Episode 47

Pauly C [00:00:00]:

But I think when you come here and, and I'm not trying to denigrate anybody, when you come here and you're an amateur, it's gonna eat you alive.

Shane Mercer [00:00:18]:

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Behind the Lines, the only podcast purifying the sports Sweating industry. Remember to give us a like, download, follow us on all the socials @inplayLIVE. And if you want to see what it's all about on the inside, we've That promo code for you 'BEHINDTHELINES', all caps. I'm your host, Shane Mercer. That guy over there, Andrew Pace, the founder and CEO of inplayLIVE. Pace, We had got a lot of reaction to our episode from last week with the PowerPlay team coming on the show. And once again, I just wanna give them big props for coming on the show And, fielding a lot of tough questions. And since the airing of that episode, you and I have both received some emails from From the power play team, I heard from their, public relations specialists that they hired to to seek publicity in the 1st place.

Shane Mercer [00:01:07]:

And, you know, we we got a lot of, reaction that came in from from all of you out there, the audience, our listeners, viewers, the folks within the inplayLIVE community and some people from outside the inplayLIVE community about the interview, which was, You know, I think a really great opportunity to, one, get an inside look at what goes on behind the lines, so to speak, out of sportsbook, which is what we're all it was what we're here to do. And, you know, it did get contentious at times because, especially when it came to that, wager that was placed where, You know, you had $1,000 on on a side that on a line that that probably shouldn't have existed, and you placed a dollar on on the other side of that line to see what would happen. And, you know, In the end, we have had a bit of a development in that case. They are, crediting, your account, I think, with $100, to kind of make up for it, and they are reviewing some of their practices within. And so I think that that's a a positive outcome from all of that. Now the other thing I wanna say on this topic is that, you know, there is some, some conversation taking place about whether or not The interview was fair as a whole or how they feel about that and and kind of having that brought up during the interview. And I'll just say this, all of the conversations that have taken place, Before, during, and since, nobody on the Powerplay side, nobody from their public relations team, and certainly nobody, Within and our team here at at inplayLIVE, felt that anyone was treated unfairly. The power play team wants to come back on the show at a future date.

Shane Mercer [00:02:45]:

They wanna come back on and and engage with us again and and have some of those tough conversations, which I think is absolutely fantastic that they're that they want to do that and are willing to do that. And, you know, nobody from their their public relations person was very happy that that we had them on even after watching the entire episode. And so, you know, I just wanna say that, yeah, while sometimes things might seem, heated or contentious or tense or or perhaps, adversarial As it often is between sports bettors and sportsbooks, at no point was anybody does anybody feel that they were treated unfairly or disrespect it in any kind of way. And so, I just wanted to kind of put that out there. Also, in the setting up of the interview, I also wanna mention that it was made very clear that we were gonna be talking about, the relationship between sports bettors and sportsbooks and how that sometimes, you know, can be rife with tension. So, you know, full transparency, all that stuff was out there. And at the end of the day, it it seems like everybody is, is satisfied with the way things turned out. Now, you know, Pace, are you getting exactly what you wanted in terms of your account on that PowerPlay account? I don't know.

Andrew Pace [00:03:53]:

Not really. Yeah. That that's not That's not really what it's about for me. I mean, they didn't remove the limits on my account, which is probably smart. Right? And like, I put myself out there in that regard with taking that bet. And again, Like, I didn't know that that was gonna happen. They and they were coming on. It just was one of those things that happened to happen.

Andrew Pace [00:04:16]:

So, yeah, I mean, I give them kudos for coming on. And I think it's awesome that they're planning to come back because, it allows us to keep the conversation going. We know we're gonna ask them difficult questions again, when they do come back. And for that matter, you know, any guest in that sort of same arena Would potentially be exposed to some difficult conversations, obviously, with respect to their practices. But the whole idea of of this is Player protection. Right? When you look at regulators who are potentially funded by the revenue from the sportsbooks, so from the standpoint of Sportsbooks needing to pay taxation in a legalized state, and then that taxation then funding the government run Regulation of that industry, it is very much based on the revenue of the sportsbooks to survive. And then that can leave the player To a certain degree, helpless. That can leave the player in a challenging spot.

Andrew Pace [00:05:15]:

I know specifically in Ontario, Some of the conversation relating to iGaming has been like, hey, guys, has have they actually done anything for anyone? Like, have you not gotten a generic response where they've actually taken action and made an impactful change for For your account and situation, I'm sure there's examples where they have. So I'm not gonna sit here and say that they haven't. But, you know, the players do Tend to kinda be left in the dark and a little bit helpless with a lot of this stuff. And, at a minimum, if we can create awareness around those types of things, and speak directly to them, where, when and where we can, it gets the conversation started. And I will say with that interview, There were things that that caught Rob off guard, unrelating to that, that we brought up, that I think we're just relating to his sportsbooks practices. And What's interesting is I have an email. This has nothing to do with power play, but from a different sportsbook,

Andrew Pace [00:06:13]:

That I received, just yesterday, And, it's essentially saying to me that the people reviewing my documents to verify my account Or a different department that is not allowed to share information with the customer service team and that we just have to Simply be patient and wait on their decision with respect to what it is that they're doing. And when you have those hard conversations with CEOs, COOs, things like that that are essentially viewing this player relationship, you know, the sportsbook player relationship, as something it's almost reminds me of like Elizabeth Holmes with her company where they had different departments isolated from different areas so that People weren't able to talk and interact about what each department was doing, which obviously led to one of the, like a multi $1,000,000,000 Bankruptcy, jail time, etcetera, etcetera. It reminds me of that a little bit where, you know, people are hiding behind these different departments. And when you have The prominent people on and you're able to address those those issues with them, it sheds light on it. Is it gonna change tomorrow? No. But What if we if we can shed shed more light on those situations, I I think it'll ultimately be positive, long term. And and sometimes that takes a little short term pain. So, you know, we're gonna keep fighting and, you know, sometimes we might not do that exactly the way that other people may have wanted us to.

Andrew Pace [00:07:38]:

but, you know, our purpose in this industry is to make an impact and many players that have come through and wagered with us have Experienced a hugely positive impact on on their bankrolls, on their sports betting knowledge, and have gone through a lot of these problems. And I think that everyone could agree that If a lot of these problems didn't exist or existed in a more transparent or realistic long term capacity, that they would have a better and more sustainable sports betting experience regardless of profits. So, yeah, I mean, that's where we're shooting our arrows. And, are we gonna miss the board sometimes? Absolutely. And the best way to learn is to learn from your mistakes. And, You know, the way we go about our business, certainly is not perfect and we've made a ton of mistakes. We'll continue to make them, but The whole goal is to continue to learn as we progress. And, I remember jumping on CTV Where they essentially asked me, you know, if if, doing what I do could promote gambling.

Andrew Pace [00:08:42]:

Right? And you you I think sometimes with the with these Environments you're gonna get asked difficult questions. I've been exposed to it. Obviously, we're gonna expose some people to that kind of thing as well. And And how you handle things in life is a real representation where maybe you didn't handle it the perfect way, but you get the opportunity to say, hey, guys, like, we didn't know about that Situation, that is not our practice. And and just one thing in our correspondence with PowerPlay since then, they have said, like, that is not our practice, And we're actively seeking, you know, a scenario where there was avoided winning wager and making sure that the losing wager is now voided as well, which is a hugely positive Apart from that conversation.

Shane Mercer [00:09:22]:

Yeah. One thing too that that Rob pointed out that I thought was, you know, this makes a lot of sense, but in Europe, especially, because that's where he's sort of operating from and where his experience come from. You know, he made the point that not too many people bet on the losing side of a wager. Right? When when you hang a line like that. Right? You know, he made the point that, hey. People don't usually, You know, place a bet on the side that's gonna be a guaranteed loser. And so they typically don't look at at those wagers. Right? And and so that's kind of an interesting point that he made You know, makes a lot of sense.

Shane Mercer [00:09:53]:

But, yeah, you know, you're absolutely right in the sense that, you know, as we do more of these and we are gonna be bringing more and more guests on the show, Sometimes they they're gonna go in a lot of different directions, and, you know, that's that's a big part of of what we do in interviewing people and bringing them on. You never know Where things are are gonna go and it's kind of what's makes things a little bit exciting. And on that topic, I forgot to mention at the very top of the show, we have a guest on Today's episode. And so really looking forward, to bringing you all Vegas Pauly C in just a few moments, coming up here on the show, who's got some some tips and insights into the world of Las Vegas, and that you'll be on to share some of those with you. But, Pace, before we get into into the interview with Vegas policy. I also wanna bring up a bit of a development sort of taking place in the broadcasting, landscape of of sports. And this is could get into the conversation of latency and that kind of thing. But a big development that kinda took place Over the past week is, Diamond Sports Group reached a deal with Amazon.

Shane Mercer [00:10:56]:

Amazon investing $115,000,000 in Diamond Sports group. And for anyone out there who's like, what's that again? Bally Sports. Diamond Sports Group synonymous with Bally Sports. And, you know, this, this company has these streaming rights. It has the linear TV rights for 37 teams across MLB, NHL, and NBA. And it has the streaming rights for 32 of those teams. There's 5 MLB teams that they don't have the streaming rights for. And so Amazon has essentially given some new life to this company that was going broke.

Shane Mercer [00:11:33]:

They were planning to file for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy. In fact, they had already began bankruptcy proceedings. But the company, Diamond Sports Group, they got a $450,000,000 from from creditors To fund a reorganization plan, and they got another $115,000,000 from Amazon. And so, what this means is that, They will still have the rights to these teams to broadcast them regionally. But I think what's most interesting for us here, PACE, is that when it comes To Amazon, getting involved in the broadcast of games and the streaming of games, we've seen that to be fairly Positive results overall, I think, over time in terms of reducing latency, which is a big sort of, topic that we discuss here often on the show. So, I'm assuming that you're you're, you know, thinking that this is a that this is a good thing, at least for those, you know, regional teams in the broadcast. Right.

Andrew Pace [00:12:27]:

Well, I think one of the storylines we've also followed is the whole YouTube TV Yeah. Latency, and streaming IPTV latency in general and and, you know, it would be unfair to talk about the Issues with one of those platforms and then just ignore the improvements. So YouTube TV has now offered a lower latency. You have to go in and manually turn it on. It lasts 48 hours. After 48 hours, it expires, but then you just turn it right back on again. And it's behind my coaxial cable for most, you know, feeds NFL, NHL for sure. But consistently has been my fastest feed for college basketball and for NBA.

Andrew Pace [00:13:08]:

So that is a tremendous improvement from Google and YouTube TV. Now with respect to Amazon Prime, we've already just seen a a tremendous product from them with their Thursday night football. So I look at this and I go, that's great news. It's positive news. We're hopefully gonna get more Fast, low latency streaming options from Amazon. And as as these companies compete, which clearly Amazon's, you know, buying out Bally or or Or whatever exactly happened, is them, you know, showing that they're gonna continue to compete in this sports streaming space. And, latency is certainly a part of the Station, now. So, really positive news and something really exciting, I think, for the future of The ability to have games on without having elaborate setups Like what I have in my living room.

Andrew Pace [00:13:58]:

So you might be able to pop 3, 4 games onto a laptop and just have it right in front of you, and you've got a great viewing experience.

Shane Mercer [00:14:05]:

Yeah. Which is, you know, that that would just be fantastic. I know that, Amazon is also sort of trying to create these more official Partnerships with the leagues themselves. And so there's there's a lot of questions going on in the sports, and sports broadcasting world about this deal with Diamond Ford's group. And, you know, is this going to help them, you know, in securing those bigger, longer term, streaming rights partnerships that that Amazon is kind of trying to work on. So, you know, I expect to see Amazon as a as a massive player in the sports broadcasting world as over over the next few years and and for that to just continue to grow. And, you know, when I think about that, I also can't help but think about the fact that here's a company that started off selling books online. Just unbelievable to think of of what it's done.

Shane Mercer [00:14:53]:

Yeah. Wild. Yeah. Crazy. Pretty pretty wild and crazy. Alright. On that topic of wild and crazy, Vegas Pauly c. For anyone out there that hasn't seen this guy on social media, he's got a ton of videos out there exposing all kinds of things about, what goes on inside Las Vegas casinos, but also a lot of the other sort of, elements in the Las Vegas Fear as well.

Shane Mercer [00:15:17]:

And so we were lucky enough, to connect with him and have him come on the show and share us some insights. So without further ado, Here is Vegas Pauly C. Vegas Pauly C. Paul Contino, welcome to the show. Really glad to have you. Thanks for joining us, buddy.

Pauly C [00:15:35]:

Thank you. Hi.

Shane Mercer [00:15:36]:

I hope I I hope I nailed that right because for all of you guys out there who scroll Instagram, TikTok, and other social media, you've probably heard the man himself say that at some point, especially if you are interested in sports betting, self say that at some point, especially if you are interested in sports betting like most of our audiences. Chances are you've heard that that sign off before. But, Pauli Sy, for people who don't know you, tell us a little bit about who you are as a Vegas insider and influencer.

Pauly C [00:16:03]:

Okay? So I started a company called The Comp Wallet about 4 or 5 years ago. And what I was going to do is it was going to replace all the snail mail Delivery that takes place with the Vegas offers, that come to you. And I was completely delusional and completely naive And none of the casinos really wanted anything to do with me. So, I got a couple of meetings with a couple of casino executives and they basically said, Well, who the hell are you? You're nobody. We don't want anything to do with your product. So I originally contracted with a very, rather large Vegas influencer. And she worked for me for about 8 months and I didn't really feel like she was doing the job that she promised me that she would do. And she was charging me $4,000 a month.

Pauly C [00:16:46]:

So I already walked incredibly long distances anyway because I had been obese. I was 2 30 pounds And when I was about forty seven, I had enough of that. My knee hurt and, you know, I had all kinds of issues. So I decided to get ripped. I decided to get lean. So I already was walking 15 miles a day. So all I did on February 1, 2022 is I combined TikTok Live along with my long distance walks. And day 1, it was 2 people, then it was 3 people.

Pauly C [00:17:13]:

And then all of a sudden I had a couple 100 people watching me and I said, wow, this is easy for me. I'm in incredible physical shape, you know, no ego. It's just reality. And I can walk long distances and talk to everybody. And, you know, I always tell this to people and I really mean it. You don't make Vegas as an influencer. Vegas makes you. So I know for a fact, like if I was in Miami, if I was in New York, if I was in Toronto, Whatever I am there, you know, I'm 10x in Vegas.

Pauly C [00:17:41]:

So, if I would have 70 people watch a video in Toronto, 700 people would watch it in Vegas. So what happens with Vegas is it just becomes an accelerant to whoever you are and then you become more and more into it and then you start to do more and more. And I spent about a year bumbling around. And then in 2023, I decided to get a little more serious about it. I had about 80,000 followers And I started making more content. I started making more videos. I started doing things that interested me. You know, like great games to play, better odds on craps, better casinos, better places to stay.

Pauly C [00:18:14]:

And when I started to make that content, you know, my account just started to grow. And I said, wow, I'm getting a good reaction from, you know, doing actual Vegas content instead of fooling around. And then I had to look back for this because I had no idea and it became such a big part of everything. On April 4th, I ended a video and there was no premeditation. There was no thought process. Everything is extremely organic. But when I would end a video, I just wouldn't do anything. The video would end it and that would be it.

Pauly C [00:18:41]:

So on April 4th this year, and you can look back in all my videos, all of a sudden, I ended a video with Vegas Pauly C. I just ended it like that. And I kind of liked it. And I was always excited when I do a video because I can get very excited for 1 minute. And the more I just said Vegas Pauly C over the course of a month or 2 months, it became more stylized and then people grabbed on to it and then it and then my video started to go and then it became Vegas policy. Stop running up to me on the Strip, you know, and I start hearing it in my ear. And then I say, Oh, I think I have something here. I think I'll run with it.

Pauly C [00:19:20]:

And, you know, it's been fantastic. I mean, but, you know, at 5859 to find out that you have some, you know, Talent, you know, whatever you want to call it, that people enjoy, it's mind blowing. It's mind blowing. It's like, why didn't someone I found this 10 years ago. I had no idea. I never did social media. I had a Facebook. It had 14 people on it.

Pauly C [00:07:37]:

And then for this to go organically to the point where I'm getting invited all over the place. It's like, you know, I was telling the story about the XS. I've told a quick story about the XS nightclub. So I'm a compulsive gambler and I've been going to the wind for years years years. And I would walk by XS Nightclub. And my immediate thought was, Well, I wonder what goes on in there. I'm never going to go in there. Well, wouldn't you know it that about 3 or 4 months ago, XS Wynn nightlife.

Pauly C [00:20:10]:

And this turned my girlfriend around totally because up until then, she really wasn't taking this very seriously. Win nightlife contacted me And they said, we want you to come to the Concours Auto Show. And I went to the Concours Auto Show as an influencer and I was all over the moon. But when I was there, XS Nightclub contacted me. And I'm thinking to myself, oh my God, you know, I mean, you know, you have to understand. It's like, Imagine you never well, of course, I did not go to the prom. Imagine like going back to high school and then going to the prom of like the hottest girl. I always have a joke about the win that the win is like the hottest girl in Vegas.

Pauly C [00:20:09]:

And the reason I always lose all my money to win is because, Oh, my God, you're so hot. Just take all my money. I just, I don't even want my money. You're just so hot. Just take my money. So, on New Year's Eve At 12:45, I got contacted by a guy named, I think his name is David Hadden. He's a pretty big guy over there at XS. I think his name is David.

Pauly C [00:21:05]:

His last name's definitely Hadden. And I got contacted by him and I showed up there at 12:45 and they grabbed me. I I mean, I want to get emotional but they grabbed me right off the line and they said, We know who you are. Come in. And they put me right up on the stage with the chain smokers. And there I am, you know, The young people in the crowd must have been like, who's that zombie up there? Who's that guy up there? Look at it. You know what I mean? It looks just so new. It's like me And the chain smokers and 4,000 people trying to party on New Year's to never go to XS, to think in your soul and your heart that you won't belong in XS, to not want to spend the money to get a tip, to be grabbed off the line and thrown up on the stage, that's social media.

Pauly C [00:21:49]:

I mean, that's everybody's dream, right?

Shane Mercer [00:21:51]:

It is.

Pauly C [00:21:51]:

So that was, you know, if I die next year, I'll be like, okay.

Andrew Pace [00:21:48]:

You made it into XS.

Shane Mercer [00:22:01]:

Then on stage, yeah.

Pauly C [00:22:03]:

I don't know if you guys probably have friends who are nerdy or you probably have friends who are awkward. You know, I'm that guy. So for me, and like, what am I doing up on stage with chainsmokers? It was mind blowing.

Shane Mercer [00:21:59]:

All right. Wow. What a story there, Pauly, first off, congratulations on your success in getting into XS. Congratulations on your weight loss journey. That's Pretty significant all on its own right there. So, you know, way to go. Now, I wanted to ask you, you know, how you gained all this knowledge about Vegas, but it becomes very clear to me how you did it as as as you called yourself a compulsive gambler. I'm assuming you've spent a significant amount of time in Vegas before you became an influencer.

Shane Mercer [00:22:42]:

And that's how you gained all of this knowledge about the table games, the slots, you know, and and all the the sort of ins and outs of Vegas that, You know, is is sort of the foundation of the content that you share. So give our audience a little bit of insight into what they should play, why they should play it, what they should avoid, And some of the major sort of traps and pitfalls of Vegas.

Pauly C [00:23:04]:

Well, if you're going to play in the casino and you're not going to be An advantage player. So there are advantage players. There's 1 very big one as a matter of fact. I'm not going to go into it. I think he kind of admits he's an advantage player. And if you're not going to be an advantage player on the slots, in other words, if you're not going to roam around and look for the wilds and do all of that stuff, which You know, 1 in 500 machines is in an advantage position probably. You know, the must hits at 10,000, the must hits at 100,000. If you're not going to do that, if you're just going to walk raw into the casino, there's 2 games that you can play.

Pauly C [00:23:37]:

I kind of call it the golden rule and I was talking about it for a long time on my live And I still reference it once in a while. And I consider, the golden rule to be, you really can only play casino games that are 0.005 or less advantage to the house. So, that's 1 half of 1%. And there's an interesting Story that kind of goes along with that. I sometimes ask people this. I say to people, if you sat down at Baccarat with $1,001 chips, What percentage chance do you have to get to 1200 chips betting $1 at a time if you're betting the banker, which is the best bet? So in other words, you have $1,001 chips you want to get to 1200. So basically, you need to win 200. You need to get up 200 hands on the banker.

Pauly C [00:24:23]:

And as you know, the advantage on the Bank of It's 1.07% or 1.08%. And nobody really answers this, but I'm going to answer it for you. You have less than a 1% chance of winning 200 units on Baccarat if you start with $1,001 chips and you want to get to 1200. So, already, Baccarat is already, You know, a terrible game for you, but nobody realizes that. And that's why they give you a big discount if you play back or if you come in with $1,000,000, they'll give you a 20% discount. That's why the house has really moved to that. And that's why a lot of the big players have moved up over to Baccarat because Blackjack, If you play blackjack, and I just did a video on this a couple days ago, it actually didn't get a lot of views. But I found a game at Treasure Island That is double deck, dealer stands on A6, which has now become incredibly rare in Las Vegas.

Pauly C [00:25:12]:

It's a $50 minimum. So the advantage on that game is 0.0019. So if you put $1,000 through that machine, you are only giving the house A dollar 90. So you can play 20 hands over there for less than a dime a hand at $50 a hand. So when you're playing a game like that, and I know you guys know this from sports gambling, you have a real legitimate chance of having the variance go your way and not getting ground down by the house edge. The same thing with 3, 4, 5 crafts and even better 10 times odds crafts. So 3, 4, 5 times odds crafts is 0.0037 for the house. As a matter of fact, there's another funny story that goes with that.

Pauly C [00:25:53]:

Steve Wynn at one point got so sick and tired of his hold being so low on craps That he went from 3, 4, 5 odds back to double odds. And I remember listening to that conference call where he did that. And that brings the house edge up to 0.55, 0 point 0.05, which is 55100. So really the only 2 games where you can walk into the casino and it's less than half of a percent Outside of the advantage plays on the slot machine are craps 3, 4, 5 and 10 times even better. 10 times is 0.002, which is only $2 on $1,000 or blackjack, you know, the good odds, the good advantage game on blackjack, which is the 6 deck game. So the 6 deck game at the ARIA, at Bellagio, at Venetian, at the Wynn, the 6 deck game with surrender, We split aces, double after splits, that game is 0.0028. So you're only giving away 2.80 cents on $1,000 in action. So if you're playing 10 hands, at $100 a hand and you can get that minimum during the week, By all of my estimations and all of my experience and everything that I've done inside of the casinos, we're getting more and if you're like not a jerk, which I'm never a jerk in the casino.

Pauly C [00:27:09]:

Whatever comps I get, I'm like, Gee, thank you very much. I don't push for comps. If you're not a jerk, You're getting more in comps than you're giving away in house edge.

Andrew Pace [00:27:18]:

I gotta ask you a question, Pauly, because I mean, our viewers and everyone that's gonna be listening to this podcast, You know, we we try to encourage people not to gamble, but from the standpoint of, you know, Vegas promoting gambling and Some of the losses that you've experienced over your life. And then obviously you understand math, so you go into some of the details of, you know, the the house hedges for different games. What would your advice be to someone that is approaching Vegas, from the standpoint of, like, the pitfalls and traps that are associated with The casino itself. So, like, to take a step back from needing to do it and more so looking at, like, the average, you know, traveler coming into Vegas. Like, Should they play? Or is that a dark path they're heading down? Should they not? Like, what would your advice be to them?

Pauly C [00:28:04]:

Well, so, you know, with Vegas, I used to say there were 3 things. There's really 4. So for me, and I'm sure you could add more, but there's 4 major pitfalls in Vegas. There's the girl thing, You know, there's the alcohol thing. There's the food thing. And there's the gambling thing. And then I say to my girlfriend, you know, she doesn't want to give me this. But I say to her, honey, you No, I don't do the drinking thing really.

Pauly C [00:28:28]:

I kind of have my drinking under control. I certainly don't do the girl thing because she'll catch me like that. Plus, I love her so much. But I do the gambling thing. And she says, Yeah. But, you know, you're still doing the gambling thing. So if you're coming to Vegas, you need to know What your weaknesses are before you get here. You know, there's people on planes right now landing in Las Vegas and they know they have a drinking situation.

Pauly C [00:28:52]:

And they're coming here and they know they're going to binge. There's people coming here who have a gambling thing. And from my experience with therapy, and I've been to therapy 3 times, you know, where it lasted like 6 months. The therapists that I walk into, they're like, It's a fait accompli when you go in there and you tell them you're a compulsive gambler, that you're also an alcoholic. Now, for whatever reason, I'm not an alcoholic. But they tell me that 95% of compulsive gamblers are also alcoholics. So there's a tremendous tie in there. So getting back to Vegas, Vegas is here for medical reasons.

Pauly C [00:29:29]:

No, Vegas is here to give you that medicine that you need. It's here to give you that crazy food. I don't know if you guys have around. But there's plenty of people eating a lot of food in Vegas. It's here to give you that crazy alcohol. The girl thing is everywhere. You know, they got showgirls on the strip. There's topless bars all over the place.

Pauly C [00:29:47]:

We don't need to go into the greeters. That's what we call them on my show. We call them greeters. You know who I'm talking about. So if you come here, you should You know, I'm pretty much a pro at avoiding all of this stuff because I've been doing this for so long and I need to survive. But I think when you come here and I'm not Trying to denigrate anybody. When you come here and you're an amateur, it's going to eat you alive.

Shane Mercer [00:30:09]:

Vegas Poly C. You You brought some really great wisdom, advice, tips to our show that I think our audience will very much appreciate. I want to just thank you for coming on and, and wish you all the best With the taco business.

Pauly C [00:30:23]:

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Shane Mercer [00:30:26]:

All right, Pace. That was Paul Contino. What a bit of a character there. Now for everybody out there, we talked to Pauly c for a very long time, PACE, and I that wasn't the entire interview because we just couldn't jam it all into one episode. But that was some of the really, great, advice that he was able to share that sort of takes you kind of, you know, behind the scenes in Las Vegas and and pace, I guess. You know, anything there surprising you?

Andrew Pace [00:30:51]:

No. But I think it's important to touch on a lot of the things there. So, we didn't we didn't air the whole interview because for the sake of our podcast, we really do want to focus on Topics relating to, some of the things we touched on earlier. So sportsbooks player relationships, what's going on in the industry, regulation, edges, ways to win, etcetera, etcetera. And, when it comes to Vegas as a whole, like obviously you could say this about the sports betting landscape as But when it comes to Vegas as a whole, it is an area that's known for gambling and known for losing, right? So if you get information, we always say this information is power And you learn about, the ways to go about gambling in a more responsible way from the standpoint of Good, good thing there. House edge. Right? So when you're looking at a slot machine that potentially has a 10% edge versus, And, you know, a blackjack table or, a craps table that has less than a 1 percentage, losing less is more powerful. But at the same time, How does Vegas have a less than 1 percentage on a blackjack table? Serve you premium cocktails for free, Have someone dealing you the cards as well as pit bosses and and whomever else is going on, keep the lights on, all that kind of stuff.

Andrew Pace [00:32:10]:

If they're only making like a buck for every $1,000 that you spend or a couple bucks for every $1,000 that you spend. And the simple reality is is if you you sit down at a blackjack table or a craps table with $1,000, how often are you like, sweet, I lost $2 and I got a free drink. Right? Like Pretty much never, right? So, there's more to it than just the edge. There's the psychology of how you play, people trying to time things that can't be timed, or can't be timed by the average player, I should say. And, you know, Vegas is they're doing okay. You know, they're, they are keeping the lights on and business is booming on the strip. So I think from an awareness standpoint, a lot of conversations with, you know, a Vegas insider that might tell you something about, Bringing comps into their edge. So you go, you know, this particular game is less than a 1% edge or a 1% edge.

Andrew Pace [00:33:10]:

But once I brought my comps into play, I ended up up on the trip. So I got my free room or I got, you know, my free drinks or or whatever the case may be. That promotes gambling because you end up going back and you end up making decisions that have negative expected value over the long term. Now, I've said this on the show before, I do gamble when I go to Vegas. I allocate a certain amount of money, which tends to be Far less than 1% of my sports betting bankroll or sports betting wagers, far less. And I go there fully with the intent of of losing those funds. I've come back with money a couple times, but more often than not, I I do end up losing it. And the Casino is a place where we don't, number 1, want to be promoting.

Andrew Pace [00:33:57]:

And number 2, that that we don't want to Give people the perception that like quote unquote with comps, you you can, you know, end up up for lack of a better term. That isn't a message that we want to necessarily promote. What we want to promote is creating awareness to the gambling space. And then on top of that, if you are going to engage in this behavior for recreational or entertainment purposes, we're not gonna argue against that. Like I said, I do it myself. Doing it in a way that's a little bit more intelligent with a little bit more understanding of how you can lose less, by being responsible. That's what I would say.

Shane Mercer [00:34:41]:

Yeah. You know, he had a a lot to say there. You know, for me as as somebody who's going in there, I don't know that I could Could do all that math on the fly, especially as somebody who doesn't play a lot of table games or casinos or anything like that. I think if I go to Vegas, I gotta just take that approach That, you know, kinda kinda like you said, a very small amount of money and be willing to kinda just lose it all and go have a little bit of fun and and maybe I'll, You know, eat a great couple great meals and have a few drinks and enjoy a show or something like that. That's that's probably it for me, going to Las Vegas, but based on sort of how he kinda Described it all there. Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:35:16]:

So, Shane, from the standpoint of line shopping, so if you think about The sports betting world and what we do, and obviously what a lot of our listeners do. If we have a live wager, you know, and we've got minus 2a half At 1 sportsbook and everywhere else is offering minus 3a half. You've usually gained an edge there. Always, but you've usually gained an edge there, especially implying that the odds are the same regardless of the line. Because sometimes someone might listen to this and be like, Oh, you know, Everware's at minus 3a half and I've got Minus 2.5, but it might be minus 200 when what we're implying there is that the juice on there is more normal For lack of a better term. So, you know, closer to the minus 110 range. Right? But from the standpoint of line shopping and what we do, we do that to find value, that will hopefully return a long term profit. Now, we do turn a long term profit, which which is great.

Andrew Pace [00:36:16]:

But taking that exact same approach and then going, okay, I'm going into a casino and you look at the changes that have happened on the Las Vegas Strip. And this is just something for gamblers to be aware of. You don't even ever have to have had gone to Vegas before because it's a trend with casinos outside of Vegas Where blackjack has an edge and blackjack achieving 21 on 2 cards, returns 3 to 2 at the table. Well, across the strip now it's 6 to 5. So just like that, the change in the price that you, Our our playing app went heavily to the house. Roulette wheels having not 1 green space on the wheel, which is the edge, but two Was happened, you know, in the last 20 years. So many of them now are at 3 green spaces, which which I think tilts the edge up to, like, 11% or something like that. I'm not, I haven't looked at the numbers specifically.

Andrew Pace [00:37:12]:

So when you are doing this stuff, Sometimes the difference of losing potentially 1% versus 10 or 11, But again, we're not talking about winning. We are still talking about losing is that same process of just doing a little bit of line shopping to still have fun and enjoy yourself and blah, blah, blah. But Just doing it a little bit smarter if you're going to engage in that in that arena.

Shane Mercer [00:37:36]:

Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think for for me personally, I would do it so little That it almost wouldn't be worth the time and investment to even do the shopping. If I'm gonna go do it, I'll throw some money down and, you know, let it go, and That that'll be it. Then we're we're at it.

Andrew Pace [00:37:49]:

Take my money.

Shane Mercer [00:37:50]:

Take my money. Have it. Have it. You know? And then give me a free drink while you're at it, and, hey, I'm happy. And then we're you know, I'm done and out of there. On that topic of line shopping, though, we have got a great tool that we use at inplayLIVE. It's been I've been watching it quite often, On the, pro Discord audio stream.

Shane Mercer [00:38:09]:

So if you're a part of inplayLIVE already and you're just in members, well, we have the pro members and we have audio streams in addition to the live streams that you're probably familiar Alrighty. And we use the odds jam tool quite frequently to shop lines and see where the lines are at and that kind of thing, pace. A lot of people, I think, really appreciating the OddsJam, tool feature.

Andrew Pace [00:38:30]:

Yeah. OddsJam is a great tool. And from the standpoint of screen real estate, Not a lot of people have multiple devices and things like that. And you're condensing dozens of sportsbooks into 1 screen. You still have to then go to that sportsbook to place But you're getting that information, in a fast and condensed way so that you can see multiple lines at the same time. And it's kind of like a little...

Andrew Pace [00:38:54]:

A little tool in your back pocket that ensures value relative to the other lines that you're taking. And also too, I've been a Huge victim of this, so people will notice this on that I do on the livestream. Sometimes because of the way I bet, I will be looking at a game and I'll almost make up A line in my head that I want to wager on. So it's like, if I could get this right now, this would be the bet that I'd wanna take where I haven't even necessarily looked at the lines yet. And then I might see that line and feel like I'm getting value on it, and place the bet not having scanned. And OddsJam will help keep you in check where you go, oh, you liked minus 3 and a half, but you can actually get minus 2a half at 2 or 3 other sportsbooks. You can quickly see that information before, placing the wagers, which Which is really helpful. We do have a promo code if anyone wants to try out OddsJam.

Andrew Pace [00:39:46]:

It's a free free trial for 7 days, and then thereafter, you get a nice discount. So if you use code 'inplaylive', you get 35% off your 1st month, but then it's full price after that. If you use code 'inplaylive15', you get 15% off In perpetuity, so ongoing. So check that out guys, if you're interested.

Shane Mercer [00:40:04]:

Yeah. Yeah. Pretty cool stuff there. Alright. Well, that just about does it, for this week. Next week, we're gonna be talking about exchanges. Pretty cool stuff. More guests Coming up as I mentioned, last week, and I'll continue to kind of promote, we are gonna be bringing you all a lot of different voices from the sports betting world and the world of, Betting generally, like today, we heard from from Vegas policy in Vegas.

Shane Mercer [00:40:26]:

So, you know, we'll we'll expand a little bit in that sense, but we will still keep it very much focused on sports. And, yes, next week, We're gonna hear from the CEO of an exchange, which is still a fairly new concept, I think, in North America, sort of tried and true On the other side of the pond, but but very new here and, really excited to to, have them on and chat with them and kind Explore this topic. I I don't think I fully understand it myself in terms of exactly how it works yet. So, really excited to kinda dig into that and learn a bit, and, and hopefully, all of you out there will We'll learn something from that too. So that's coming up next week. And until then, PACE, keep beating those books.

Andrew Pace [00:41:04]:

Right. And on a final note on keep beating those books, whether it's a casino or whether it's the sportsbooks themselves, We've just seen problem gambling does exist, and it exists in a very, very real way. Recognize the signs, put yourself under the microscope, Whether you like it, love it, hate it, whatever the case or impact it's been on your life, if it's continuing to provide you with losses and net negative returns, Make a change. Right? Have the self awareness to recognize the patterns in your life that are causing those problems. And as much as people talking about winning ends up promoting gambling, If you are not winning yourself, what is the point? Truly, what is the point? So ask yourself that question and be smart with all your Sports betting decisions. And as you said, Shane, keep beating those books. Alright.

Shane Mercer [00:42:00]:

Great message as always. Alright, buddy. Till next week. Take care. Cheers. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Behind the Lines. Remember to like, download, and subscribe. We are on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and everywhere you get your podcasts.

Shane Mercer [00:40:01]:

Have a betting story or wanna be featured on our podcast? Drop a note in the comments below. And if you wanna join inplayLIVE, use promo code 'BEHINDTHELINES'.