators, with governments that are involved in in the discussion of of what it is that they're doing. And, it very much appears that those practices from the from my personal experience of actually speaking with regulators out of the gate, kinda when when things were were were becoming legalized and and were legalized to that discussion with Batman, which was extremely recent, it very much appears that they did not know, once this all started of of some of these practices that that have spilled over into the regulated market. So, again, it's kinda like that clip we ran with, Peta Murphy, where you just kinda smile when you see it because it is shedding light to some of those major people and partners. Does that mean change is gonna happen? I don't think so necessarily, but, I I think it's a step in the right direction when those things are brought to light. Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:31:03]:

I think you're absolutely right in terms of, Gary Bettman not like, genuinely not knowing that that's a practice of the sportsbooks that, that that clip, and and that question really kind of, you you could just see the expression on the face and he turns to his, you know, the guy next to him, and they're both looking at each other like, What? Like, this is a thing? You know? And they they it seemed like they genuinely did not know. And and I think that's probably true for the vast majority of people out there in the public. You know, unless you are actively betting on sports and winning, which is a very small percentage of people out there, especially in the general public, you probably don't know that that you're getting limited. And I hope for within our audience, we have plenty of people in our audience who have been limited and will continue to be limited into the future because it means, like, they're winning. But if you, you know, if you're listening to this podcast and you've never you know, maybe this is your 1st time or you're you're kind of new to the pod, Yeah. You will get limited when you win on sportsbooks, and, we hope to help you get limited by kinda learning what the sportsbooks do. But, you know, at the same time, it's it's it's just a part of it. But I think I think the vast majority of people out there don't know this, And I know in my own, like, you know, circle of of friends and my, you know, fantasy groups and that kind of thing, I think I'm probably the only person who's ever been limited on a 365, let alone dozens of other books.

Shane Mercer [00:32:26]:

You know? Like, they all still have their bet 36 fives going along with a whole bunch of other sportsbooks that maybe they play on. You know? But, I think I think most people don't totally understand that. And when I tell people that that's the case, they're like, Really? You know? Oh, how do you how do you and, you know, it's kinda like when we had the guy on from Powerplay a few weeks ago, you know, the the the chief operating officer talking about how, oh, he wants to learn how to get limited on a sportsbook, you know, because he doesn't he doesn't you know, or kind of pretending as if he doesn't know how, but I I think he probably does. You know, there's all these people out there that that just just don't know, and I think it's probably very true for the people higher ups that are making those big time multimillion or $1,000,000,000 deals with the sportsbooks that they also don't know the practices.

Andrew Pace [00:33:13]:

Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:33:15]:

But, anyways, cool ad. A great ad. Great ad. And, I'm sure well, you know, who knows? We'll probably see a lot more from Tom Brady doing doing other fun stuff like that too. I know, though, that Tom also needs to start putting in some work with Fox Sports because he's got a major deal with them. Right? And I don't think we've seen a whole lot of actual, football analysis from Tom, but I think we are gonna be getting more in the future. And part of that might be on this new streaming service that was just announced last week, and this sounds like a big game changer pace. So we've got Warner Brothers Discovery, ESPN slash Disney, and Fox Sports, all creating 1 streaming service to rule them all.

Shane Mercer [00:34:01]:

And this is a sports streaming service only. So it will include sports networks ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN U, SECN, ACCN, ESPN ESPN News, ABC, FOX, FOX FS 1, FS 2, BTN, TNT, TBS, and TruTV. NFL, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PGA, Grand Slam Tennis, all the sports included on those networks. Pace, this sounds like a one stop shop for sports streaming.

Andrew Pace [00:34:42]:

Yeah. God. You know, it's like the future's here in an extent. Like, obviously, I've referenced previous episodes. We obviously have followed latency through this whole thing. You know, the it really looks like we're turning the corner, and and these are gonna be the solutions for us. And what's great about it is, I think it's it's no secret that people have seen, you know, my my betting setup. This to me is taking a setup like like what I'm looking at right now and making it simple that you could put on 1 computer screen, 1 iPad.

Andrew Pace [00:35:19]:

Right? Multi view, in in one spot with with low latency. The technology exists. We know that, and this is just, you know, these major companies finally going. And you know what? It's all about the market. Right? The market dictates action, and it does in so many different industries. But all of a sudden, you look at, actually, Shane, this one will be close to home for you, but the CTV news, here in Canada, CTV news has just discontinued a whole series of their news broadcast and has focused on fewer broadcast and more opportune times, and then cut a whole whack load of of their typical news programming. And it's just the the cable cutting that's occurring, and the way the market is trending is is towards this model, and it is it is very similar almost to, like, a blockbuster blockbuster Netflix type situation where if these companies don't make these changes and adapt for us to view them this way, they will not even remotely survive. So, it's really nice to see from my standpoint where, you know, this technology of streaming sports on a a certain platform has existed for a long time, you know, since essentially the dawn of the Internet, but it obviously not being consistent, it being illegal in in most cases, and now, of course, coming to us in in a way that, is easily accessible and, hopefully, low low latency.

Shane Mercer [00:36:49]:

Yeah. You know, thanks for bringing up the the CTV, Bell layoffs. I've got a lot of friends and colleagues, who who lost their jobs because of that. And, you know, 48 100 jobs in this latest round from Bell, but this has been something that's been going on for several years. With Bell in particular when it comes to their, their Bell media division. And, you know, they've been having a lot of problems with with that. And, you know, Bell here in Canada, for anybody who's listening in the US or or outside of Canada, Bell is like you know, their primary, service is providing your cable, phone, home, you know, Internet, stuff like that, and selling you cell phones. Right? That that that is their primary goal and building sort of the fiber optic fiber optics infrastructure throughout Canada.

Shane Mercer [00:37:42]:

I just don't think they wanna be in the business of content creation, and and that that probably has a lot to do with it. But then when we talk about these companies coming together, right, these are big time competitors, Warner Brothers, ESPN, Disney, Fox Sports. These guys, you know, they've been competing with each other for a long time now. Here they are coming together to, you know, create a solution to a a problem that's out there, which is this fragmented viewing. Right? Audiences are are split up all over the place now. Whereas before, you only had a few channels to watch on a TV. Now you've got, you know, channels galore, streaming services everywhere. You can get stuff on your on, you know, on your computers and online.

Shane Mercer [00:38:22]:

You can pirate things very easily if if that's the route you wanna go. I don't advise people to do that, but we know it happens, and there's a lot of that going on. Yep. You know? And at at a certain point, you gotta say, okay. We gotta work together to get it all to get what everybody wants in one place. And I think that's what what we're seeing here. I I I wanted to ask you though, Pace. You know, as somebody who does have that awesome TV wall and you've usually got eyes on on just about every game that we're placing wagers on, live or you've got eyes on on most of them.

Shane Mercer [00:38:53]:

How many services do you actually use and pay subscriptions to?

Andrew Pace [00:39:00]:

Yeah. That's a good question. So I VPN into some of these US services. Like, I use YouTube TV, and then I have my my cable package, and then, yeah, a couple other streaming services. Probably, I'd say 3. 3. Well oh, jeez. But that that excludes all the Netflix, Prime, all that kind of stuff.

Shane Mercer [00:39:18]:

So,

Andrew Pace [00:39:18]:

oh, no. Prime Prime's definitely 1 too because they play Thursday night football that I would put in the list. So that would bring it up to 4. And then I I have, like, all the the Disneys and Netflix and things like that, but that's not for sports related stuff. But it could be with the way these things are going. Mhmm. Like, those those could be add ons or, existing things. And and what I'm saying too obviously doesn't include, like, topping up an NBA league pass or an NHL center ice package, like those types of things that that that I'll have.

Andrew Pace [00:39:45]:

Those will be add ons onto the platform. But, yeah, about 4 actual primary streaming services for sports. But but you could just use YouTube TV. It it's getting to that level now. And, obviously, what you've just brought up is a major competitor to YouTube TV. They won't offer Sunday ticket. Right? Because YouTube TV is the provider of that. Or if they do offer Sunday ticket, that that revenue would go it would be connected through Google somehow, where that revenue ends up going to them in the end.

Andrew Pace [00:27:38]:

But, yeah, for the most part, it sounds like you're gonna get a great array of sports through this subscription. And, you know, there's really and this is this is the thing. There's betting with the lines in front of you, which is as important, if not the most important way of sports betting. But then there's the game and what's going on on the court ranker field. And when you combine the 2, you can be a hugely successful sports bettor. And from my standpoint, there's almost no price on a subscription that I wouldn't pay to have access to these games in real time where you can put anything on. There's almost no amount of money from a reasonable subscription standpoint. So, you know, there's a lot of talk when Google took over Sunday Ticket of the cost of Sunday ticket, and I'm sitting there thinking to myself, if this thing is low latency, I don't give a fuck how much it costs.

Andrew Pace [00:41:18]:

And, unfortunately, it was high latency. They have improved it now, and I think it'll continue to get better. But yeah. I mean, I look at some of these companies doing this, and I'm like, please. Like, bring it on. Let's do this, and, and don't don't worry so much about the subscription being, expensive for premium users. Right?

Shane Mercer [00:41:37]:

Well, see, I think that we have a we run into a bit of another issue here, which is the whole, conversation around cord cutting is to for for the for the vast majority of people out there and a big portion of the public. When it comes to cord cutting, the whole idea is is to pay less for the stuff you want, right, and and get rid of the stuff you don't, which is, you know, now it's okay. I don't need my cable because all the shows I watch are on one of the streaming services, Netflix or, you know, Amazon or Apple TV or whatever it might be. Right? But now you know? So you cut the cord, but now you gotta pay because I think YouTube TV is, like, $72 or something like that a month, maybe in in that range, I think. And, you know, so if you're paying for YouTube TV and then you've got some of these other ones, they all start adding up. Before you know it, you're paying way more for everything, than than you were when you had regular basic cable. And, so I think that, you know, come up with a solution to hear it. Let's bring it all together.

Shane Mercer [00:42:29]:

Let's put as much sports as we can into 1 streaming service and charge a reasonable rate. I think it's just a a fantastic idea that's great for the average consumer. Phenomenal.

Andrew Pace [00:42:40]:

Yeah. Phenomenal. And and what I said just now is is specific to someone like me or a lot of the members of our community where they go, I would pay good money for what what this would be. But the flip side is it, bring it all together, have it available to the public for a reasonable cost, and bring it on. Between that and maybe, you know, a Netflix subscription or something like that, so you can kinda unwind and watch some bad TV or, you know, a couple movies or whatever, I think you're you're set and, hopefully, set affordably as well.

Shane Mercer [00:43:12]:

Yeah. Exactly. And, the other side of this too, though, that I was thinking about is the whole, I guess, what what do we call it? Integrated sports betting now. And I I I, you know, I say this in the terms of ESPN bet is out there. Yep. And I wonder how that's gonna work out where, you know, you'll be on the ESPN site, and they'll have the broadcast of the game and the lines for you all on the same platform. Right? All in the same space. And we already see it quite a bit.

Shane Mercer [00:43:37]:

I know, you know, Bet 3 65, had it throughout the NFL season for for us here in Canada. I don't know about our our friends in the US if they were able to watch games on bet 365, but we were able to do it here this past season. You know? And you've got the lines right in front of you, and you can watch the game at the same time. But, I think maybe we'll see more of that, you know, once ESPN goes towards this new streaming service. But I think we wanna see more of that just generally, right, across all the books.

Andrew Pace [00:44:05]:

Yeah. And that and that's something that, we will see become a discussion of regulators.

Shane Mercer [00:44:11]:

Mhmm.

Andrew Pace [00:44:12]:

So when you bring major media into sports betting and then be become major sponsors of these leagues and then you go to watch the game, but you have no intent of betting and there's betting lines in your face, we've already seen in Ontario the ads become a major conversation with the regulators. Celebrity is no longer allowed to endorse ads in Ontario. And, also, a major discussion of those regulators was the time of day that those ads could be run. So they didn't want people watching them, you know, on, you know, your kids watching Barney and all of a sudden, you know, McDavid's in their face or Matthews is in their face telling them that they should be betting on the game tonight on BetMGM, you know, during daytime, you know, more more PG or rated general times of the day. So those have been major discussions. Regulators will need to be involved when it comes to watching a game outside of a betting platform where there is a potential for lines to be offered, on on on the broadcast. Oh, and we have seen that already. Right? So it cuts to halftime.

Andrew Pace [00:45:17]:

You'll say the live odds for these teams to win powered by DraftKings, and they actually start making some picks. You know, that does affect the viewer. I know people that come to me and talk to me about that that are really unhappy. They're not involved in the they don't bet on sports, and they're really unhappy that they see that kind of stuff. And, you know, that will continue to progress more and more, as these relationships build and as some of these major companies do take over, the the media for, us viewing them.

Shane Mercer [00:45:50]:

Yeah. I've had I've had the same kind of feedback from people who know, you know, that I'm heavily involved in spending. They're like, you know, they're they're sick of the ads. They're they're just done with it. And, you know, on on top of it too, you know, a lot of people out there might be like, well, just ignore them. But they're everywhere, and they're in your face all the time. And, you know, I think, you know, the people out there who are like, oh, I'll just ignore it or whatever. It doesn't affect me or it doesn't impact me.

Shane Mercer [00:46:14]:

Well, I'll tell you this. These sportsbook companies wouldn't be spending all the money on these promotional, strategies if they didn't work. They do work. Right? And they do get people to do that more. And and probably oftentimes betting on bad stuff or stuff that, you know, is is probably gonna lose and benefit the sportsbook long term. And I'm just thinking about, the one that that, you know, this Super Bowl and last year's Super Bowl was Gronkowski's kick of destiny. And the kick of destiny is all I heard about for the past 2 weeks. His 2nd attempt at the kick of destiny, he missed, by the way, in case in case he missed that.

Shane Mercer [00:46:50]:

But, right, like, these things, they just they just, you know, over and over and over and repeated, right, so many times. And after a while, it it wears on people, especially if you're just an average person. Right? And suddenly you might just think, alright. Fine. I'll go bet on this kick of destiny. Let's see. Yep. Right? And it's such a such a dumb wager to even waste your time with.

Shane Mercer [00:41:16]:

Yeah. Totally. Yeah. Totally. Anyway, now that the NFL season is behind us pace, you know, let's say you're an NFL bettor out there and you bet on the NFL regularly and that's kind of been your thing up until now. Are people lost? Are you lost? I know you're not. You've got a whole plan for the rest of the season now. Right? What does some of that plan look like? Give us a bit of a sense of if you wanna keep betting on sports, you wanna keep becoming a better sports bettor, but your main focus was the NFL.

Shane Mercer [00:47:36]:

Where do you turn your attention to now?

Andrew Pace [00:47:35]:

Yeah. Well, I mean, we've got March Madness, gearing up here in just a couple weeks, so it's a pretty freaking crazy time of the year. In fact, I would argue that that that that tournament week, where teams are trying to get into the March Madness tournament, at the very start of March, end of February is, some of the busiest days at inplayLIVE of of the entire year, and a lot of fun A lot of fun. And then, of course, NHL and NBA are hitting that halfway point or beyond that halfway point where, you know, teams are starting to get into the playoffs, fight for playoff position. And then, of course, we get into the playoffs themselves. Really great times a year to be betting on on sports. But from a football standpoint, you know, we actually haven't talked about this on the show, but the USFL and the XFL merged. So there was 2 separate non NFL leagues, and you might be like, oh, that those leaks suck or this or that or whatever.

Andrew Pace [00:48:35]:

The XFL had some good traction last year, some really good excitement. I know The Rock was a or or Dwayne Johnson, he was a really big part of getting that league sort of promoted. And they've done a couple things really well that I think other football leagues could start looking at a little bit more. But the fact that the 2 leagues have now merged, that presents opportunity and sport. This is the thing about sportsbooks. So when when you go behind the lines, they desperately want to get similar action in like they do during NFL season, as the the year progresses. So these books are trying to get us to to continue to bet, and they're trying to find creative ways for us to do that. So if you continue betting throughout the season, you they they're they're happy, especially, obviously, as a losing player.

Andrew Pace [00:49:24]:

So hype towards a league like the USL and the XFL merging is a very real thing. So, I'm excited for that myself because I'm gonna be following those leagues. We have a a member in our group that's really into those leagues that does a a really amazing job with his calls on that kind of stuff, and we're we're really excited about, yeah, we're really excited about that. And then we already touched on it, but we bet on the CFL, and I love the CFL. That actually excludes baseball. Like, when baseball season comes through, I had a great baseball season last year. It is low volume for me, but I find that it being low volume and the time of year mesh nicely together, where, you know, you can pick your spots, not maybe be super, super active and and as engaged as you would be with, say, a football game, and get to enjoy some other aspects of life and get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. So, you know, I was just in Hawaii.

Andrew Pace [00:50:19]:

I got to enjoy some of the fruits of my labor, but go on a couple trips, spend a little bit of money, and then obviously get geared right back up because, before you know it, you know, time flies, and you're right back

Shane Mercer [00:50:29]:

in Yeah. Before you know it, it's preseason football again. Right? And at August, it's here. And, yeah, it does it does fly by. It goes really quickly. Big shout out to TC of the group who who is that, that that person you're talking about. He makes great calls on some of these other football leagues, a superstar when it comes to that. And it's funny that you say, baseball and low volume, and you put them together because baseball is one of the highest volume sports out there.

Shane Mercer [00:50:53]:

But I think you go low volume on baseball so that you can enjoy that time off and also dial in only on the very, very best baseball ops. Because if you try to do too much in baseball, it can go south pretty quickly, I think. K?

Andrew Pace [00:51:09]:

Oh, big time. Yeah. And and I'm not referring to low volume of a sport, and I'm not referring as low volume so that I can do other things. I'm referring to low volume to be profitable.

Shane Mercer [00:48:34]:

Yeah. Exactly. Just to to dial in on those very, very best opportunities. And we can teach you about those best opportunities at inplayLIVE. If you haven't joined and you wanna join, we've got that promo code for you 'BEHINDTHELINES', all caps. And along the way, PACE, we will have the OddsJam tool to help us out, especially, as you mentioned, in the weeks coming up here that are just in front of us for college basketball. And as we move towards the tournament, those, those OddsJam lines really, really help in terms of identifying, great opportunities, whether it's middles or arbs or, just just weak lines. Having that, OddsJam tool up the whole time is is just fantastic.

Shane Mercer [00:51:56]:

I'm assuming we can expect to see more of that, and it'll actually be this will be the 1st season, I think, that inplayLIVE hasn't, come March Madness time. Is that right?

Andrew Pace [00:52:06]:

Correct. Yeah. So if you got what guys wanna join OddsJam, you can use code inplaylive or inplaylive 5, and, it's a great way to identify the best line, that's available at at multiple sportsbooks. It scans the lines for you. So, again, it takes a setup like the one I'm looking at right here and condenses it into just 1 screen from the standpoint of screen real estate and looking at all the books. So, definitely beneficial in finding long term value.

Shane Mercer [00:52:29]:

Yeah. Pretty pretty cool tool all around. Alright, pace. With that, I think that just about does it for this week. Till next week, buddy. Keep beating those bucks. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Behind the Lines. Remember to like, download, and subscribe.

Shane Mercer [00:52:42]:

We're on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and everywhere you get your podcasts. Have a betting story or wanna be featured on our podcast? Drop a note in the comments below. And if you wanna join inplayLIVE, use promo code 'BEHINDTHELINES'.