Mike Francesa Gambling
Craig Carton returns to clean up WFAN’s post-Francesa mess and a few of his own. Operation to try and pay off his massive gambling debt. They were played by Mike (Sports Pope) Francesa.
Mike Francesa invited New York Assemblyman Dean Murray on his show to talk about Daily Fantasy Sports and in typical, rather entertaining Mike Francesa fashion, proceeded to shout over Murray for not agreeing with him.
Murray has been an outspoken defender of Daily Fantasy Sports, claiming they aren’t a form of a gambling and even sponsoring bills to protect these companies from the Attorney General’s claims that they are (a New York court will decide this week whether to allow daily fantasy sports companies to resume operations in the state, or uphold the AG’s opinion that the companies are operating illegally until a later court date). Francesa is clear that he thinks Daily Fantasy Sports is gambling, saying it should be regulated like betting on horse racing.
Mike Francesa will return to his old Sunday morning time slot on WFAN, part of a sweeping change in weekend scheduling for the station as it grapples with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Mike Francesa was civil when talking about the charges against his WFAN frenemy Craig Carton. (Sipkin, Corey, New York Daily Ne/New York Daily News) 'And I am praying every single day that he. Francesa touts having played a role in the Mets getting Mike Piazza, he also helped advance the decision to cancel the NYC Marathon after hurricane Sandy in 2012. And even as sports teams shifted to operate more privately, Francesa said on Adam Schein’s podcast that former Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan used to call the Sports Pope to.
Francesa is trying to get after something important here, but he’s moving in the wrong direction.
Let’s start with a brief explanation of what the legal definition of gambling is: skill and luck exist on a spectrum. Everything you do in life will have elements of both skill and luck, but under law, gambling is classified as something that is more luck than skill. If the core trait of any game is random, dumb luck, that’s gambling. Everything else isn’t.
So, are daily fantasy sports luck-based gambling? No, they aren’t. How could they be?
Sports Business Journal adeptly pointed out over the summer that less than two percent of contestants have managed to capture more than 91 percent of the prize money during the first half of the last MLB season and 77 percent of overall profits, with an average 27 percent return on investment. These “numbers nerds with sophisticated algorithms,” as John Oliver called them recently, figured out that if they create an algorithm complex enough, they could game the system and skew the odds so they win more than they lose.
They are proof of why fantasy sports isn’t gambling. It’s a meritocracy.
Are there elements of luck? Like anything, of course there is. You may think that it’s going to rain even though the weatherman, with all his thousands of satellites and complicated radars at his disposal, says that there’s a 90 percent chance it won’t. It may rain, and your lucky guess may be proven correct, but it doesn’t then prove that the entire system of weather forecasting is a guessing game. You got lucky, but in the long run, the weatherman will always be more accurate.
It’s much the same in fantasy sports. You can’t luckily create a formula that makes you win more. You can’t happen upon a good algorithm in the street. You win fantasy sports consistently when you figure it out better than the people you’re playing against, and the better you figure it out, the more you’ll win.
Can you beat the system like that in luck-based gambling games? Not really. Sure you can count cards in blackjack, but making money doing that requires playing for long periods of time, losing small amounts of money every hand, then betting a huge amount on the tiny number of hands where you know the odds are in your favor. You can make money, but you’ll do it losing a lot more hands than you win. It’s the same in roulette, or craps. You can play perfectly, but because the game is more luck that skill, you can’t keep the odds in your favor for longer than a passing moment.
You can in fantasy sports. It’s difficult, but do it right and you can win more than you lose — as the numbers nerds have proven. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be prone to regulation, if that’s what you’re after (which Francesa clearly is).
Mike Francesa Gambling Poker
Rather than accusing an industry of something it isn’t, you could say it needs regulating because it’s too skills-based, like the stock market. Your skills able to be enhanced by insider information; plutocracies able to be formed by the most skilled. Those skillful could in turn gain so much power that they turn the market too predatory. All of those are reasonable concerns, but adopting any one means first accepting that daily fantasy sports isn’t gambling.
So whether you like daily fantasy sports or not, Francesa should accept reality and not lobby to help kill an industry under false pretenses.
Two years after the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 was repealed, the sports media landscape has shifted heavily towards gambling. If you are driving, there is a good chance you will hear an advertisement on the radio or see a billboard paid for by a sportsbook. Same thing goes for watching television, especially sports.
Mike Francesa Gambling Game
Along with that, there has been an influx of new gambling content and media members focusing on that space. And, thanks to the internet, media members don’t need to rely on traditional TV to create and post content anymore. Twitter, Instagram and YouTube have changed the game.
Mike Francesa Gambling News
Whether you are a fan of picks or just the gambling industry as a whole, here are six up and coming media members to follow on Twitter. I define up and coming, as someone who is not on a major television show talking about gambling. Full disclosure, I do not know any of the individuals listed in this piece. I just appreciate their grind.
I anticipate responses on Twitter saying that I’ve omitted someone interesting. Feel free to hit me up @docksquad33 for feedback.
Erin Kate Dolan
Dolan is currently the face of PointsBet for all digital sports betting content. At PointsBet, Erin creates and executes content plans. She previews & recaps national and international sporting events, discussing odds, futures markets, player props, promotions, bad beats, and more. She hosts digital segments with professional bettors and media personalities. She’s also featured weekly on VSiN.
Segment to watch: “Fade Rovell”, a promotion between PointsBet and The Action Network’s Darren Rovell. Erin runs point and PointsBet gives bettors crazy odds to do what the title of the show says, fade Rovell’s weekly picks. Anytime Rovell loses a pick, he has to do something over-the-top terrible. I think I’ve laughed and cringed while watching this segment, but it is entertaining nonetheless.
Follow Erin Dolan on Twitter @ErinKateDolan
Sam Panayotovich
Sam is currently a betting analyst for NBC Sports, Rotoworld and WGN Radio. He also hosts “Chicken Dinner”, a daily sports betting podcast, five times a week.
Segment to Watch: “Chicken Dinner”, a daily gambling show which was first started back in 2016 with Radio.com and 670 am host Joe Ostrowski. The podcast brings flair to the space and features various guests from the gambling landscape. Follow for the Bartender segment, you won’t be disappointed.
Follow Sam Panayotovich on Twitter @spshoot
Minty Bets
Minty is a Vegas born sports betting analyst, and her work can be found at Yahoo Sports, Gaming Today and Wager Talk. Minty is featured on Yahoo’s Mad Bets, posts her daily gambling picks on Twitter via fun videos, breaks down the NFL weekly at Wager Talk and talks ponies over at Gaming Today.
Segment to Watch: “The Mint”, a segment where Minty talks about a relevant gambling topic of the week. She gives you strong, knowledgeable takes on hot button gambling topics in a quick amount of time.
Follow Minty Bets on Twitter @MintyBets
Nick Kostos
Kostos is one of the most entertaining voices in sports betting media. In fact, he has coined the term wagertainment. He used to work for Sports Illustrated and now is the main host of “You Better, You Bet” on Radio.com (owned by Entercom). You can also hear him on the flagship New York-based sports radio station WFAN.
Segment to Watch: “You Better, You Bet” airs nationally 9am-1pm on Sundays and features various guests from all over the gambling industry. If you listen to this show, you will pick up some great betting knowledge, but more importantly, understand what wagertainment means. It’s a good thing, trust me.
Follow Nick Kostos on Twitter @TheKostos
Brandon Walker
Walker, who previously worked at SEC Country and MyBookie, has had a quick rise at Barstool Sports. Walker co-hosts Barstool’s daily gambling show “Walk The Line” with Matt Cahill aka Marty Mush. He also hosts “Picks Central” on Barstool Radio’s daily SiriusXM lineup. Walker also co-hosts “Unnecessary Roughness” with Kayce Smith.
Segment to Watch: “Walk The Line”, Walker and Cahill are an entertaining pairing. You can tell both love football and gambling, and play off of each other well in their own funny ways. There is a good chance you laugh at some point while listening to this show.
Follow Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWalkerSEC
Megan Nunez
Megan is currently doing multiple shows for FanDuel including her weekly “Makin Money with Megan” and “The Hurry up”. She is also on 104.5 ESPN Baton Rouge with T-Bob Herbert and makes regular appearances on Fridays on Inside Access with Jason La Conforna and Ken Weinman on 105.7 the Fan in Baltimore. Megan also frequently guests on Sports Grid with Jared Smith and Ariel Epstien.
Segment to Watch: “Makin Money with Megan”, an entertaining picks show starring, you guessed it, Megan herself. It’s fun and quirky content built around her gambling picks.
Follow Megan Nunez on Twitter @MeganMakinMoney