Harley Redlick has been a successful sports bettor for the last 15 years.   He’s a Gambling Law Professor and spoken at both BOSA & CGA on sports betting topics.

I was 30 years old and working for the bank when I contemplated quitting my job to play online poker. This was 14 years ago. I had a law degree, an MBA, three years of banking experience and just got a promotion. However, the job was getting boring, making money online playing cards was easy and I calculated my hourly rate would be similar playing poker in my pajamas as it would be underwriting commercial loans.

At the time, many people were making the jump from conventional job to online poker player and the literature on how to prepare and do it was plentiful. Assuming you were good enough to make a living as a professional bettor, the key bankroll and cash requirements were SIX MONTHS LIVING EXPENSES AND A BANKROLL SUFFICIENT TO COVER THE SWINGS. This is in bold because this is the key. To be a successful professional gambler you need BOTH money to live and money to play. Given the volatile nature of gambling, you need time on your side.

Sports bettors and live (casino) poker players just got hit with a ‘once in a lifetime what are the odds’ type of event. NOBODY ever thought what would bring down a successful sports bettor is that sports would stop playing for months on end. Nor did anyone ever contemplate that all casinos and card rooms would close. This is happening ACROSS THE WORLD.

So, what’s the professional sports bettor to do? The Real Sports Bettor Can Handle Covid. Why? He (99% of the time it is a male who decides to bet sports for a living) always has BOTH 6 months living expenses socked away AND his gambling bankroll saved. So Covid to the real sports bettor is merely a time to take a couple months off, refresh and regroup. Furthermore, when the dust settles, the other in prudent pros will be bust so there will be less competition and the casual bettors who provide liquidity will be anxious to bet. It will be a golden time for the prudent sports bettor.

Comments & questions: harley@sharpedgepicks.com