Be Better Bettors - Twitter Q&A 2025

Podcast Release Date: 2025-11-26
Podcast Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7MJQetXeJzsSk68pE3JlVm
hagrinBPR Review Date: 2025-11-28
Rating: 5.00

Notes:
Twitter Q+A 2025

The possible final episode. "is it really the final episode? Probably not." Great news and I think he's taking the right approach here.

4:25 - Billy Walters pod: Yes, it was recorded, never released it. Didn't think he himself didn't go a good job, was nervous, said as much at the time. Was also running the conference at the time.

5:35 - Using AI: Luke on his team has built out a bunch of applications for their betting operation so it is possible to build out the tools you need.

6:40 - Biggest Changes to Your Sports Betting: Not much has changed for his operation last few years.

7:55 - Prediction Markets: Mentions that a lot of the regulators and operators aren't a fan so there's some Old Guard push back. "More outs the better for the consumer."

9:15 - Young People Gambling: Tells a story that his kid applied for an internship with an odds provider, made it to the final round and got rejected because of the last name.

15:00 - Legacy: Just for his kids to be proud of him. Interesting answer because Spanky has done a bunch for documenting the history of sports betting so while it might not be a legacy goal, that will be what I remember.

16:45 - Top 3 Bettors Today: Billy Walters, Star Lizard, Zeljko. Zeljko probably #1 in actual earn.

19:50 - Getting the Worst of It: Mentions usually letting it ride and if you get the best of it more than the worst of it, just evaluating what happened. Does mention though that if an injury goes against them that those are the spots where getting off a position makes sense.

20:20 - My Question: Short list of podcast guests that either declined or he couldn't get - Spiro the Greek Athanas, Jimmy Evarts co-founder Pinnacle Sports, Zeljko, Tony Bloom and his group, mentions that he DID record a podcast with Steve Edery that he didn't get permission to release (wild). One interview I could do over again? Maybe the Bill Walters one again.

25:30 - "You know that's the type of question that's like ... that's like asking how do you make love to your wife." Best to ever do it.

30:15 - Balancing Betting and Family: His wife, picking a great partner is the rock to the family. (Totally agreed).

35:00 - Did GRP Hurt Bet Bash?: No regret in having him on a panel, panel was well attended. Bet Bash will continue to be credible.

38:15 - Piss jar reference. Amazing. "I've taken a piss in a jar."

41:10 - Australian Bookmakers: Back in the day mentions Bet Australia and that they were solid. Mentions Canbet (which I had never heard of before). Fun little dig at PointsBet to wrap up this question.

46:00 - "I've already got one felony I don't need another one."

51:50 - Favorite Episode: Chris Bruno who got 3 years for bookmaking and tells a story of a CO asking him for a 5 team parlay that if it wins he would get moved to a better cell block. (I haven't gotten to that one yet, I will).

57:00 - CLV: Spanky makes the point that you need to combine the limits with CLV to determine how important CLV is. (Nothing new here, but good point to reinforce).

1:01:30 - Picking a Good Tout: Spanky gives some absolutely awful advice here which is to pick a tout that offers a money back guarantee on the package price. This is a well known tout scam where you just setup two personas and as long as you get two suckers, you're freerolling at least one side by just giving out the opposite plays through the different personas *cough* Mr Valedictorian *cough*.

1:05:30 - Missed About the Old Days?: The bettor / bookmaker relationship. Tells a funny story about getting 3-4 turkeys from bookmakers on Thanksgiving.

1:10:10 - Funny story that Fats would tell where their bots wouldn't know how to bet a Pick Em game. "Anyone who knows Fats once he sinks his teeth into something, it's over." Hilarious line.

1:12:00 - Spanky mentions that in re: legal issues, that he would have been MORE clear on the phone and less ambiguous which I think is super interesting. The ambiguity caused some confusion between him being a bettor and a book. Tells a story about how Dink called Spanky because he didn't have anymore credit at Pinny and so Spanky places the bets for him, reads it back to Dink to confirm and the wire tap was like "that's proof you're a book".

1:15:00 - Turning Points: Obviously getting popped legally, but Spanky mentions a very interesting one was when Mansion Sportsbook opened up in 2005 (he says 2005, it might have been 2003) that took him to the next level.

1:16:30 - Partner History: First partner was Sammy, Sammy grew up with Chinese Mike in Queens, NY and Chinese Mike joins Spanky in about 2007.

1:24:00 - Canadian Outs: Says he has no idea lol, mentions betting on Camelot Sportsbook back in the day.

1:27:40 - Mansion Sportsbook: Good history here. Mentions Michael Sampoerna which led me to a pretty interesting article here - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/09/28/inside-mysterious-world-mansion-group-gamblings-biggest-secret/ (much later than the timeframe Spanky is talking about, but interesting that 14 years later they deny he even ever owned the sportsbook). Spanky says its one of the best outs he's ever had in his life. -104 on everything, 100 dime limits on NFL on Monday morning, scalps in baseball, 10-20 dimes a day scalping baseball. Would pull his money out via Neteller. Lasted a whole summer and winter in 2005.

1:31:50 - Most Listened to Episode: The HBob episode where Spanky jokes "he called Spanky a thief on his own podcast" lol.

1:42:30 - Someone asks Spanky about the Browns punt from the 29 and you might as well have asked him how to build a spaceship, about ready to tap out here.

1:44:00 - Letting Go: storm_pig asks a great question about letting go and letting your team run things (just as I was about to tap out too). Interestingly enough it really came down to being able to identify Luke as the talent and just letting him run from there. (I struggle with this since I trust no one and do just about everything myself still even with the ability to identify talent. This is such a great skill that I do not have, kudos to Spanky for recognizing Luke's abilities and then being able to trust enough to let go). Mentions later that Luke was trading baseball cards and that's what caught his eye initially.