Jay Rood, sportsbook director for MGM/Mirage (largest sportsbook in Vegas, and where I do most of my sports betting when there!) said: “Sports is sort of like an escape. It’s like a movie but better. You get to watch for three hours and you can bet $50 and get free cocktails. You might even win $50, more if you parlay it.”

Interesting. So, he is basically selling Las Vegas’ largest casino-operated sportsbook to the “entertainment expense” crowd. These folks are sports bettors that like to rationalize sports betting as nothing more than an entertainment expense. These types of bettors are common, and if that’s you, we mean no offense at all! You guys are hugely important to sportsbooks, and to be honest, you guys are the ones they depend on to make their money.

Because you are so quick to justify your betting as an “entertainment expense”, you are doomed to lose. Period. By definition, treating betting as an entertainment expense means that you are approaching your bet with the expectation that you will lose your money. Of course, you’ll win your bet some of the time, but over the long-term, it’s going to be a losing proposition to you. To continue with Jay Rood’s movie analogy, when you enter a theater and prepare to sit down to a 2 hour film, you do so with the expectation that you will leave 2 hours later without the money you used to get in. That’s a pretty standard transaction in our culture- an exchange of money for a good or a service.

So then, is it any wonder that the sportsbook director – the guy who is assigned the sole task of squeezing every last dime out of his customers – is trying to appeal to YOU, the “entertainment expense” guys? Here’s how he thinks: “Let’s target the guy that has already mentally conceded his money to me before even setting foot on casino property. He is dead money, and he’s already had the conversation with himself that he’s okay with that. And if for some reason the guy has some lingering hurt feelings about losing his money over the course of the day and night on Sunday, gently remind him that he was pumped him full of as many Keystone Lights as he could drink for free for the entire 9 hours of football on Sunday. Tell him it’s an entertainment expense. He can’t argue with that logic.”

And you buy that.

Look, some people will lose, that’s a fact. After all, it’s called gambling for a reason. But they don’t need to lose so much, and the guys that win can win a lot more. You don’t have  to be a professional handicapper or some sort of math whiz, but a couple very simple strategies can make you a much more disciplined and intelligent bettor, somebody who is less likely to fall for the obvious traps that sportsbooks set. And when you get to that point, you shed the label of “entertainment expense” guy. You now become somebody that the house has to account for when they set their public odds, and guys like Jay Rood and the other folks at the MGM need to show a little more respect to.

You have a lot of options these days. You don’t need to spend your day watching your football inside a dirty, smokey casino sportsbook anymore. People have huge HD televisions at home now, and they can place their wagers safely, securely, and legally over the Internet. You can be a guy that sportsbooks fear, and you don’t even need to visit them in-person to do it, which makes it a lot harder for them to cloud your better judgment with glitz and gimmicks.

The tools that we’re working on in the lab at Bet Smart Media is going to give EVERYBODY the opportunity to shed the “entertainment expense” label, with an extremely easy-to-use program that will automate the simple betting strategies for you. We’ve got your back- stay tuned.

Global TV ran a story (see the video here, 2:30) on BCLC’s plans to become North America’s first government-owned online gambling site. Up until now, residents of BC were able to play games such as the lottery, Keno, and bingo on the BCLC website. Now, it is expanding to include casino-style games such as roulette, blackjack, poker, and slots.

For people that want to play these games online currently, they must use websites of companies located outside of North America, in countries such as Antigua, Costa Rica, and Gibraltar. The reason is that the governments of both Canada and the USA prohibit these companies from setting up shop here, but for two very different reasons.

In Canada, the government’s approach is much softer than in the USA, with the government working to protect their financial interests in the country’s gaming industry by participating through regulation. In the USA however, it is a much different story. While it is not technically illegal for US residents to gamble online using these offshore websites, it is extremely difficult to transmit money to these websites, which is a necessary prerequisite to play the games.

The BCLC – and the BC government – is clearly a leader in North America in recognizing the opportunity with online gaming. As the representative from BCLC states in the video, $87 million leaves the province annually by BC residents playing online casino games with websites located offshore. By offering similar gaming options, the BCLC will be competing directly with offshore websites in effort to keep some (or all) of these lost revenues in the province.

We are very supportive of the province’s decision to become a leader in government regulated online gaming. While critics quickly point to the fact that increased gaming options will lead to increased problem gambling, we are not so sure. With hundreds of alternatives only a few clicks away, a determined problem gambler doesn’t need the government to get quick and easy access to online gaming. However, with government-approved participation in the industry by BCLC, it can address these issues with funding for harm-reduction programs. And while we’re not going to get political by taking a side on the amount of funding that is made available, the fact that any funding is made available is more than is provided by the websites that BC residents are currently using for their online gaming needs. And that’s a step in the right direction.

The BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is the provincial crown corporation that governs all gaming in the province, including lotteries, casinos, and sports wagering. BCLC has always been quite progressive compared to other provincial or state lottery agencies, and was one of the first to offer online versions of most of their games through an online system. The really do quite a decent job for a government-run organization. They still fall way short of offshore sportsbooks in my opinion, but that’s not a discussion for right now.

Starting today, BCLC has increased the maximum weekly limit for players using its online system from $120 per player per week to $9,999! That is around 80 times the previous limit. With the provincial government running a deficit after years of surpluses, it’s hardly surprising to see them try to increase gaming revenues. On the other side, some very vocal critics contend that this will be detrimental to problem gamblers and their families. It is a debate that is likely to raise a lot of questions, and point a lot of fingers. There is not much to sugarcoat here: we’re talking about gambling, and in some unfortunate situations, it can lead to serious problems. But social impacts notwithstanding, gambling is very much legal, and is extremely big business.

Part of the reason that gambling is such big business is that operators – whether it be legal offshore sportsbooks, land-based casinos, and even provincial gaming commissions – have a tremendous, manufactured edge over the average bettor. On top of that, there is absolutely no transparency provided by operators whatsoever. When was the last time you bought a lottery ticket and the clerk at the terminal said “oh, and you have now spent $575 so far this year on lottery tickets”? Never. When was the last time you logged into your favorite online sportsbook account and next to your account balance it said “You are down $830 so far this month on sports wagering”. Once again, the answer is never.

There is a reason these operators do not provide this information: your losses are their profits. Why would they tell you to stop? You would stop all of your spending with them if you knew how much you were actually spending.

And that is the reason we started Bet Smart Media.

We want to provide transparency to those that use legal online sportsbooks. We want to give them a window into their wagering habits for the first time ever. We want people to win. Or at minimum, not lose! While the majority of the tools in the soon-to-be-launched WagerTrax application focus on increasing your profits, it includes a number of measures designed to protect you from the less glamorous side of wagering. We will notify you when you’ve reached your personal limits. We’ll give you full statements of all your activity across all sportsbooks you use every month… think of it as a bank statement for your wagering. We’ll show you where you’ve been successful with your wagers, and where you have not.

This morning’s news about the BCLC couldn’t be more timely for Bet Smart Media. While we do not pretend to have all of the answers or have absolute power to protect people from problem gambling, we genuinely feel that WagerTrax will be a step in the right direction towards individuals having greater control over their wagering behavior using our wager management tools.

And with all of that heavy discussion out of the way, time to go watch the Blue Jays play the Red Sox!

But away from our corner of the globe, today is another significant day in professional sports: it’s the first day with season rosters set for Major League Baseball teams. Yesterday was the trade deadline, and teams will no longer be able to move players between organizations. And what’s the significance of this? Well, it creates the usual excitement for fans trying to speculate which players will be dealt, and to where. It also tends to expose the teams that have all but conceded their chances of winning the World Series this year, as evidenced by the dumping of big-money player contracts in favor of acquiring young, inexpensive prospects for rebuilding.

But something else happens that rarely gets reported in the media during trade deadline season, and that is the undeniable changes to teams’ expected chances of winning as a result of the trades they make at the deadline. It also provides a great example of why the tools that we are developing here at Bet Smart Media will provide our users with incredible value. But how so? Let’s look at what happened yesterday.

The Seattle Mariners traded away two of their key players – Jeff Clement and Jarrod Washburn – and received what has been perceived to be less valuable players in return. Looking at the prices of MLB Futures – that is, what oddsmakers feel are the Mariners chances to win the World Series – we can see that the Mariners were devalued as a result of the moves they made. Before the deadline, furures market oddsmakers had the Mariners at +15000 (0.66% chance of  winning the World Series), and after all the moves were made, they were reduced to +25000 (0.40% chance of winning).

The team that acquired Mariners’ pitcher Jarrod Wash burn, the Detroit Tigers, saw their futures market odds actually improve with the move. The were upgraded from +1700 (5.5% chance of winning the World Series) to +1200 (7.7% chance of winning).

For bettors out there that were holding Seattle Mariners futures, their portfolio was significantly devalued, that is unless they were able to sell some (or all) of their holding prior to the trade deadline. For those that were holding Detroit Tigers futures, their portfolios increased in value: buying one unit of Detroit Tigers futures contracts cost $5.56 before the trade deadline, and $7.69 after the trade deadline (assuming $100 unit sizes).

Sure, it’s sports wagering, but wait a minute- it’s sort of starting to look like something else a lot of people recognize…  public equity markets! Having access to timely market-relevant information made is extremely valuable. Imagine if you could have sold your Seattle Mariners futures before the market reacted to the news of Washburn’s trade? Or, if you could have loaded up on Tigers futures at $5.56 before the market priced them up to $7.69?

Kind of interesting, isn’t it?

Let that be a bit of a window into what we’re working on here at Bet Smart Media

We are truly happy about today’s news as we can now focus squarely on developing the most practical and valuable application that has ever been available to North American online sports bettors. We hope to have some exciting public announcements soon providing a bit of a sneak-peek of some features of our application… stay tuned!

Oh, and we’d be remiss as sports enthusiasts not to mention today’s history making event in Major League Baseball. Mark Buehrle became only the 18th pitcher in the MLB’s storied history to pitch a perfect game, with Buehrle and the  White Sox completely shutting down the always dangerous Tampa Bay Rays, 5-0. Congratulations to he and all Chicago White Sox fans out there!

On our national holiday today, our favorite MLB team, the Toronto Blue Jays, thumped the reigning American League champion Tampa Devil Rays with a decisive 5-0 victory. Canada Day also marks the first day of NHL free agency, one of the biggest off-season days of the year for hockey fans.

Happy Canada Day to all, and enjoy the party tonight wherever you find yourself in our great land!

Bet Smart Media was one of 30 companies selected this week to advance to the third round of this year’s competition, which was cut from an initial field of 178 companies. We are very honored to advance to this stage of the competition, and look forward to demonstrating the value of our tools to the jury. But more importantly, we look forward to launching our first version of the application in the fall of 2009, where the jury that *truly* matters – our users – can see just how much value our tools will provide them. We promise, it won’t disappoint

We are Bet Smart Media, a young company with big aspirations. Founded by 3 sports enthusiasts and based in scenic Victoria, BC, Bet Smart Media is developing web applications that will put literally thousands of dollars back into the pockets of thousands of people. Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll reveal just how we plan to make good on this promise!

For fans of the “Big 6″ sporting leagues in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NCAA football, NCAA basketball), Bet Smart Media’s application will make being a fan that much more exciting by providing easy-to-use tools to help you keep track of wagers you place on the games.

We are truly excited to be bringing our tools to the Internet, providing unmistakable value to all that use it. We only wish this existed 5 years ago when we began wagering on professional sporting events!

Check back here often for updates as we complete development of our applications and prepare to launch them over the summar and fall of 2009. You can also follow us on Twitter and add us to your RSS feed reader to easily stay in the loop!