LAS VEGAS — I had planned to ask professional bettor Bill Krackomberger two, maybe three questions, about a -recent text message.
We met late Saturday morning at the South Point sportsbook. On a day filled with so many games, I aimed for efficiency, -allowing him to conduct his business.
More than two hours later, we finally parted. A few well-wishers greeted and thanked him, for his insights across several national platforms.
He fielded texts regularly. Lines from earmarked games were moving, requiring action. Twice, phone calls were imperative.
The Krack Man would grab his tablet, peruse his OddsLogic account and enter wagers on different sportsbook apps; I accidentally glimpse one balance that is prodigious.
Tangents were many. It took scant effort for us to yap about Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Steve Lawrence, Al Martino or Jo Stafford.
Finally, I delivered the line that triggered this meeting.
What 57-year-old Bill Krackomberger, one of the most prolific punters and public figures in the industry, believes about PASPA, or the Bradley Act, the bill that had restricted states from sports gambling.
In May 2018, the US Supreme Court abolished Sen. Bill Bradley’s signature bill that had become law in 1992.
“I wish,” Krack said, “it hadn’t been repealed.”
Must-read
Krackomberger sent me a link to a February 2022 feature, a glance at the life of a problem-gambling telephone counselor in Connecticut, on ESPN’s website.
Kaitlin Brown had been working in addiction services for 14 years and might be a typical voice on the other end of a toll-free help line for people who think they might have a gambling problem.
Since the end of PASPA, ESPN scribe Ryan Hockensmith reported of a “giant spike” in both the volume of calls and the number of callers who specifically mention sports betting as an issue.
A caller, in his 20s, told Brown how he’d blown through thousands of dollars that his parents thought were intended for college. He also delved in cryptocurrency and day trading, typical of younger callers.
It’s also common for such callers to reveal that, other than to a counselor such as Brown, they’d never said, aloud, to anyone else, that they might have a gambling problem.
Problem gamblers are much more likely to attempt suicide, or have suicidal thoughts, studies show, compared with other addictions, and the average problem gambler -directly impacts nine other people.
Brown funnels people toward the proper next step, whether that’s locating the nearest Gamblers Anonymous meeting or treatment.
She would sometimes give out her direct number, having discovered that a sympathetic, actual human being just a call away, rather than having to navigate the help-line process again, is beneficial.
Krack predicted countless busy signals with such hotlines.
Curious, I called one. After five rings, a recording played, requesting a detailed message, about the circumstances of the call, and a cell number, for a return call, “as soon as possible.”
Calls to the Connecticut line had quadrupled since sports betting became legal. Worse, the approximate number of online-chat requests for 2021, more than 13,000, was equaled in the first month of 2022.
The feature has stuck with Krackom-
berger, who considers it a must-read for anyone in the arena.
“It’s fantastic,” he said. “I want people to know what it is. I believe in having a responsible-gambling platform.”
Icebergs
The NFL (Calvin Ridley, Josh Shaw), MLB (Emmanuel Clase, Luis Ortiz), NBA (Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, Damon Jones, Jontay Porter, et al) and NHL (Shane Pinto) have all experienced recent betting issues.
Tim Donaghy officiated NBA games for 13 seasons until he was caught in a gambling scandal and, in 2007, sentenced to prison.
On a ClutchPoints podcast last month, Donaghy said the Billups-Rozier-Jones scandal represented the tip of an iceberg and that he had received a text message from an FBI agent who had worked his case.
“He basically said they’re not going to be able to cover this up like they covered up mine,” Donaghy said. “David Stern really ran that whole investigation and it got shut down by the highest level of people.”
Stern was the NBA commissioner, an -office Adam Silver now occupies.
“I still think what happened with Donaghy was probably 100 times worse than what was revealed,” Krack said. “On the NBA, you could get down 100 times more money than what you can get down on any player prop.
“They kind of brushed it under the carpet. We have only seen part of the iceberg. I can only imagine what’s going on behind closed doors with these league executives.”
The gouge
This thread, however, is about Joe Six-Pack and the 39 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, where sports betting has been legalized..
“To many people, those types of prop bets that were underground before PASPA was repealed were one time a year, for the Super Bowl,” Krack said. “That’s it. I couldn’t get down on all these props like I can now.”
He showed me an app with scores of prop offerings just for the two quarterbacks of a random NFL game.
Krack admits a fraction of his rancor regards the two-team six-point NFL teasers he could get at even money 20 years ago. Today, he’s paying -135, or risk $135 to win $100. An unbeatable percentage, he said.
So he sticks to certain player props.
But that’s Krack, who has fared well over the decades. He knows many aren’t like him, that Joe Six-Pack doesn’t ponder -135 odds.
“Why? Because they’re new to this,” he said. “They’ve been watching sports forever and think they know what they’re doing. They don’t know. People have no idea about the prices.
“And gambling hotlines cannot keep enough staff, because closet gambling is out of control. Today, ESPN wouldn’t run that article.”
The greed
Krack hails from the Bronx and grew up around gambling tentacles all over the -Jersey Shore boardwalks.
There were challenges, but he met some wise people and learned how to prosper in sports betting. He knows he’s the anomaly.
“I try to teach people my playbook,” Krack said. “I was a losing gambler long before I was a winner. It took someone to show me, This is how you win.”
Around us, dozens of people jump for joy and cheer, or grumble and toss tickets to the ground.
“It’s the sweat equity,” he said. “The dopamine.”
He is uncomfortable. This isn’t his scene.
“Not me at all,” Krack said. “Just give me the final score.”
About 15 years ago, on the HBO show “Vice,” a producer asked Krack if he believed PASPA would ever be overturned.
No, Krack said.
“I thought Nevada had the lock on it,” he said. “I was wrong. Then again, whenever the kind of money being thrown around is given to the right people, the politicians, the lobbyists . . . the greed.
“That money will make people do things they know they shouldn’t do. I never put that greed factor into my decision-making process. PASPA getting repealed was the No. 1 surprise of the past 20 years, maybe of my entire life.”
I ask Krack how much worse problem-gambling has become since that article.
Twice as bad?
Maybe five times?
“It’s 20 times worse.”