I will admit to witnessing my fair share of unscrupulous business practices within the handicapping industry since establishing Oskeim Sports Consulting, LLC in 2007. Outside of the run-of-the-mill boiler-room operations, high-pressure sales tactics and baseless promises, innuendos and guarantees, the handicapping industry has outdone itself with the following conduct:
- Two separate “handicappers,” both of whom can be found on the internet, actually used my personal biography for their own financial gain. Incredibly, the only modification these two plagiarists made to my personal biography was the college I attended for my undergraduate studies;
- One handicapper, who remains on a well-known pick site, actually stole my Platinum Club selections and used them to his own benefit. This thief had someone subscribe to my service and, thereafter, used my work product for his “Diamond Club.” No, I am not kidding. Even better, he also plagiarized the different syndicate names and email format that I use under the Platinum Club banner. It was, in short, copyright infringement at its highest level.
I will not hide my feelings about the industry in which I am a part of. It disgusts me on so many levels – from praying on the vulnerable to promising the impossible – the handicapping industry is in desperate need of regulation and oversight. I will touch upon that issue in later blog articles, but I wanted to share with you the latest phenomenon taking hold in the industry – “professional handicappers” acting like clowns on Twitter.
If your handicapper and/or handicapping service engages in these activities via Twitter, you need to move along and save yourself the inevitable aggravation and disappointment:
- Taking and posting pictures of cash (usually spread out on a table in denominations of $100 bills) in a desperate effort to gain attention. There are several things wrong with this behavior, not the least of which is that the conduct is completely unverifiable by the reader. It’s a desperate cry for attention and promotes the ever-growing “get-rich-quick” schemes being peddled by many in the industry;
- Posting nauseating play-by-play commentary on the games in which they have released to their clientele. The red flag on this one is obvious – the handicapper is not well-rounded and lives and dies by each and every game. In other words, it’s a prelude to degenerate behavior that is all-too common in the industry as a whole;
- Posting “reverse jinx” tweets in hopes of turning the handicapper’s fortunes around. No, I am not kidding as my Twitter feed is becoming inundated with these types of tweets by so-called professional handicappers who sound more like a disgruntled gambler at the bar than a trusted advisor.
While I am hyper-critical of the handicapping industry, I am in no way perfect myself (just ask my wife). But, the clown show presently being performed on social media by many of my colleagues is both disturbing and depressing. As consumers, you should demand more from the industry in which you follow, beginning with full transparency and documented results.