Make your living by gambling on online sports

Clay’s first sports bet was on Super Bowl XXXII, Packers vs. Broncos. He bet on the Packers. He lost. Now, the Nashville native makes a living betting on sports. He has a bookie, overseas accounts, a system and instinct. “I definitely have a love affair of sorts with gambling,” Clay said. Clay was a senior in high school when he made that first bet. Throughout college he developed connections, explored online sports books and expanded his sports betting horizons. By the time he graduated he was hooked. There are two things, he said, that really get people addicted to betting on sports — beginner’s luck and hindsight. “It’s uncanny,” Clay said. “Everyone is hot at first. I swear, at the beginning of a season Vegas dumbs down their lines so people will get up and get a big head, and then they go in for the kill later on. “That and hindsight is 20-20. If you look back and realize you were wrong, you were an idiot, you had no business taking that bet, you can always say, ‘OK. That is an easily correctable mistake. I won’t do that again.’ “Those two things apply to sports gambling more than anything else.” Those are the two things that got Clay. He bets on almost all sports, but likes the NFL the best. “The NFL is always where I have felt I have a leg up,” Clay said. “I have always been a sports nut. Basically I think that you can outsmart the books. You can catch them with their pants down at times. That’s how you make money.” In mid-October, PresidentBush signed into law the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which is meant to stop people like Clay from being able to place bets by making it illegal for U.S. regulated banks and financial institutions to transfer money to Internet gambling sites. However, many gamblers like Clay have already succeeded in finding ways around that ban, such as using e-Wallets provided by companies not under U.S. jurisdiction and not subject to the new law. “You just have to get creative,” Clay said. He mostly bets on instinct. He likes instinct, risks “The way I look at it, the less you know the better,” he said. “Crunching numbers and stuff, I see that as pretty much useless because it is still just sports. People are still going to drop passes and throw interceptions. If you have a gut feeling about it, dealing with intuition is more successful.” Of course, Clay doesn’t pass up opportunities to take advantage of what he sees as an oddsmaker’s mistake. Early in the 2005 NFL season, for example, there was a plus-750 line that Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander would be the league’s most valuable player. Clay took that bet. A week later it was down to plus-175. When Alexander was named MVP in January, Clay made more than four times what people made who waited a week to bet. He got lucky again when he placed a $100 bet on the NBA Rookie of the Year to be New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul. The payoff: $750. Of course it hasn’t all been big gains. Between Dec. 1 and Dec. 19 last year, Clay placed 106 bets with an online sports book and won 23. He risked $3,206.87 and his return was $2,269.64. That’s a loss of almost $1,000 in a little more than two weeks. “I will have sobering epiphanies,” Clay said. “But it doesn’t mean anything.” He’s had hard losses Clay said he has lost more than money. A long-term relationship, personal property and, at times, his dignity have been casualties of his betting. “There’s definitely been some trying times,” Clay said. When he was a college sophomore, Clay said, he had his tires slashed by his bookie. Clay was down $1,500 and the bookie was afraid Clay would skip town. He almost did. “That was definitely a wake-up call,” Clay said. Clay admitted his mood is volatile, reflective of the ups and downs of winning and losing. Gambling, he said, “is not a sexy endeavor. It’s kind of stupid. There are definitely more constructive ways to spend your time.” Clay has tried other things. He graduated from college with a degree in psychology and did social work for a while. When his job description was changed to require more education he bailed. That’s when Clay discovered he could make a living by gambling. “There was a two-month span where on average I would have $1,500 in my account each weekend, and I would bet every penny of it on all sorts of various teasers,” Clay said. “I felt like I had it down cold enough to win a good portion of them. It kept up for a while, and I made a fair amount of money, probably six or seven grand. “It turns into imaginary money after a while because you don’t earn it. And when you get up you are so inclined to double it because if you lose it it’s nothing.” Clay doesn’t consider himself an addict. He said he was once, maybe, a few years ago, but not now. “The addictive element has run its course,” Clay said. Now, he said, he could walk away from gambling if he wanted to, but he doesn’t want to. “I like it, and honestly I feel like I am shortchanging myself if I don’t bet,” Clay said. “I feel like there’s money to be made, and if I am not betting I am not making it.” Sports, Clay said, have taken on a whole new meaning. “It’s exhilarating,” Clay said. “It’s hard to go back to a game not betting on it when you have before.” Win or lose.