Sports betting winners and losers: Alabama was a dream for

Sports betting is essentially the act of placing a wager on the overall result and predicting sports results. The likelihood of sports wagers varies widely by culture, with a majority of bets being placed on sporting events that are won by a certain margin. Sports betting can take place on a single event such as an NBA or NFL game, a Formula One race, or any other competitive sporting event. In many cases sports betting can also take place on non-competing teams and/or players in order to handicap the competition.
Gambling has long been regarded as an acceptable form of gambling by many people, including many law makers. Gambling comes under the heading of sports betting in the United States law because the US government recognizes that it can generate revenue for its citizens through regulation of sports betting. Many states in the US have legalized sports betting, although they generally do not include online gambling, lottery bets, or other non-regulated forms of sports betting. Internet gambling is illegal in most states, but Las Vegas is the only city that openly promotes sports betting by allowing online bookmakers to participate in the LVAC Sportsbook Select program, which is used by hundreds of bookies across the country. The US State Department does not recognize online gambling, however, and individuals caught participating in this activity can face serious criminal charges.
In Las Vegas, a sportsbook allows customers to place bets on a variety of different sporting events, including basketball, football, baseball, tennis, golf, swimming, horse racing, and skating. The odds at which these wagers are placed are based on the sportsbooks' understanding of each sporting event and the probability of that event occurring. In order to place a successful bet, the gambler must be able to understand the odds on the game or event. The odds at which a bet is placed may vary significantly from bookmaker to bookmaker. In order to place a profitable bet, the gambler must use all available information, including the odds, to make his or her best bet.
With so many sports betting options available today, bookmakers have made it possible for bettors to enjoy their favorite recreational activities while still earning money. There are literally thousands of sites on the Internet where bookmakers allow bettors to place sports bets. Many of the sites feature daily, weekly, and even monthly payouts. The terms and conditions for placing sports wagers on such sites vary, but most include the following basic information: the name of the bettor, his or her credit card or e-mail account information, the wager amount, the date and time of the game, whether the game will be played in an online casino or on a television set, and whether or not the game will be played in more than one game. In addition, bettors must read carefully over the terms and conditions and follow all instructions provided.
Some online sports betting websites offer betting programs that include a variety of different games, including college football, baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, and NASCAR racing. These programs also typically include a schedule of games for the different sports involved. Most bettors must register at the website in order to place a bet. Others must join a VIP program, which allows them to place larger sports bets that would not be eligible under regular rules.
Online sportsbooks also allow bettors to look up current news and odds for sports events within their books. This information allows them to place bets based on news and odds. The best sportsbooks can offer a wide range of information and provide updates on game scores and odds for millions of sports events. Before making a bet, it is important to find out if the website and the bookmaker have good customer service, because in the end, it is you who will have to keep track of your winnings or losses. And most importantly, do not forget to check if the site and the sportsbook can actually produce the numbers you're looking for; that way, you won't get stuck paying too much for sports betting odds.

NCAA Football Week 5 - MAC's Analysis, Predictions and Odds
2021 College Football National Championship Odds + Pick
Clemson +200 Alabama +400 Georgia +2000 LSU +10000 Notre Dame +4000 Florida +1200 Oklahoma +2800 Texas +4000 Auburn +6600 Texas A&M +5000 (MAC's Power Pick) Miami (FL) +8000 Oklahoma State +10000
MAC's NCAAF Red Alert Action - 10/03 - No. 13 Texas A&M (1-0) at No. 2 Alabama (1-0)
When: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020 at 3:30 PM ET Where: Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, AL TV: CBS Spread: Alabama -17 Money Lines: Texas A&M +605 / Alabama -855 Total: 51.5
Texas A&M Team Leaders - Touchdowns: Ainias Smith 1 Rushing: Isaiah Spiller 117 Passing: Kellen Mond 189 Receiving: Caleb Chapman 40 Sacks: Micheal Clemons 1.5 Interceptions: Leon O'Neal Jr. 1
Alabama Team Leaders - Touchdowns: Najee Harris 3 Rushing Najee: Harris 98 Passing: Mac Jones 249 Receiving: Jaylen Waddle 134 Sacks: Labryan Ray 1.0 Interceptions: Thomas Fletcher 0
Quick Trends: Aggies are 10-2 ATS in their last 12 games after allowing less than 20 points in their previous game. Aggies are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games after allowing less than 275 total yards in their previous game. Aggies are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 conference games. Aggies are 17-8 ATS in their last 25 games on grass. Crimson Tide are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 conference games. Crimson Tide are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games after allowing less than 20 points in their previous game.
Texas A&M busted up Vanderbilt 17-12 last weekend as quarterback Kellen Mond aired it out for the small 189 yards and got himself a touchdown. A&M running back Isaiah Spiller grabbed himself the small 117 rushing yards in the unwatchable low scoring game.
Alabama smacked up Missouri 28-19 Bama quarterback Mac Jones passed for 249 yards and put 2 in the end zone, while running back Najee Harris put in his 98 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns. This week both teams meet up for a good ol boys SEC game in Tuscaloosa.
The Aggies are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 conference games, but on the flipside 1-4 ATS vs. a team with a winning record. Alabama has gone 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS loss and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games in October, but just 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games following a straight up win, 3-7 ATS in their last 10 conference games and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 home games against a team with a winning road record.
The Tide can go get it done but reports coming in from our affiliates are ambivalent to give all those points away on the road at best, our consensus is going with Texas A&M to cover the chalk mainly because of the edge at quarterback.
MAC's Game Prediction: Alabama 31 Texas A&M 27 Play: Texas A&M +17
10/03 - No. 18 Oklahoma (1-1) at Iowa State (1-1)
When: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020 at 7:30 PM ET Where: MidAmerican Energy Field at Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, IA TV: ABC Spread: Oklahoma -7.5 Money Lines: Iowa State +210 / Oklahoma -260 Total: 62.5
Quick Trends: Cyclones are 6-0-1 ATS in their last 7 games after allowing less than 275 total yards in their previous game. Cyclones are 7-1-2 ATS in their last 10 games after allowing less than 170 yards passing in their previous game. Cyclones are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games as a home underdog. Sooners are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games after allowing less than 170 yards passing in their previous game. Sooners are 3-7 ATS vs. a team with a losing record. Sooners are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points.
Sooners Team Leaders: Touchdowns Seth McGowan 2 Rushing Seth McGowan 134 Passing Spencer Rattler 677 Receiving Marvin Mims 111 Sacks DaShaun White 2.5 Interceptions Delarrin Turner-Yell 1
Cyclones Team Leaders: Touchdowns Breece Hall 4 Rushing Breece Hall 257 Passing Brock Purdy 356 Receiving Xavier Hutchinson 69 Sacks JaQuan Bailey 3.5 Interceptions Mike Rose 1
Oklahoma ran through Missouri State 48-0 in their opener, then hit a wall on Saturday with a depressing 38-35 loss against K-State as a insanely obnoxious 28-point favorite. Quarterback Spencer Rattler some how passed for 387 yards with four touchdowns even with 3 costly interceptions.
Iowa State laid down against Louisiana Lafayette in their opener, and bumbled a cover against a suspect TCU team, final 37-34 as 3.5-point road favorite they should have had no problem with a soft line like that. Quarterback Brock Purdy got off 211 yards 1 touchdown, running back Breece Hall got 154 yards and 38 attempts and 3 trips to the end zone.
The Sooners are paying the books at 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games as a favorite, 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games overall has Vegas building skyscrapers with bettors money, 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 conference games, I mean these guys are a bunch of bums when it comes to getting the money. Now if you've been putting your action on Iowa State as a underdog you've made some cash, 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games as a home dog, 19-7-1 ATS in their last 27 games as an underdog and 15-6 ATS in their last 21 games following a straight up loss, I mean these guys are a golden egg if you play the line right.
MAC is setting the standard and putting the business on the table, sharps and early money aren't making a dent in the line because oddsmakers made a tight one this week. MAC's looking at Spencer Rattle as the x factor, if he steps up this could very well be a easy win + cover for the Sooners, Iowa State is getting the 7.5 and MAC smells something fishy about the hook, play the over set at 62.5 up from 61.5 and don't be scared to give the points because Rattler will look like a stud this week against a mediocre Cyclone D. watch "Brock Purdy Lips" gets manhandled by DaShaun White.
Iowa State Injury Report - T. Milton WR - Ques Sat - Milton was unavailable for the previous game due to a lower-body injury and it is unknown if he will line up versus Oklahoma on Saturday. R. Hudson OL - Ques Sat - Undisclosed T. Downing OL - Ques Sat - Downing missed the last game with an ankle injury and his status for Saturday's contest against Oklahoma remains up in the air.
MAC's Game Prediction: Oklahoma 45 Iowa State 24 Play: Over 62.5 Play: Oklahoma -7.5
No. 7 Auburn (1-0) at No. 4 Georgia (1-0)
Auburn made bacon out of the boys down in Kentucky 29-13 last weekend to cash in as a 6.5-point home favorite, big Bo Nix passed for 233 yards with 3 touchdowns, no interceptions, and looking like a god damn stud averaging 6.8 rushing yards a game, MAC would let his daughter and mother date a guy like this, and they got wide receiver Seth Williams coming in catching six passes for 112 yards 2 TDs.
Georgia looked like decent, getting through Arkansas 37-10 last weekend was impressive but not really, QB Stetson Bennett threw for 211 yards with 2 touchdowns and surprisingly no picks. Georgia scored 22 third quarter points to take control after going into the half down 7-5, now that could be good football but MAC is saying fluke and calling shenanigan's.
When: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020 at 7:30 PM ET Where: Sanford Stadium, Athens, GA TV: ESPN Spread: Georgia -6.5 Money Lines: Auburn +200 / Georgia -250 Total: 45
Auburn Team Leaders - Touchdowns D.J. Williams 1 Rushing Bo Nix 34 Passing Bo Nix 233 Receiving Seth Williams 112 Sacks Daquan Newkirk 1.0 Interceptions Roger McCreary 1
Georgia Team Leaders - Touchdowns Zamir White 1 (MAC's #BumAlert Prospect) Rushing Zamir White 71 Passing Stetson Bennett 211 Receiving Kearis Jackson 62 Sacks Nolan Smith 1.5 Interceptions Richard Lecounte 2
Auburn gets the money early in the season and has gone 11-4 ATS in their last 15 games overall, 9-4-1 ATS in their last 14 October games, but be cautious because Bulldogs are money makers too, 13-3 ATS in their last 16 games following a ATS loss and 10-4 ATS in their last 14 home games against a team with a winning road record.
The Tigers just can't get through Georgia and have sucked against the spread going 0-6 ATS in their last 6 meetings in Georgia and 1-6 ATS in the last 7 meetings. Now MAC would normally stay away from a game like this but it's hard to bet against big Bo Nixon and that up tempo offense. Georgia -6.5 is a suckers bet, take those points and ride Bo's back like the rest of the Tigers!
MAC's Game Prediction: Georgia 17 Auburn 27 Play: Auburn +6.5 Play: Under 45.5 (Get That Hook)

I spend far too much time in this sub—enough that I feel like I've met one guy’s wife—and so much that most of the stories I tell the guys at work involve something my “friend” told me. So, congratulations to everyone in here for becoming my friend, though as it stands, none of you will be receiving invitations to my birthday party.
With all that time spent, the least I can do is provide you degens with a periodic round-up of how fucked up yet simultaneously great this place is. It might provide you with some perspective, it might provide you with a few laughs, but it probably won’t provide you with any helpful gambling advice. Here we go…
Sport of the Week: College Football? Snooker please! The sub’s new favorite sport needs no explanation of the rules to American bettors (it’s just what the Brits call billiards, right?). A snooker god is amongst us and the hype is real. With the recent rise in the sport’s popularity via this sub, I would be surprised if snooker does not move all the way up to at least ESPN 8. My advice: tail, but tail responsibly (with the second half of those instructions being as mandatory as “Drink Responsibly” is to a college student).
POTDOTW: Although it was a loser in the end, The Pick of the Day of the Week was a ballsy one: Washington Generals ML @ Harlem Globetrotters on Monday. Now, my model actually had the Globetrotters winning this one, but sometimes you just can’t argue with logic—and the logic said that the Generals were due for a win. Admittedly, tremendous value in the ML here.
Unfortunately, it didn’t play out that way, and the Globetrotters took yet another W over the Generals. I am not sure who the commissioner of that league is, but you have to think there is some pressure being applied for greater parity. Have you ever heard anyone say “I’m taking my kids to see the Generals this weekend”? I didn’t think so. I hope there is an efficient revenue-sharing model in place.
Capper of the Week: Definitely not “That guy’s wife”. With her red hot start a few weeks ago, I started wondering if she worked in the league office and was tipping off her husband. Following her performance the last couple of weeks, I am wondering if she exists at all, or this guy is just hiding behind a mirage of “his wife”. Her Thanksgiving day picks had me feeling thankful that I don’t tail the picks of a stranger’s wife on Reddit. Her Seahawks pick over the Rams looked good on paper, but she forgot that fading Reddit works 100% of the time, as long as you don't believe in confirmation bias.
I did however try placing a bet on “Redditor to make joke about ‘Riding his wife hard’ YES” in Sunday’s thread, but my book took it off the board before I could submit it. I had planned to parlay it with “Redditor to explain ‘crossing zero in a teaser is bad value’ YES”.
Ask for upvotes and you shall receive …a 7-day ban. Welcome back but also apparently goodbye to "Europe’s best handicapper"! I am starting to wonder if I should move to Europe and attempt to take over his title. Based on what I have heard about his recent record outside of Reddit, the job seems fairly easy. I’m just undecided on where I will disappear to when my record goes south.
“CP forever. CP til’ I die.” Or CP until he drops off the face of the earth. At this point, we can only hope CP is safe and his wife doesn’t have his balls in a vice grip right now.
The Ruling on the Field: I know a lot of people had Patriots -3 this week, which was really a boneheaded play, given how the Patriots have looked recently. I wanted to make a joke at the expense of New England bettors, but Jerome Boger’s crew told me those jokes are out of bounds. I would challenge them on that, but, you know…
Picks? Anybody need picks? Got picks here: If betting on the Spurs against the spread (6-17 ATS this year) hasn’t been an efficient enough method of throwing your cash away, a well-known poster out there (who I will not name) is now selling his previously free picks for the low low price of $129 per week. The only condition he sets is that all bets you place must be 1 unit, conveniently ensuring your subscription will never pay for itself.
Things I didn’t watch: the Anthony Joshua fight. I hope everyone was able to make some bread, but personally, I try to avoid wagering on boxing. It is easily the most rigged sport in the world. Or at least it is until someone ends up on the wrong side of an NBA bet, or Bill Belichick is seen on the telephone near the end of a Patriots game.
Most of you are probably asking: who are you and why are you doing this? The answer is that I have another username I post under but don’t want to mix my profiles. As for why? I don’t really know. I hatched the idea on my commute home from work a few hours ago. My job has zero room for any jokes or humor, so I thought this might be a good release. If you liked it, great. If you didn’t...oh well.

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 51%. (I'm a bot)

LAS VEGAS - The nearly quarter-million dollars in winning wagers reportedly placed at MGM Resorts last Sunday might be the largest sportsbook loss in Las Vegas history on bets made after an event has started.
According to an ESPN report, Sunday's bets were allowed to be placed because incorrect start times were posted on some Korean and Chinese baseball games due to a manual entry error.
ADVERTISEMENT.Nearly all of the approximately 50 wagers were placed on self-serve kiosks at the Bellagio between 1:30 a.m. and 3 a.m. when the games in question started at 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.Among the bets was a $250, 10-leg parlay that paid more than $137,100.
Robert Walker, USBookmaking director of sportsbook operations, is still haunted by getting past-posted during his tenure as MGM Resorts sportsbook director from 1996-2008."I still haven't gotten over some mistakes I made at The Mirage 20 years ago," he said.
"There's no worse feeling than when you see a bet come across on a game that's already started.
Walker said a college football bettor once placed a $3,000 halftime wager on Louisiana State late in the fourth quarter, when the bet couldn't lose.

Summary Source | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: bet^#1 sportsbook^#2 game^#3 LAS^#4 VEGAS^#5
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This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 62%. (I'm a bot)

6:43 PM ET. Federal authorities on Wednesday charged a 23-year-old sports bettor known as "Parlay Patz" with transmitting threats of violence directed at professional and collegiate athletes and their friends and family.
According to the criminal complaint, Benjamin Tucker Patz of New York, New York used multiple anonymous accounts on social media in 2019 to make the threats against athletes, including members of the New England Patriots, several Major League Baseball teams and multiple college basketball and football players.
In an affidavit, FBI Special Agent Daniel Nowak stated that the Instagram account behind the threats to the Pepperdine player was registered with an email address linked to Patz.
The criminal complaint identifies similar threats against a college basketball player for the University of Arizona and players for the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays and the girlfriend of an Atlanta Braves' player that were made on Instagram.
Citing betting records from bookmaker William Hill, investigators allege that Patz placed a parlay wager on July 25, 2019, on the Cleveland Indians, four other MLB teams and a professional tennis player.
Patz gained notoriety in sports betting community and was profiled in the media after reportedly winning multiple high-dollar parlay bets, leading to the "Parlay Patz" nickname.

Summary Source | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Patz^#1 player^#2 threats^#3 messages^#4 direct^#5
Post found in /news.
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Husband: How do you lose $150 in the slot machines!
Wife: You lost $15000 at the tables!
Husband: Yeah but I know how to gamble.
_______________________________
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Bettor: My god, I had a terrible day today. I lost 15 out of 15 in college football, I lost 8 out of 8 in baseball and I lost 6 out of 6 in soccer. I don’t know what I am going to do.
Friend: Well there’s hockey games starting soon.
Bettor: I don’t know anything about hockey.
_______________________________
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3 ladies bet $100 on a 50 meter breaststroke swimming race. The brunette came in first; the redhead came in second and the blonde was last. The blonde said “You two used your arms!”
_______________________________
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The full list also has some funny gambling quotes, here are a few examples
_______________________________
When I read about the evils of gambling I gave up reading.
~ Henny Youngman
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I once gave up women, drinking and gambling… it was the worst 20 minutes of my life.
~George Best
_______________________________
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They call gambling a disease, but it’s the only disease where you can win a bunch of money.
~ Norm Macdonald

I saw this posted at another site and figured I would copy and paste it, Brandon Lang had a movie made about him starring Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey
Yes, for those of you who have been around a couple decades, the New York City company that Brandon Lang worked for was the disgraced company that was run by Stu Feiner.
No, this was not a movie that was paid/produced for by BIG Hollywood. The movie was made by an off-shore sports book.
Let's get to the "name thing". In the movie, they said his real name was Brandon Lang and when he went on to work for the boiler room Stu Feiner outfit, he was given a "power name" (John Anthony), just like all the scam outfits have always done.
His real Name is Brandon Link. During the first draft of the movie, they were using Brandon Long before settling on Brandon Lang. The irony is, after the movie came out, Brandon Link parlayed the hype and went into the handicapping business and now calls himself Brandon Lang.
There is a hint in the credits, for Brandon has a very short cameo appearance near the beginning of the movie. At the end of the film, he is credited as: Man Greeting Brandon #1 --- BRANDON LINK!
The story is related by Brandon Lang/Long/Link (Matthew McConaughey) who begins life as a sports hero and just at the moment when he is ready to break in to the Pro Football domain, he fractures his leg in a winning touchdown.
Noooooooooooooo, Brandon Lang/Lane/Link/Long was NOT a star college football quarterback that brought his team to a major Bowl game only to get injured in the final minutes. Think about it, did you ever hear his name? We all recognize the QB's that are in major bowl games. Hell, if you are a skeptic, just do a Google search!
He did hurt his knee though. You ask how? It was in a basketball pickup game that was being played at a local fitness center! The league was called THE SPORTING HOUSE LEAGUE. The name of the fitness center is The Sporting House. It's a few steps below a park district league.
There's a hilarious side story to Brandon's "injury story". Late last year, a college football writer telephoned Brandon Lang/Lane/Link/Long and told him that he's never heard of him and asked what college team he took to the bowl game. Brandon was caught off guard, but being the pathological liar he is, he came up with an amazing lie AGAIN! He copped to the fact that he never quarterbacked a bowl team and that indeed, he injured his knee in a fitness center league. He went on to claim that one day, UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian stopped by to watch a game (yeah, right) and that Coach Tarkanian told Brandon that he was good enough to be a walk-on for UNLV! By the way, that was during the hey days of the UNLV program and their National Championship run.
Want another lie? Sure you do! Was Brandon Lang/Lane/Link/Long a Las Vegas handicapper? Hell no! BLLLL was not a sports handicapper, or even a telemarketing salesman. He was a score phone announcer working for a major Las Vegas sports handicapping service. He was working for $6.00 an hour for a company that you know all about. (Hint: Initials of the owner are JF__ ) This major Las Vegas handicapping service is still going strong and you can see their sports handicapping INFOMMERCIAL Saturday mornings on cable TV. I know that you can fill in the blanks!
So, since he was NOT a handicapper, and had no reputation at all in the industry, how did he hook up with scamdicapper Stu Feiner?
Brandon's manager (at J__ F____ Sports) had many conversations with this infamous New York sports handicapper (Stu Feiner) that Al Pacino plays. The supervisor's job was to try to sell Stu Feiner 900 # score phone advertising and Brandon “The Wonder Boy” score phone announcer would read “Mr. New York's” advertising copy, or sometimes Feiner would call into Las Vegas to do a live feed. So, that's how the two of them first got together. After liberal tipping and spiffing, Feiner eventually convinced “Wonder Boy” to come New York and work for him. He just needed a guy for voice talent work.
The real truth about what happened at Stu Feiner's service is that Brandon Lang/Lane/Link/Long was such a failure at selling games (yep, he was one of those sports service salesmen that would tell you anything they could to get a buck from you), that he lost his job and became a caddie at a Los Angeles Country Club. Jim Feist would not rehire him. Due to his obvious narcissism, he liked talking so much about himself and stretching the truth to the men that he washed balls for that one hollywood-type believed him and searched for a way to get enough money to make the film.
Nobody bought it. Then, BoDog, an offshore sportsbook put up the money to pay for the film! Brandon Lang/Lane/Link/Long and BoDog made a business deal and they were marketing the relationship big time until they realized that the potential consumer to Brandon's picks (he was advising his members to use BoDog), would figure it out. The deal with BoDog gave Brandon Lang/Lane/Link/Long a kickback of the money that his clients lost when betting at BoDog! Why would BoDog want Brandon's action if he was winning?
Are we having fun yet?
Let's explore documented facts and the odds of betting on the outcome of events.
In the film, Brandon Lang goes 12 for 12 in his first try at handicapping the weekend. Let's examine this. According to the Las Vegas Gaming Commission (whose job it is to keep an eye on such things), in the history of football parlay card betting, NOBODY has ever won 12 for 12 on a football parlay card! Imagine how many thousands has tried? The odds of going 12 for 12 is a staggering 4894-1 against the bettor. An interesting note that is also on the Gaming Commission's historical report is that nobody has ever hit 12 for 12 on a Keno card in the history of betting despite hundreds of millions trying. According to the LVGC, the real odds of hitting 15 for 15 on a Keno card is 0.0000000000023 and it pays off $100,000 although the real odds are more than 51 billion to one against the bettor!So, are you ever going to grab a Keno card again?
So, what exactly was going on at Stu Feiner's company, the firm that employed BLLLL?
According to a comprehensive Sports Illustrated Story titled, "1-900-RIPOFFS", Abusing customers is SOP among sports advisers. "Gamblers are desperate people," says Arnie Wexler, executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey.
SI took a two-month test drive through the world of sports advisory services and found misleading ads, bait-and-switches, repeated claims of fixes coming down, misrepresentation of records, unforgivably high-pressured sales techniques, phone harassment, phone threats, phony guarantees, mail fraud, wire fraud and some perfectly dreadful manners. Even the pictures lied.
In investigating Feiner's tactics, an inspector for the Consumer Affairs Department called one of Feiner's 800 numbers to take him up on an offer of a free line on a game during the 1989 football season. The investigator spoke with a man known as Sonny Greco, also known as Phil Bonvino, a salesman for Stu Mitchell's Locker Room Report, still another service owned by Feiner. After a breathless, oath-laden pause-free speech, Greco went for the close. His pace was furious. The detective, posing as a customer named Stan, balked. Greco screamed louder.
Here is the audio taped conversation: Stan: I'm being bombarded here. Lemme think on it. I got a lot of guarantees here. Sonny: I'm not interested in anybody else you're call., Stan! The difference here is this, OK? We own this game tonight on oveunder! We own this information. Now go get your credit card, and let's start making money! You don't need to deal with anybody but me! Stan: Wait� Sonny: I own this game in oveunder! I have the winner! Tonight! No what's your credit card number? Stan: OK, lemme get back to you. Sonny: Stan, you're not going to call me back! You know it as well as I do, and if you think I'm going to let you off the phone with that ___, you're crazy! OK? I've got the winner tonight! I own this game in over-under, and I'm going to own your bookmaker's ass! So get your credit card out and let's get going! Stan: Lemme tell you what we're gonna do. I'm gonna think about it. Sonny (louder still): Stan, there's nothing to think about! Click. Greco is ruthless, loud and scary. No wonder Feiner has given him his own sports service-Phil Bonvino's Locker Room Report. Says a former phone tout for a large Long Island service, "There were plenty of times when we'd tell a guy, 'Look, if you don't come across, I'm gonna tell your wife you're gambling again.' Or we'd tell high school kids that we were going to tell their parents." Says the ex-salesman for Kevin Duffy, "We'd call up anybody, even guys we knew were going to Gamblers Anonymous. We'd stay on them." Question: How do sports advisers get away with it? Better question: Who are customers supposed to complain to? Gamblers don't want to turn anybody in because most of them are breaking the law themselves. As a result, the touts go unpoliced. Soon clients got a clue and stopped paying. That's when the people from the Seasons Edge group "got heavy-handed," says Robert Schroeder of the office of the US Attorney in Atlanta. "They'd threaten to kill members of the family, burn down their homes." One victim was told if he didn't send more money, he'd be "chopped up into little tiny pieces with a chain saw." Gamblers were bilked out of $413,000 before a victim's parents finally called the FBI when their son, a college student, lost his tuition money and resorted to using his father's credit card to try to obtain his "refund." Schroeder nailed conspiracy, wire fraud and extortion convictions on 12 people. They got the full package sentences ranging up to 87 months in jail.
It is also a business in which profits can be enormous, some services are believed by at least one close observer of the industry to make as much as $1 million annually. Last year the people at the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs looked into the advertising practices of the sports adviser business and came away with their hair on end. "These have been among the most egregious, outrageous claims we've ever encountered," says a department attorney, Fred Cantor.
Get this story!
"I remember once a guy needed a bailout game real bad," says a former salesman for a major tout operating out of New York City. "He was buried, so he wanted to put two or three dimes [$2000 or $3000] down on something good. I said I had a lock for him. I put him on hold, and I went into my boss's office and I said, 'Who do you want to pick, the Jets or Minnesota?' And he said, 'Take Minnesota. My mom likes purple.' So I gave this poor sucker Minnesota based on some lady's favorite color. He lost." Ripoffs Rule the Roost.: "The Source", a sports adviser service in Farmingdale, NY, owned by Stu Feiner, who also owns a few 900 call-in lines. Another exhibit is Feiner's brother-in-law, the aforementioned Kevin Duffy, perhaps the nation's most successful scamdicapper, who became famous for running ads that said, "I will go 7-0 for you today, absolutely free." Too bad "absolutely free" meant you first had to sign up for a month's service at $350. Then, if Duffy didn't go 7-0 in the first week, you got the next month free. Duffy, who operates out of Massapequa, Long Island, also claimed to be no worse than 75% right, ever. Yet when his picks were audited by the Sports Monitor of Oklahoma City, one of the rare legitimate monitors (among the dozens of such outfits that purport to keep tabs on the performance of tout services), he never fared better than 58.8% in any regular football season between 1985 and 1988, and he sank as low as 39.7% for his college picks in 1987. Eventually the Sports Monitor refused to monitor Duffy because of his "deceptive ad practices." Stu Feiner agreed to be monitored by SI for four weeks in September. To his credit, he unfailingly gave us his choices. To his discredit, Feiner went 19-32, a 37% win rate, and lost us an imaginary $6,210 based on $100 per unit. During that same period, we were anonymously calling Feiner's 800 number, where, curiously, he claimed to be cleaning up. On Sept. 23, for instance, after Feiner had gone 3-11 for the week on his picks for SI, bringing his record for us to 11-25, one of his shills, Kenny Leeds, said in response to our anonymous call, "This week I [meaning the company] went 3-0, the week before, I was 3-1." On Oct. 3, after Feiner had gone 7-7 for the weekend, we again called anonymously and got another Feiner salesman, Larry Marco. "This past weekend, we swept the board," Marco said. Then Leeds called back. "This kid Feiner is making betting history," he said.
Yeah, so did Art Schlichter!
For you youngsters, Art Schlichter was a first round draft choice (DUDE HAD MAJOR SKILLS) as a quarterback coming out of Ohio State in 1982; what's more, he enjoyed an image so wholesome his biography was titled Straight Arrow. But Schlichter gambled away his $350,000 signing bonus during his rookie season with the Baltimore Colts. He was suspended and reinstated the next year, after declaring he had the disease of compulsive gambling for which he had gotten help. In 1985, he was cut by the Colts and never played football again. If success started Schlichter's addiction, failure really fueled it. In 1988 he declared bankruptcy, referring frequently to his disease. Schlichter's ex-wife, Mitzi Schlichter, helped found the Custer Gambling Treatment Center in Indianapolis after she left her husband in 1994. Schlichter, meanwhile, has spent four of the six years since then in prison. In 1997, he was pulled out of a court-ordered gambling treatment program and hauled back to jail when he was caught betting. Schlichter is currently awaiting trial on money laundering charges and stealing ************, all revolving around taking money, often from family members, in order to gamble. Schlichter takes no responsibility for his misbehavior — and, despite harping on his disease and although his wife created her own gambling treatment center, Schlichter has never shown any inclination to fly straight.
Feiner was fined $13,000 in February 1990 by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs for false and misleading advertising, yet he sent out a promotional brochure last month that reported a "1991 documented record college and pro: 9-3." Knowing Feiner's record as we did, we asked him how he could say this. "That's what I had the first week." he said, before you started documenting me." Fine. That would've been the weekend of Aug. 31-Sept. 2. The booklet, however, was dated Sept. 19-Oct. 7, 1991. During one of our anonymous calls, Leeds told us he had "strong information" on a game he wanted us to buy, so strong it was a dead mortal lock, so strong that he was putting $2000 of his own money on the game. We were dubious.
Here's the audio taped conversation: Leeds: You don't believe me? I'll fly you out here [from Colorado]. SI: Fly me out there? Leeds: I'll fly you to __ Long Island, and I'll have you take a ride with me! SI: Why? Leeds" To see how I pick it [his winnings] up and where I pick it up from. SI: Can you fly me out this week? Leeds: What I'm saying is�I'm using that's a little bit of a mild exaggeration. Don't get me wrong, but I've met a lot of my clients. I've met Dan Marino. SI: You know Dan Marino? Leeds: Well, I stood next to him at the Super Bowl, and my friend took my picture with him. Feiner says that if somebody calls his 800 number and doesn't sign up, "We'll call him every day for a couple months, because eventually they'll change their minds.
"Mike Warren (real name Mike Laskey - a degenerate horse bettor who was run out of business by the United States Attorney and fined heavily) is a former pathetic handicapper and a tremendous con artist," says Feiner. Says Warren, "Stu Feiner? He's got a big mouth, always talking big. He knows this hoodlum and that hoodlum-gonna break my legs. You know what? He can't break an egg. I gave him my address. He's so short, the only thing he can reach is my legs." Mike Warren was ordered by The United States District Attorney to run major advertisements in which he had to admit his frudulent claims of success.
If you think guys like Feiner and Warren will make you wish you have never installed your phone, Atlanta's John L. Edens, alias Johnny DeMarco, the Babe Ruth of 900 sales pitchers, will make you wish Alexander Graham Bell had never been born. According to published ads and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED taped phone calls, Edens:
Got on his 800 line and told listeners to call his 900 line for $25, "and if the game loses, there'll be no charge." That, of course, is a lie. Once a call is made on a 900 line, the charge is automatic.

• Told customers of one of his phone services that his special guest selector that day was "a former six-time NBA basketball All-Star who wishes to remain anonymous due to security matters." The anonymous "All-Star" then got on the line and offered his inside information on "three big plays, tonight."
  
• Told his customers on another occasion, "Sporting Illustrated magazine calls the Handicapping Hotline the Number One value in sports." Remarkably, there is no Sporting Illustrated.
  
• Wrote in a print ad, which appeared in the schedule of games he sent out to customers in early 1991, that his service was rated "the very best available by the Interstate Sports Commission, the nation's only legitimate monitoring service." The ad failed to mention that the ISC is owned by a company with which, DeMarco acknowledges, he is "affiliated."
  
• Got on his 800 line in March 1989 and said he had spoken with then N.C. State coach Jim Valvano and had "key" information on the Final Four. Valvano says he has never spoken to DeMarco.
  

Scripts at the a New York based sports service? Yep, The New York Consumer Affairs Commission got their hands on one! It will frighten you.
Here it is:
It read: "I'm glad I got ahold of you in time! We are releasing our biggest information game of the ____ (month/season) going off ___ (day of week). Now, ___ (name), listen carefully. Our inside sources have tipped us off to this game. We know exactly what's going to happen. We know the winner. (Lower voice) It's the kind of game I can't even talk about over the phone-you follow me, right? (Response) OK Good�All you gotta do is cover me with $___ How do you do it, **** or **********?"
The fix scam is essential to a tout's repertoire. "You'd lower your voice way down," says one employee who worked for this company for four years, "and you'd say, 'Is this line clean? No taps on it, right? OK Listen, we've got information on this game. you know what I'm saying? The winner of this game was already decided in a hotel room."
"You'd be talking with grown men who were crying on the phone," says one former tout Stu Feiner salesman "Guys who were losing everything but still betting. And I'd lie awake in the middle of the night hoping the guy would win. So I'd call the sports phone and get a late West Coast game at 4 a.m. and go, 'Damn, he lost again."
"It was like feeding drugs to an addict," says the ex-salesman. "We'd try to take whoever we got and make them bet more. We'd take college kids who were betting $25 and say, 'Hey, you got to bet $500 on this game. If you don't bet a nickel I'm not gonna give it to you.' If they won, they got a taste for big money. If they lost, they were desperate to get out [of the hole], and so they start chasing. How can anyone who works for Kevin and Stu have a conscience? Basically, I was just hurting people." And that, unfortunately, is the only absolute lock SPORTS ILLUSTRATED found.
Here's a recent publication about BLLLL: We figured we'd check in with handicapping schizo Brandon Lang/Lane/Link/Long to see how he’s been doing since Two For The Money tanked at the box office, completely shattering any hopes for him elevating his career past that of an internet free pick hustler. Well, from the looks of it, the movie bombing may have rattled the golden boy's cage a bit as he stated in his open letter to his “clients” this month about his recent 1-12 (That’s ONE WIN AND TWELVE losses! He wrote on his own site: “You see the records above. I can't be any more honest, any more truthful. I've never been a guy who hid his losers, because like I say, if I can brag about the winners, I've got to own up to the losers. I've owned college football in October. I absolutely sucked in the NFL. Can't be more direct than that. As you know, and as you've heard me say on hundreds of radio interviews and on national TV, I don’t win everyday. Cant and won’t. Simple as that. Some days you have to give back to your man some of the money you won off of him. It happens. Always has, always will. The past two weeks I've been dreadful in the NFL. Not the first time, not the last. It’s a long season. There will be ups and downs. And that's why you've got always stay within your limits and follow my money management advice. Now, of course, for those of you that came aboard the past two Sundays or Mondays for the first time, what can I say other than I lost? I mean, I'm not going into your homes, ordering you to buy. And I have no control over when you buy for the first time. But, I certainly understand you're disappointed. And that's the nature of the business, and you know it as well as me. We win together, we lose together. And whether winning or losing, you expect the truth, and that's what I'm giving you. The past two weeks in the NFL were awful, but as I always say, if you're with me for the long haul, you should make money.
"This is a marathon, not a sprint, to make money.” Yes, those of you unfortunate enough to spend money on Brandon's services — $679 for 100 days — must be thrilled with that apology. Brandon Lang is the paid handicapping equivalent of Enron at this point. But those of us who are Brandon Lang fans can at least take solace in the fact that Two For The Money will most likely be seen on East Coast flights to Vegas in the next couple weeks. ANOTHER DOCUMENTED STORY: "More of Brandon Lang’s Genius" Finally, we've happened upon some information about our friend Brandon Lang/Lane/Link/Long and his curious background that we think should finally allow us to rest our weary heads about this. A classmate of Brandon's from high school e-mailed us to give us the whole rundown on what's real, what's not, and what's ridiculous about the mysterious Mr. Lane/Lang/Link: Brandon Link: I went to high school with him; that's his real name. The Lane and Lang came later. He was a reserve player on his HS team, came off the bench, usually tried to do too much, fancy passes, etc. Could hit the outside shot, and was effective when he played under control, but he was no star. The claim in the article in his hometown paper that he was planning to walk on at UNLV after his stint in the Navy (before an injury sidelined him) led to a lot of chuckling. He couldn't start for a mediocre white boy HS team yet he was going to walk on at UNLV during the glory years? His pre-Internet gambling show was on PASS, a Detroit sports cable station. That's when he came up with the nickname “The King”. At his 10-year reunion he showed up in a car with the license “1-900-KING”. By the way, how's that for arrogance? At the reunion he drove up in that car, and one guy we know went up to him, pointed at the license, and said “1-900-KING? What is that, some +++ phone line?” Brandon was too shocked to respond. When I saw the movie trailer last week and saw a shot of that license, I cracked up. He wasn't a bad guy, just a blowhard who overestimated his abilities. It’s clear from his current PR blitz that that tendency is still there.
ANOTHER PUBLISHED STORY: "Brandon Lang/Lane/Link Fluffs McConaughey" Crazy-ass toutster Brandon Lang/Lane/Link, the sports handicapper whose life is retold in the box office clunker Two For The Money, took some time out from his busy schedule of promoting himself and making crappy picks to talk about Matthew McConaughey’s portrayal of him in the movie for, well, we guess his own website: “Matthew is a big sports fan and has been known to try his luck in the Vegas sportsbooks. In speaking to Matthew prior to shooting the movie, the dialogue in the script told him all he needed to know. The emotions that he had to draw to in order to play me were right there because he’s a sports bettor himself. I was thrilled to death with how Matthew played me in the movie and the roller coaster ride he takes viewers on properly portrays what I went through. One of the greatest compliments I've ever received in my life came from Matthew, he said “Thank you for bringing me a character where I had to dig down and draw on the emotions that every actor dreams about. This was by far my most enjoyable role.” Aw…who has warm fuzzies? We hope “Matthew” enjoyed the crap out of this role because we're pretty sure his leading man stock dropped around 30 points in the eyes of Hollywood after another stinker.
WANT ANOTHER PUBLISHED STORY?
Tout service guru and four-named evil genius Brandon Lane/Link/Lang/Long, whose story is being “retold” in Two For The Money has hooked up with omnipresent sportsbook Bodog for a special partnership and changed his name again in the span of 48 hours. In a press release Friday morning Bodog proudly gushes about their new partnership with Brandon LANG:
“Brandon Lang, the man who rocketed to fame as a sports handicapper, and Bodog.com, the company that revolutionized online entertainment, have teamed up. In an agreement signed earlier this week, Lang and Bodog will work in conjunction to build a dynamic Bodog presence on his website Brandon Lang . Lang is the subject of the Hollywood film Two for the Money, whose premiere was sponsored by Bodog.
“Teaming with Brandon Lang seemed like a natural for us,” says Bodog Founder and CEO Calvin Ayre. “We're very excited to be working with one of the most successful handicappers in the world.” Obviously, Lang's not-so-impressive record suggests he probably should not be the subject of a sports handicapping film. Apparently, superstud football picking phenom BLLLL has yet to recapture the magic touch of his youth which prompted the release of his life story on the big screen in the upcoming Two For the Money. So far this year, Lane's free picks have been rather ordinary to say the least. Brandon's free pick tally so far this year? 5-8-1. His pre-season picks? 0-3.
Could his poor record have anything to do with the time he's spending on a second career? A la Hollywood movie star? Having Matthew McConaughey play you in a film will most certainly go to anybody's head we are sure. ........................................ ..................
But then I found this little thing on IMDB. Here's the link, (pun intended!).
Two for the Money (2005)
Here is the LINK with his cameo/five second acting career!
Two for the Money (2005) - Full cast and crew
Apparently our buddy Brandon is also an aspiring actor. Or he may have thought the small, uncredited cameo role he played in Two For the Money deserved an IMDB mention. And be sure to check out the photo page, which appears to show a picture of Lang/Lane/Link/Long dressed in some sort of pajama outfit standing in a family room with a deranged look on his face. We hope that's his family room and not some random family whose home he invaded.
And whose head hasn’t exploded yet? They ask. Jesus Christ. If this does not make blood squirt out of your eyes, what will?
First there was the unreserved excitement of Brandon “Lane” and his web page at Big Green Machine, which openly complains about the fact that the name was changed to “Lang” in the movie: “Funny thing - they changed by name to Brandon “Lang” for “artistic” purposes. Damn if I know what that means, but it’s still me no matter how they spell my last name!”
Then in the Lansing State Journal there is nice fluff piece about Midland, Michigan native Brandon “Link” and his experience about having a movie made about his life.
Then there was the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) page he made for himself under Brandon “Link” because of his stirring uncredited role in Two For The Money.
And now we have Bodog partnering with Brandon Lang, replete with a spanking new website for Brandon Lang with no acknowledgment anywhere of the fact that this man is out of his ****ing skull.
ANOTHER DOCUMENTED PUBLICATION WROTE - "Brandon Lane: Enjoying 15 Minutes More Intensely Than Most"
Friday marks the nationwide opening of the Matthew McConaughey, Al Pacino gambling drama Two For the Money, loosely based on the life of former superstud handicapper Brandon Lane. Lane was a former college football player who turned his freakish ability to pick football games into a lucrative career for a tout service. Well, Brandon has himself a website and from the looks of it, he’s really proud of himself and this movie coming out. He also appears to have a little problem with containing his own excitement, even in two paragraphs: People, just had the Vegas premiere last night and it was fantastic. The Palms gave me a great suite and the photo ops were fantastic. This is what I worked hard for and now its my time to turn it on. The Chargers on Sunday, Green Bay on Monday and now “75 Dime” winner #2 in a row goes tonight. I like this MAC game and will deliver a nice winner. October thru January have always been my months. I have won more in those months than any other month. Not by accident but by design. I watch, I see, I adjust and I win. Your job is to jump on board, ride me and win money. It is in this run that you will see why they decided to make a movie about me. Nobody else, but me. Over the long haul, I will make you money. Sometimes in the midst of your losing streak, you don’t think so but this business is not about a day, a week or a month. It is about the year. You roll with me and you are not only a customer today, I want you for life. I want you part of my family. You give me that chance to earn you money and together, we will own your man. Lets own him tonight. Well, that's a little ****ing insane. Anybody else want to bump chests or break a chair over somebody's head? But if you were wondering Two For the Money opens Friday. It’s based on Brandon's life. Jump on him and ride him to the money or something. It'll be fantastic.
And so it goes...There's a sucker born every minute.
One last point..A quote from BLLLL's website that will tell you all that you need to know. "Listen, they only make movies about winners - and that's me!"
How many movies have you seen about losers? Gosh, just last night, I was watching Nick Cage's "Leaving Las Vegas". Was he a winner? The list could go on all day!
ANY QUESTIONS? No thanks. Please cease calling our office to have one hour conversations about this DOCUMENTED FRAUD. Soon, the hype will be forgotton and BLLLL will be washing men's balls again.

Ncaa 4-0

Betting for College Football Week 2

It's hard to get a good feel for games this early in the season. Only degenerates like me will put money on games with little to zero knowledge about the teams. For most of these teams, all I really know is what they did against some cream puff home opener last week (which means nothing), and what they did last year (which isn't always a good indicator of what they will do this year).
What I do know is that I went 4-0 on my picks last week, with Navy blowing out FAU, Iowa shutting down the hyped up Josh Allen at Wyoming, Michigan man-handling a fragile Florida program, and Texas and Maryland destroying the total. Hopefully that keeps up.
I look for a few things in college games when I make my picks:

1. Teams and/or star players that the media has fallen in love with. I try to find opportunities to bet against them. 2. Teams with good offenses, and bad defenses. I try to find totals less than 60 and take the over. 3. Overreactions to week-by-week performance. Betting is more about public perception than match-ups in most cases. You gotta buy when everyone else is selling. 

I don't claim to be an expert or pro, and I plan on losing money just like the next guy, but I did go over 60% last year in college ball so I hope to keep it going this year. So this is what looks good this week...
(P.S. definitely expect poor grammar)

Big Games

Auburn Tigers+5.5

Auburn travels to Clemson this week. Auburn kept it close last year. They return a lot of players, while Clemson doesn't have the same overall talent as last year, losing a game breaker WR Mike Williams, another WR Hunter Renfrow, a stud TE Jordan Legget, and TB Wayne Gallman (all those guys are in the league now). Oh yeah, they don't have that Watson guy either. I could really see this game go either way. What gives me confidence in Auburn is that they actually have a proven QB this year in Jared Stidham who transferred from Baylor. They don't need him to throw for 500 yds, they just need him to hit open receivers, which is something they have struggled with at the QB position for the last few years. Both teams have great defenses. Auburn gave up only 8 passing yards last week to Georgia Southern, and Clemson gave up just 1 passing yard to Akron. Unreal. Anyway, this game will be about defense and running the ball, so I'm taking the points in a close game.

Georgia Bulldogs+6.5

Bulldogs play the Irish on the road. I love picking SEC teams against teams outside their conference, especially when they are the underdog. Everyone wants the SEC to not be good, but they are still the best conference in football. Notre Dame would be a .500 team if they played an SEC schedule. They were 4-8 last year, why are they getting so much value this year? To be honest, I could see Notre Dame getting back on track this year. Brian Kelly has a good track record. I mean he took a Cincinnati program to a BCS game. Even though I think last season was an outlier for Notre Dame, I could also say the same for the Bulldogs, who struggled with the debut of Kirby Smart. However, their down year was still a winning record at 7-4. The one big question mark many people have for this game is the freshman QB starting for Georgia due to injury (I guess this Fromm homey was on a T.V. show or whatever.... I don't really care). My thought processes is that I didn't expect to get great QB play from Eason to begin with, so I can't imagine there is a huge drop off in production with another QB. I believe the Georgia still has more overall talent, and the Irish will have to stop that running attack of Chubb and Michel for 4 quarters, while not turning it over against one of the best defenses in the country. I'll take the points.

Oklahoma Sooners+7.5 @ Ohio State Buckeyes

I don't plan on betting on this game, but if there is any value then it's definitely with the Sooners. The Buckeyes have the best D-line in the nation that will be playing tag with Baker Mayfield all night. However, no matter how good that defense is, it won't help them consistently score points, which still seems to be an issue for their offense. The Buckeyes are such a difficult team to bet on because they will always be favored, and the Buckeye nation will always bet on them, therefore inflating the line to a place where it's too high to justify betting on it with their inconsistent offense. The Sooners lost their 3 biggest play makers from last year (Westbrook, Mixon the woman puncher, and Perine), so I can't imagine they are better on offense this year either. But they do have a solid front 7, and they won't wear down like Indiana did last week. I don't think Oklahoma is good enough to go to Ohio State and win, but I expect it to be closer than last years beat down.

USC Trojans -5.5

USC hosts Stanford this week in what should be a good game. The line started around 10, but has been bet down to under a TD. I thought the public would be all over USC because of how the media has a boner for Sam Darnold, but it looks like 80% of the bets are coming in on Stanford. ESPN's FPI has Stanford ranked higher than USC, and with Western Michigan keeping it close against the Trojans last week, I can see why people have lost confidence. The FPI is a joke though. Every year it has teams ranked over Alabama, and every year Bama is playing for the ship. One thing I've noticed over the years is that the betting public, and general sports fan, will overreact quickly from week-to-week. Let's get real though. USC will always dominate the Pac-12 in recruiting, and will always put a more talented roster on the field. It's still too early to know too much about these squads, but I'll take recruiting, proven quarterback, and a favorable line in this game.

Value Picks

Minnesota Golden Gophers +2.5

The Gophers travel to Oregon St. Saturday night, and I'm not sure really why the Beavers are favored against anyone, even though they are at home. In terms of power 5 conference teams, Oregon St. is one of the worst programs in the nation. They are on a Rutgers/Kansas type level. Minnesota on the other hand beat Washington St. in the Holiday bowl last year after getting 10 players suspended. They also upgraded their head coach getting P.J. Fleck who turned the Western Michigan program around (Row The Boat!). Western Michigan would probably beat Oregon St., so I'll take the Gophers too.

Nebraksa Cornhuskers+14

Cornhuskers play at Oregon this week, in a game that started as a 5 point spread and has jumped to 14 without any major injuries or changes. What don't I know about this Oregon Ducks team. Is Icebox gonna put down the pom poms and wreck shit in the second half or something? When I think about what Oregon is traditionally, I think explosive offense and swiss cheese defense, which seems to still be the case considering they put up 71 against Southern Utah, but still gave up 21. Nebraska has a similar identity when it comes to playing one side of the ball, but they are definitely better than Southern Utah. The Cornhuskers not only beat Oregon last year, but they actually made a bowl game. Oregon only won 3 games last season. Other than hiring a new coach, what did the Ducks do in the past year to be favored by 2 scores against a solid power 5 program? I dunno either, I'm taking the points.

Wisconsin -31

Badgers play Lane Kiffin's FAU Owls at home. Wisconsin is not known for explosive offense, but typically pound lesser opponents, just like they did to Utah St. last week 49-10. Also, Utah St would be favored against FAU. On the flipside the Owls got beat by more than 31 against Navy in a game that was called early due to the weather. Sorry Kiffin, but it's gonna be a tough first year homey, an I will try to profit where I can.

Tcu/Arkansas over 58

Good offenses and poor defense, especially Arkansas. I love these situations when the total is under 60. Last year the game was 41-38. TCU scored 63 themselves last week. Defense is so not cool in college ball.

BYU Cougars +3

The Holy War will be played at BYU this year. I like getting points at home in a rivalry game, especially when there isn't a large talent disparity. The public perception for BYU is down, with over 90% of the bets coming in on Utah. BYU hasn't looked great the last two weeks getting stomped by LSU, and looking very underwhelming against Portland St.. Meanwhile, Utah played North Dakota and won by a few scores, so there isn't really much to say about them either. Obviously it's early in the season so it's hard to get a feel for either team, but I love home underdogs, especially in a rivalry game, and I am a degenerate sports bettor.

Feel Free To Comment

Lsu -5.5 @ tx a&m

I did a double take when I saw this line, which means there is a high possibility that it could be a trap game. Trap games are when a line looks good too good to be true, and what is really means is that somebody knows something that I don't know. What I do know is that Texas A&M's run defense is terrible, and LSU has two running backs that will be playing on Sundays. I also know that Trevor Knight is out for the season, and Texas A&M's offense is about as effective as their defense at this point in the season. Maybe it's because LSU lost to Florida at home last week that accounts for this low number, but I'm willing to predict LSU winning by at least 3 scores as Fournette runs wind sprints through the Aggie swiss cheese defense.

Osu -6.5 vs mich

The line started at 7, got bet down to 6, and now has gone back to 6.5 where it will probably stay, unless a lot of late money comes in on Michigan. The smart play here is clearly Michigan, but I am an ignorant and arrogant Ohio St. fan so there is no way I'm going against the Bucks. I took the game at 7, and bet it again when it went to 6. To be honest this game could go either away. Michigan is clearly talented and well coached, but there are three things going for OSU. First off playing at home is always nice. Second, Michigan has been trending down after their hot start, and their backup QB is definitely a drop off from Speight. Third, this by far the best offense Michigan will go against all year. Buckeyes have already seen a top-notch defense at Wisconsin, and have already played a good offense in Oklahoma. How battle tested is Michigan. Go Bucks!!!

Bama -18 vs auburn

I have Alabama on auto-bet. I have no rational reason to take them in THIS game at THIS number, but for whatever reason they always cover. Auburn was hot for a while this year, but fell off quick. They have a really good running game, but Bama has a better run defense. It's essential that Auburn gets a lead early, because if they are forced to throw the ball then Bama will have no problem covering, as they score more points on defense than opposing offenses. Godd luck Auburn.

Georgia -4.5 vs g tech

I don't typically like favorites in rivalry games, but I feel like this line should be double digits. I think there is a huge talent gap between GA and G tech. Both teams are 7-4, but 7-4 in the SEC is much different than 7-4 in the ACC. G tech gives up 160 yards per game on the ground, and this will be the best running attack they see by far all year. Also, the last time they played a defense of Georgia's caliber was Clemson, and they were only able to muster 7 points in that matchup. Bulldog Pride.

Minn +14.5 @ Wisc

Love this number for the Gophers. Wisconsin is definitely better than people expected this year. Their defense is one of the best in the nation, but their offense is average. They have been able to cover against the bottom of the barrell Big 10 teams, but the Gophers are sneaky good this year. They already have 8 wins, but to be fair they didn't play OSU or Michigan. Minnesota has a good enough defense to stick around. I doubt they pull off the upset, but there is a good chance neither team scores 14 in this game, let alone the Badgers covering by that much.

Texas -3 vs TCU

I love when good coaches get fired in college football. It makes for a large disparity in motivation for teams. Charlie Strong is a well liked coach by his teammates and peers and disliked by the boosters (only making the players like him even more). I'm not saying that he shouldn't be fired, or that Les Miles shouldn't have been fired earlier in the year, but do remember when Les got fired? LSU started blowing teams out of the water. The team rallied together and actually started playing to their potential until they ran into the Alabama juggernaut. Now it's Texas's turn for the players to rally around the coach and fight for his job. On top of all that they are one win away fro being bowl eligible. 3 points might be a good line under normal circumstances for this game, but Texas had more talent and that talent will be extra motivated for this one. Hopefully their defense can just keep it together for 4 quarters.

Houston -4 @ Memphis

When I was originally looking at the lines at the beginning of the week I noticed this one took a while to post. The health of the Memphis QB was in question, and now he has officially been ruled out. Houston coming off a big over Louisville is probably a good enough reason to be confident with them, and now that the QB is out it's almost a no-brainer in my opinion. Don't get me wrong about Memphis though, they are not necessarily out classed in this match up, and being a home underdog is always a good spot. Yet, I still feel Houston is the better team, and playing against a back up QB as a small favorite seems like a good edge.

Florida +7.5 @ Florida St.

Gotta love the underdog in a rivalry game, especially when the underdog might be better than the favorite. Florida's defense is absolutely amazing, and public bettors have yet to respect that. Even with two linebackers and a safety out due to injury against LSU, they still pulled off the upset on the road. This game is similar to OSU/Michigan in the fact that it could go either way, so why not take the points? Remember, the don't need to rely on their inept offense to win, they just need to cover, and they are going to eat that freshman QB alive. Dalvin Cook is amazing and will make a lot of money in the NFL, but so will all of the Gators' starters on defense.

Notre Dame +17.5 @ USC

USC is definitely clicking, but let's not get too wound up about them beating Washington, who would most likely be the 5th best team in the SEC, 4th best in the Big 10, and 4th best in the ACC. East coast bias? Probably, but to be honest they they have less NFL players on their roster than most of the other top programs in the nation. To be fair, Norte Dame hasn't been impressive at all this year either, but this is a classic situation of one team being drastically overrated, and another being underrated. Notre Dame isn't great, but they aren't awful. I think the negative press about Notre Dame's compliance issues are weighing into this line too. The same day the news dropped, the line moved from 17 to 17.5, and it might keep moving. This is way too many points in a rivalry game no matter how bad Notre Dame has been this year. For all I know USC could boat race the Irish, but I doubt it. I'm holding on to make this bet until right before the game.

Virginia +18.5 @ Virginia Tech

Same thought process behind this game as Notre Dame. Too many points in a rivalry game. Every time I watch Virginia Tech I feel like they could beat anyone, but every time I look at the box score they barely beat or lose to teams they are clearly better than. Virginia is not great, but I don't feel the Hokies are consistent enough on offense and defense to put teams away.

Miss St. +8 @ Ole Miss

Without Chad Kelley, what is the difference between Ole Miss and Mississippi St.? Both teams have bad defenses and average offenses. It will be a high scoring game that hopefully comes down to the last play. Just like some of the previous games I've picked, I am a fan of the underdog in a rivalry game.
I am leaning on WSU +6 home against Washington. Hopefully this line moves to at least 7 then I'll def be on it.
Missouri +8 vs Arkansas is intriguing. Even though there is a large disparity between their records, their offense and defensive PPG are basically the same. Statistically, Missouri has a little bit better offense, and Arkansas has a little bit better defense in terms of yards per game. I definitely misjudged Missouri this year. They are by no means a competitor in the conference, but they aren't the sisters of the poor either. Home underdogs over 7 points are always intriguing.
Utah +10 at Colorado seems extreme. I know the Buffs are doing well this year but are they really 2 score better than a solid Utah squad. This number seems so extreme that I'm wondering if it's a trap game. Maybe Colorado wins by twice that much. Maybe the loss to Oregon looks really bad for the Pac 12. I'm not sure, but this line seems wrong.
Check @OneDollaJourney on Twitter for my final picks on Saturday morning

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Date: 2013-02-20
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Questions	Answers
Did you see that ludicrous display last night?	I assume u are talking re Arsenal. yes, yes yes. Not as gut-slamming bad as Saturday's disaster against Blackburn, but no fun for sure.
What was the most surprising facet of the story that you discovered?	I was shocked at the Amazonian river of money that sports betting generates... the Interpol chief Ron Noble says several billion euros a year, an ex-FIFA official has said up to $500 billion a year. BILLION...! if you are a criminal mastermind, all you have to do is use some fixed games to deliver a tiny sliver of that and you will be wealthier than you ever imagined. That's about the yearly GNP of Switzerland, no slouch economy.
This is the crazy thing to me, how many people are betting on what are ultimately not high level events. I would like to think that high levels of betting on one side of a small matchup could be observed and regulated.	Until lately, no one thought to look for match-fixing in the soccer wilderness. but extremely low level games in Finland, Norway and Canada that were fixed proved that theory wrong. for fixers, best thing is virgin territory not already claimed by other fixers...
Which mobs were most involved? Turkish? Russian? Romanian?	Prolly the shorter list would be what mobs DON'T want to get involved with match-fixing... AP talked to Turkish commentators who said fixing allegations have cropped up every year for at least 40 years, and even Turkish prosecutors in court documents noted that mobs had infiltrated Turkish soccer since at least 1980... As for Russia, one illegal Asian betting den that an AP reporter visited wouldn't even touch bets for Russia's 2nd division (or Greece's for that matter). Even illegal sites know when to run! Italy's match-fixing has produced over $2.6 billion for the Camorra and the Mafia. And since the vast majority of sports betting money originates in Asia, Asian crime gangs are said to be intimately involved in fixing games.
Where in Asia is the money coming from?	It's coming both from billions of small bettors (betting is a way of life i many Asian countries) and from Asian crime gangs who are recycling dirty money to launder it.
How is the research going on the dinamo zagreb - olimpique game, where olimpique scored just enough goals to kick Ajax out of the champions league?	Ah yes, where a zagreb player winked on a YouTube clip. plenty of suspicions, Ajax started howling immediately, no good evidence ever emerged. was about the same time in which Croatian first league (where dinamo played) was riddled with match-fixing (see our story about Croatia Seveste player Mario Cizmek) but dinamo never implicated in those trials.
To borrow from Grantland's Brian Phillips, "How #*%!ed is the beautiful game?"	It's more &&#$ than top officials want to publicly admit. There are large areas of the world where football has been not only infiltrated by criminals but is being run by criminals. Last year in China, two ex-chiefs of its FA (football association for American fans) got 10 1/2 years in prison for corruption. In 2011, the national TV channel in China REFUSED to broadcast matches from the Chinese League due to widespread match-fixing. I can't imagine the reax here in London if Sky or the BBC refused to broadcast Premier League games...
What is the highest level that you believe some form of match fixing has taken place? European competition? WC qualifying? Where is match fixing most prevalent?	Well, our FIFA correspondent Graham Dunbar says that depends if you include the 1982 World Cup West Germany-Austria game, which appeared to be a deal with the teams. FIFA changed its rules after that so games at the end of rounds start simultaneously. More recently you have the 2010 WC qualifier between Liechtenstein and Finland ... and Latam types will always debate whether the WC 1978 Argentina 6, peru 0 was fixed, sent host Argentina into final...
So...Juventus. As a fan, I just have to know. How involved are they in match fixing? They're always surrounding by rumors of it.	Hmmm. where to start? well, going way back, juventus reputedly bough the ref in the 193 European Cup semifinal, according to one of our top football guys... and they were pretty front and center in Italy's 2006 match-fixing scandal, where they were regulated to Serie B (2nd division), got 9 points deducted, got hit by a massive fine, got stripped of their 2006-07 league titles, got tossed out of the Champions League for a year. Their club president at the time was fined and banned from the sport for five years. Their current coach, Antonio Conte, just got back in December from a 4-month FIFA ban for a separate match-fixing allegation. As Premier Mario Monti said, maybe Italian football should just shut down for a few years to get rid of that corruption thing...
I have to ask. Have you or anyone in your agency been approached or threatened as a result of your investigations?	Gotta give kudos here to Chris Brummett, our Vietnam bureau chief, who visited a Wild West betting boomtown on the border of Cambodia. Going around illegal Asian betting dens, talking with bettors about fixed matches, looking for hints of Asian triad involvement. Not a place that you could take TV cameras or where bettors would let u take a picture, that's for sure. And when I was filming a TV segment at a Zagreb stadium with a player convicted of match-fixing, all of a sudden we saw that a photog with a long lens was zooming in on us. The guy came over to see what we were doing, I made sure not to speak a word of English and our photographer Darko talked to him. After that, Darko said "it's time to go." When a photog who just got back from Syria says its time to go, u go.
Do you think that this type of match fixing also extends into American sports such as Major League Baseball or the National Football League? I think of a game like the Super Bowl with all the money bet on it and I can't help but wonder if games are often fixed or the outcome affected artificially.	Super Bowl betting is big in the US but is tiny in relation to global soccer betting. And the Super Bowl has one big thing that keeps it from being fixed -- very high player salaries. Players in countries like Croatia are match-fixing sometimes for as little as 2500 euros ($3300). Major league baseball salaries and NFL salaries are too high -- and you need to involve too many players to ensure a rock-solid fix. In soccer, the goalie alone has enough influence to fix a game by himself.
Where do the criminal gangs get the action on? Betfair?	For a blow-by-blow account of how it all goes down, check out these links: Player who rues getting involved in match-fixing: Link to apne.ws Unwritten rules of match-fixing: Link to apne.ws
How exactly does it work? The players just play terribly when instructed? The criminals have money on the over?	In terms of the betting, there's about five-six levels of betting in Asia, which leads from local illegal betting shops that deal in cash to next level, regional betting houses, still in cash, to next level, super betting sites, to online betting sites that take credit cards and are openly operating. Asian betting sites don't know their customers, so its easier to disguise large wagers as many small ones. European betting sites know their customers via credit cards, but criminals can use fake credit cards. anyone who knows about a fixed game can bet on whichever betting site offers the odds
Where are most of these criminal organizations based? What country? Are international matches ever fixed(England vs San Marino or something) or just club matches?	Actually 'friendlies' between two nations are a prime target for fixers, because football associations can hire agencies (some of which later turn out to be fronts for fixers) to arrange the games and give a cut of the proceeds (or even bribes) to corrupt FA officials Just imagine, in a friendly you can get world-class talent for free and they can generate gobs of TV revenues. some suspect friendlies in recent times: Nigeria-Argentina 2011, one or more South Africa friendlies right before the World Cup, Bolivia-Latvia 2011, Bulgaria-Estonia 2011, several Latam games involving Venezuela and Bolivia. These are all men's games, so far no whiff of suspicion among women's friendlies.
Is there any suspicion of fixing in women's soccer in the past Olympics? It has bothered a lot of people the way the gold medal game finished. It didn't make any sense at all. Edit: I did mean semi final. My bad.	No, so far no reports of match-fixing in any women's games. in fact, some of the bettors AP interviewed in the illegal Cambodian den were at the time betting on live women's U-20 game between New Zealand and Japan just because they felt it was not fixed.
Has there been any instances when you had suspicion BEFORE a match? What do you think about the recent EUROPOL expose about the 380 european matches? What does only 1 english match (liverpool v debrecen)(albeit english team not involved) say about how things are done in uk v thing elsewhere.what is it that they are doing right/others doing wrong?	Me and another AP reporter have visited a betting monitoring site that runs 31,000 games thru computer models to see if they may be fixed. Companies like that can often see if games are suspicious up to two days before a match _ ie they know if XXX amount bet on a Italian league game is normal or way off. They also keep tabs on 110,000 players, teams, refs and officials and give them match-fixing credit scores... they have seen where a suspicious player changes teams and infects a previously untouched team with his knowlege of fixing... Only one match in England reflects high premier league salaries that protect the players and the game. But bet monitors do have one person on their top 20 'to watch' match-fixing suspicions list that lives in the UK.
What is the best part about your job?	The sheer variety. I mean there are some things we can plan for _ we know when the 2012 London Olympics will start _ but you never know each day what will happen. Will an Icelandic volcano erupt and blow the travel plans of 10 million people to bits? Or maybe a meteor will hit Russia? i am constantly amazed.
How has the series been received by soccefootball officials? It seems to expose some dirty laundry and gotten news and TV pickups across the globe.	Yes, we were very happy with the wide range of media that picked up the stories _ everything from papers in Thailand to ESPN and Sports Illustrated to non-sports outlets like Huffpost and Salon.com.
Which team do you support and who is your favorite player?	Well, i live and work now in north London, so i would be crucified if I didnt keep up with Arsenal (condolences will be accepted here today). Favorite player, hmm. got two. Fernando Torres because i was living in Zurich during Euro 2008 (he was electric then) and he looks just like my hubby did years ago with his freckles; Robin van Persie now because the man just dances on the field, a joy to watch.
Fernando Torres is my favorite too, and believe me he will be electric again! and another question, what is the most memorable match you have ever watched live at a stadium?	At a family level, I brought my ten-year-old daughter and her soccer team to see the American women play at Giants stadium in NJ when the US hosted the Women's World Cup in 1999... Mia Hamm and her buddies really inspired a generation.
Do you see any problem/conflict with betting companies (such as Bwin) being significant sponsors of the game?	Betting companies are always going to advertise next to matches, its the smart operating model for their business. but it is interesting how they can be in severe denial about match-fixing. I went to a London betting conference in Nov, and a top representative from Ladbrokes insisted to me that 'maybe 5-6' games were fixed a year. he claimed that some betting monitoring companies have an incentive to say there are hundreds of possibly fixed games a year just so they would get contracts from FIFA, UEFA, national leagues. On the other hand, his own industry has a HUGE interest in not talking about fixed games -- who is going to bet if they think things are fixed? he did me a big favor though - AP reporters could not get into the monitoring sites until we reported his ludicrous comment to them.
How does it start? Does someone from the criminal organization approach a player in a shady alley? Do players that fix games do so repeatedly? Do multiple players on a team need to be bought to pull off the fix? And finally, how do the criminal organizations actually make money off fixed games? Presumably by placing the bets they've arranged, but don't the people taking their bets get suspicious?	What i'm going to do is give u some link to our stories that explain all this. ironically, match-fixers often groom players just like pedophiles groom targets, according to a major 2012 study on sports corruption. Players can be seduced into fixing by other coaches or players or agents. Or they can be ordered to fix by their corrupt soccer club bosses. Or they can have no idea a game is fixed because the refs were bought off instead. so many ways to match-fix...!
How in the world would FIFA (or possibly another organization) go about fixing this or at least starting to fix it? Is the problem already too deep that anything other than a complete scrub of all teams and parties involved would fail? And could the sport even survive something like that or would it be best for the game if everyone just operated like business as usual?	FIFA's latest anti-match-fixing project is to educate players and refs about the problem. A noble idea, for sure, one that no one can find fault with. but it's kinda like warning your kids not to play with matches when your kitchen is already on fire and that may burn down your whole house. Time to get out the big firehose. Let's not forget how doping has driven sponsors and TV revenues away from cycling or even track. And soccer authorities also have another problem -- their own officials may be the ones driving the fixing. A major sports corruption report last year even gave that a label "chairman-to-chairman" fixing. in turkey last year, 93 people went on trial for match-fixing, and only 14 were players. I think the best model to emulate is germany's, its FA has a omsbudman where players, refs, anyone can call to report fixing worries anonymously.
Is it anyway connected to the fixed cricket games and why is this not getting as much coverage considering soccer is a much larger sport? And do you think the Ireland v France world cup 2010 qualifier was fixed, where Thiery Henry blatantly hand-balled to knock Ireland out of the competition?	That was one darn obvious handball but absolutely no suggestion of fixing in that. as we say in our Dirty Game series, referees and players can perform poorly for all sorts of legitimate reasons. Gotta say, American fans could never stomach bad ref calls like that, that's why they love NFL instant replay. the concept that such a bad call could knock a team out... it's why the NFL had to end its referee lockout...
It's amazing how deep seeded the corruption is in the sport. Do you know how much money was made globally from the match fixing (an estimate)??	FIFA has estimated between $5 billion and $15 billion a year. not chump change.
I think it's more spot-fixing than match-fixing, right? Or at least the higher up the leagues go, the more it deviates towards spot rather than match.	If you got any knowlege of this, let FIFA/UEFA/the national leagues know. AP took a deep dive into fixing in Croatia's first division, (let me tell u google translator is a mess with croatian court transcripts) and found both match and spot fixing in the same games. one sports expert, David Forrest of University of Salford, says that's a great way for gangs to increase revenues, you get to place two-three-four bets on the same fixed game.
Do you think that the punishment for participants should be more severe the further up the ladder the investigation goes? That is, should the first-year first-teamer found to have been involved be given less of a penalty than the national team star? Or should a message be sent with uniform penalties for even the least involvement?	Hmm. it's kinda like doping in that you need zero tolerance. That said, its clear that match-fixers target players like lions on the savannah, picking off the young (easy to manipulate) the old (nearing the end of their employment, fearing what's next) and the weak (those with betting problems or financial difficulties. Young players lured into fixing by older players should get lesser sentences if it's found that they were forced or pressured into it. Older players (or refs hitting age limits) should get harsher penalties because they absolutely knew what they were doing. national stars who fix bring shame upon an entire nation but the fixing penalities should be the same no matter what the league.
Do you feel like, historically, there has been more corruption in Italian leagues, or is it more a matter of the Italian investigations being more frequent and successful in revealing the corruption and making cases stick?	There's no question that Italy has had repeated, major match-fixing instances at least since 2005. And each case seems to bring new amazing allegations. My all time favorite is the goalie who wanted to fix a game, so he drugs the water bottles of his teammates to play poorly. they stink, lose the game, and one even crashes his car afterward. Since Italy takes drunk driving quite seriously, the driver gets a blood test which shows he is full of sedatives, and the whole fixing operation is unveiled. can't make this up. I give plenty of kudos to Italian prosecutor Roberto Di Martino but the country has had plenty of corruption issues in all walks of life ... , so i dont think we can just credit good prosecutors for us hearing about italian match-fixing
At what point do you as an organisation decide that you will look into that matter. How did this all start - or better yet, what event triggered this investigation?	We noticed that AP was doing about a dozen match-fixing spot stories around the world a month... but it was country by country. This trial, that arrest, this investigation. It was time to look at the whole of the sport, something that fits an international news agency better than a local or national paper. I had been interested in match-fixing since i covered FIFA for AP in 2007-2008 and did a story when they first set up their EWS monitoring site. got promoted to London, distracted by volcanos and a wonderful London Olympics, but began interviewing people last june.
Glad to oblige blatter? justkidding.	What i should have said yesterday -- this AMA is about match-fixing, not Blatter. Blatter is such a vast topic that he needs a whole 'nuther forum. Maybe ask him to come on himself.
How do you stop match fixing?	Whoever figures that out gets a nobel peace prize.
Do you have any knowledge of match fixing in Latin America? Specifically Libertadores Cup and Brazilian and Argentinian national leagues?	Bolivia and Venezuela have had several suspicious friendlies, Guatemala had 3 players banned in recent months for fixing.
What do you have to say about one of the most outrageous things that happened in the last decade: Lyon 7-1 Zagreb leaving Ajax out of CL? Everyone seems to have forgotten about that thing and no one ever really talked or investigate that game further.	That is certainly the one game that Europeans came away thinking must be fixed. it would be a great subject for a magzine piece. maybe when everyone in that game has retired, more might come out.
Which league do you believe to be the most corrupt? Even if it isn't one you've investigated.	Impossible to say. too many candidates.
My dad used to bet on soccer matches with his buddies frequently, and pointed out how he would know if a match is fixed or not depending on the players' reactions during a penalty kick. Apparently, whenever a player looks backwards before taking a penalty, he is always looking for a signal as to whether or not he is allowed to make the goal. Is there any merit to this conspiracy theory that my dad and his friends developed?	Wild theory, too bad it's prolly not true -- they must have been drinking pretty heavily! If a game is fixed by players, they know beforehand and they know exactly what marks they need to hit: X-X score at halftime, X-X final result, X goal differential. No need to look over their shoulder, they already know if they should make it or not. If the game is fixed by club officials, they have already told their players what to do. If the game is fixed by referees, often players don't even know. They might think it's a ridiculous penalty call but they are not going to hurt their stats, they are going to try to make the penalty.
Who's going to win the European Cup?	Going to leave all game analysis to commentators and Match of the Day boys. I'm just all about corruption.
Are there times when two different groups try to fix a match with conflicting goals?	This was a significant problem in Asia, and its a terrible business model when two crime gangs are trying to fix the same game. That propeled at least Asian gangs to seek out more European games, which were considered several years ago to be much cleaner. One monitor told me about a match in which his company's spotters at the game saw thugs from two different crime gangs shouting with the ref at halftime. Only one side won. (think the ref in that case had a death wish or was just blinded by greed)
What is the most common betting market on fixed games? A straight win? or something like over 2.5 goals? Or even corners or number of cards? Do you bet on any games?	I don't bet on sports, not after seeing all this...! The most common bets on fixed games are four things: final score, half-time score, total number of scores and score differential. who is taking the corner doesnt bring in enough money...
Where does the actual money the gangs win come from? Is straight from the betting agencies pockets?	David Forrest, the UK economist who specializes in sports betting, tells us that fixed sports betting is a fabulous way to launder money. You take cash from drug or trafficking operations, you bet on fixed games, not only do u make a profit but dirty money comes back clean. He says some crime gangs are trying to buy soccer clubs just to launder money through them.
Was the Qatar bid for hosting the 2022 world cup involved in bribery of any kind?	Sri, this AMA is on match-fixing. The FIFA decision to give the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively is a whole separate (and vast) discussion.
Did your investigation have any overlap with Declan Hill's investigations in the past?	Declan is a pioneer, kudos to him. Suggest everyone interested in this topic read his book "The Fix: Organized Crime and Soccer"
a comment: Kudos to you and your team for really doing some real investigative journalism. Too much TMZ-style or reactive news these days so it's refreshing to see some real shit. Second my question: I saw the amount of profit gained from this scheme was a seemingly paltry $11m. In 2012, $94m was bet on the Super Bowl alone. Is the $11m as truly insignificant as it appears? What percentage of the pie is legitimate vs illegitimate?	You maybe are just looking at one Italian match-fixing investigation. Multiply that by investigations in 50 nations last year, add to it all the bribe money that is linked to organizing friendlies that can generate big TV revenue... the point about match-fixing is not illegal or legal betting. It is tainting all betting with a fix. European betting agencies pride themselves on their legality, but anyone can be undermined by a fix. In asia, illegal gambling dens thrive because gambling in an ingrained cultural habit that is going to occur even if govts ban it.
Does this only happen with football? are there stories of match fixing happening in the European basketball, volleyball, handball, water polo leagues?	All sports can be vulnerable to match-fixing, especially if there is betting on them. add tennis, cricket, horse racing to that mix.
I don't really understand soccer but how and what makes a game suspicious?	Huge amounts of late bets on an obscure game. In-game live betting in which lots of bettors put money on another goal and the referee orders a penalty for an unfathomable reason. Games in which all scoring is due to penalty kicks. Games in which scoring is so high that it looks more like baseball. Games in which many goals are disqualified for offsides. so many options i just cant list them all
Does anyone know if Domenico Cricito is still being investigated or if they've finished with him?	Cricito, an Italian defender who plays for the St. Petersburg club Zenit, was cleared, not charged with any match-fixing. He has said that he's trying not to be angry but still is about how he was dropped from the Italian team playing in Euro 2012 due to allegations that turned out to be unproven.
How are investigations going in regard to serie a? i know the mafias in Italy have a lot of control over players and referees.	Big break on Thursday (feb 21, day after this AMA). a top suspected fixer was arrested by Italian police, Admir Sulijic. he reportedly has links to singapore money man Dan Tan. --- Big break on Friday, Dan Tan being interviewed by Singapore police!!!
Is there a chance Chelsea has been involved with match fixing please say no?	I'm such a cynic that I can't say 'No' about any team. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, that's a 'known unknown' -- we know there are some things we do not know. that applies to all teams, not just Chelsea.
Have there been any murders or serious crimes committed in the name of covering up max fixing?	In Bulgaria, over a dozen soccer officials have been slain over the last decade. and the crime gangs there don't even pretend to make it look like an accident, they just gun people down in the street.
Due to the nature of your work, do you ever feel in danger?	Our medical writer tells us that sitting at a computer for hours on end is the most deadly thing for reporters. if she's right, we are all doomed.
Which top leagues would you say are the least corrupt?	Certainly the premier league, due to the players' huge salaries.
Why do FIFA or UEFA never step in to take action on the obviously corrupt English FA, more specifically, Referee's decisions going heavily in the way of a certain Alex Ferguson? There is plenty of evidence, but you just leave them to get away with it. Why?	Gotta say, FIFA and UEFA are clearly not fans of the English FA and are certainly not favoring them in any way re refereeing decisions.
I like how this question is dodged.	Glad to oblige.
Please tell me the Celtic v Barcelona game wasn't fixed! I have to be sure...	Hey even amazing teams lose sometimes! Plus this doesnt match the typical M.O. of the most successful match-fixers. When great teams lose, it always raises more suspicions among bet monitoring companies than when bad teams lose (our reporters visited some secret betting monitoring sites). A convicted midfielder who talked to us about match-fixing says it's always better to simply have bad teams lose once again -- criminals just pre-determine HOW MUCH that team will lose by and play those odds.
Whoever figures that out gets a nobel peace prize.	Sri don't mean to be flippant. You go for zero tolerance, you establish anti-match-fixing officials in every national league, you teach players and refs and soccer officials how to recognize approaches by fixers, you increase criminal penalities for fixing, you don't stop investigating serious allegations just because a referee has retired 'from the football family,' (FIFA) you protect whistleblowers better. Italian defender Simone Farina told police about being approached by a fellow player to fix, and that effectively ended his playing career and made him a pariah in italy...happily months and months later Aston Villa made him a 'community coach'
No question, but thanks for doing what you do. This kind of high quality investigative journalism is what the free press is all about.	Very kind to hear. are we related? jk. hope you got a chance to read, watch or hear all the eight Dirty Game stories, three sidebars, online video, broadcast video, radio reports, etc.
What's amazing is how ESPN hasn't said a word about this yet. Because they'd rather show more Tim Tebow praying coverage, or Mark Sanchez picking his asshole coverage, or LeBron James changing shampoo types coverage, or Erin Andrews trimming her fingernails coverage.	ESPN online did pick up the AP Dirty Game story... and they did a video piece after Europol cited 680 suspicious games. but on that video piece they got an Italian soccer commentator who thought this was being overblown...
Could you please investigate the NBA now pls.	Hmm. I saw an NBA rep at the London conference on sports betting. the major difference, obviously, is the huge number of scores in basketball and low number of scores in soccer. 1-0 wins a soccer game, but you need what, 35-50 scores to win an NBA game? So many more scoring variables in the NBA and such high salaries. I would think college ball (no salaries) would be much much more vulnerable to spread fixing.
I am Sheila Norman-Culp, AP’s Assistant Editor for Europe, who led the AP's “Dirty Game” multiformat team that investigated match-fixing in football. FTFY.	Ahh, you say football, i say tomato. Let's call a truce. Otherwise Americans in this chat will start talking about Alabama

Last updated: 2013-02-25 02:10 UTC
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