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Come join a groundbreaking new podcast that promises to change the way you think, the way you live, and the way you manage your future. Grab a cup of coffee, a 6mg Zyn, some noise-canceling headphones, and get lost in the world of the Fiscal Firehouse. With your co-host Jon Beattie and Louie Barela, the Fiscal Firehouse is your guide to financial freedom. Tailored to union firefighters, we will discuss problems, solutions, and benefits that are unique to our profession. Change your finances, change your life at the Fiscal Firehouse. Brought to you by Local 1309.
Introduction: Welcome to the
Fiscal Firehouse, a podcast
dedicated to promoting financial
literacy to firefighters.
I'm your co-host, John Beatty, executive
board member of Local 1309, a lieutenant,
and also a certified financial planner.
With me, I have the other co-host of the
fiscal firehouse, Louis Barella, executive
Board member of Local 1309 ambulance
driver, and want to be financial expert.
Together, John and I hope to bring
clarity to the world of personal finance,
specifically relating to firefighters.
Firefighting is a
difficult job making sound.
Financial decisions shouldn't be.
Welcome back to the Fiscal Firehouse
Podcast where the odds are always
interesting and the stakes are just
high enough to keep things exciting.
Today's episode is for all the
degenerate gamblers out there.
The ones checking spreads
before sunrise and refreshing
prediction markets before bed.
John and Louie are diving headfirst
into sports betting prediction markets,
and the wild world of risk, reward,
and questionable financial decisions.
So grab your lucky jerseys,
trust your gut, and let's
see if today's picks pay off.
Without further ado, let's kick it
over to local 1309 studios and the
recording of the physical firehouse.
Jon: Welcome back to the Fiscal Firehouse.
I'm your co-host, John Beatie.
With me across the table,
I have my brother in arms.
Louis Barella.
What's going on Louis?
Louie: Hey jb, how you doing bud?
Jon: Oh man.
We are back.
We are back from Fabulous Sin City.
Louie: Hell yeah.
Oh, what a trip.
What
Jon: What a trip.
What a
Louie: trip.
Woo.
Jon: Ooh, yeah.
what were we doing in, sin City there?
Lb?
Louie: Yeah, so we were at the IFF
Strive for Excellence Conference
and it was like this kind of a
new conference that they used.
By, or that they combined a couple
of different conferences with.
So it was, I even hate to say
it, were we there for five
nights, six days or something?
It was, we were way too long in Vegas.
Jon: Yeah, whoever, God bless the
event planner that put on that show.
But no one, there should be a statue
of limitations for being in Las
Vegas, especially for firefighters.
for more than I what, two days?
Maybe?
Three days tops?
Two nights tops.
Yeah.
Three days, two nights.
that's a long time.
but it was a good conference.
Like I said, or like Louis said, they
combined two different, conferences.
One was more for like human relations
and then the other one was for health
and safety, and they brought those two
domains together to have one cohesive
conference, which there was some really
good speakers, some really good material.
I want to give a shout out
to our own, chief Mike Binny.
Yeah, he did a great job presenting
his study, along with a couple other
doctors, on sleep studies and what
he has done here at West Metro.
And man, he really did us proud.
It was great.
it was like day three or day four, 8:00
AM showing, and the room was packed.
basically standing room only.
So keep up the good work.
Mike.
Louie: the room was packed and
all the guys there had like very
little sleep the night before.
And Benny called him out and we're
like, you guys all failed already
because you're up this early, you
probably are not sleeping well.
Which he was absolutely right
about, but he did a great job.
He got an award at a, at the
banquet the night before.
A
Jon: a big one, that Redmond award, which
is very, a lot of prestige with that one.
and I know Mike's got a lot of humility
and he'd be the first one to say,
this isn't about me, this is about
the fire service in the organization.
But, they're really
moving the needle on this.
I know they just got some, some
data back from the previous study or
what we're currently going through.
And it looks like since our 9:00
AM shift change, it looks like.
the effects that they thought
were gonna happen are happening
in more consistent sleep.
So that will be published
here, in the near future.
And we'll, we'll show a link to that
one that actually becomes available.
But great work, Mike.
Man, we're really proud of you.
And just
Louie: just for our, for our listeners
outside of West Metro, We, one of the
things at the conference is we found
that there's some people listening,
not just outside of our department,
but even outside of Colorado.
So we appreciate anyone who might be
listening from a different state, but West
Metro, through Benny's research, decided
to go from a 7:00 AM start time, which
we've had forever to a 9:00 AM start time.
And that two hours has made a
huge difference, not just for the
firefighters that are on shift, but
it's also made a huge difference
for the firefighters who are.
Off shift as well, or
barely coming on shift.
It has made a huge difference.
I can tell you that everyone
in my crew loves it.
We're all sleeping better.
We all feel better off going.
It's my off going.
I just got off a shift this morning
at 9:00 AM and I can tell you like I'd
be a zombie right now without a nap.
I would normally be a
zombie and now I feel good.
I feel spicy.
I feel ready to talk about the things
we're gonna talk about today and
saw because of that 9:00 AM shift.
Change that we have now.
So huge kudos to Benny and
all the work that he's done
to help get this train moving.
Jon: Yeah, it was interesting,
'cause there's a couple people, not
a couple people, there's probably
over a hundred people in that class.
And there's some, they did some q and
a at the very end and they're like,
how did you convince your members?
Because we have so many people in our
organization that work a second job.
And that's a really big deal.
And like healthcare, or not
healthcare, but childcare,
like all these other things.
Like how do you guys like navigate that?
And change management is always
gonna be hard in some kind of
Louie: capacity.
Oh yeah.
Always.
Jon: but, kudos for everyone that attended
and the questions that were asked.
and then Mike and his
team for the responses.
And, yeah, we'll see.
But I won't be surprised, in two
or three years while we're having
this conversation, at least in our
immediate area, if there's not.
Half, if not more of the
organizations go to this.
'cause it's really tough
to turn a blind eye.
Yeah.
When there's so much science behind
the importance of sleep and how
it manifests itself in all of our
health and whether that's physically,
mentally, emotionally, and financially,
all those decisions come to a head.
it's gonna be tough to
turn to blind eye to that.
So yeah, kudos to, you know, taking a
chance, on something and just getting
some more information and then, entrusting
the folks to make the best decision.
So it was awesome.
Louie: Yeah, it was good.
Jon: this is a good segue.
So we're in Sun City, the land of
degenerates and gambling, and it's
just interesting for anyone that
hasn't been to Las Vegas in some
time, and I would say pre COVID, I
was never a huge Las Vegas person.
I'd been there a couple times,
but boy has that place changed.
Yeah, like it has changed drastically.
They have gone away
from a gambling economy.
To an entertainment economy
where everything is built
around some type of experience.
So whether that's going to a show,
whether that's going to a sphere,
a fight, whether that's going to a
sporting event, like everything is
built around, something like that.
And then gambling is just an afterthought.
So they've really re-engineered
their whole economy to support,
entertainment and not just
gambling, which was interesting.
Like I was taking a little bit back.
Yeah.
I was also taken aback
by the cost of Las Vegas.
So expensive, dude.
Louie: Oh, it's not cheap.
It
Jon: dude.
It is not
Louie: They don't subsidize people that
go stay at the hotels because they're
like, oh, we'll make their money back
on gambling or tickets to the events.
No, they just, they nickel and
dime you any anyway they can.
Jon: They did, yeah.
The crew to TA was, when we went
to, after our sessions, it was, I
don't know, four o'clock, four 30.
They had a nice pool
and it was a nice day.
So we're like, Hey, let's
go down to the pool.
So we're going into the pool and Louie
and I, and another guy that we were
with, we go down to and they're like,
dude, there's a lazy river, dude.
Let's go.
Let's go soak in the Lazy River.
So we go down to the Lazy
River and I'm like, I'm.
I'm like, where are all the tubes?
Like every lazy river I've ever been in.
You just jump in a tube.
Yeah.
There was no free tubes to be found.
Louie: you couldn't even rent them.
Jon: No.
You make your way all the way around to,
the tube stand, if you will, in there.
Yes.
You can't rent 'em.
You have to purchase a tube
for the handsome sum of $35.
Yeah.
For literally one single piece of plastic
that on Amazon you can buy for $2.
Yeah.
They make you pay 35 bucks for a
tube to go down the lazy river.
Louie: did John and I ride
on the Lazy River for $70 or
do we share a tube for $35
Jon: We'll let you guys
figure that one out.
Yeah,
Louie: or do we not go on at all?
'cause that's the other option
is we just spent $0 and we just.
Went to the little pool where you just
have to dip in and no lazy river for
Jon: Yeah.
And get your $25 whatever adult
beverage of your choice, I'm sure.
nonetheless.
some good stories to
be told outta that one.
But, this did, we did get some
good constructive feedback
as Louis was alluding to.
There's people that are listening,
not only in our organization
but around our state, but also
nationally, which is awesome.
And one of the things that, one of the.
The guys that we were chatting with
was, is like, Hey, I don't know like
how to approach you guys about this,
but there's a certain concern in his
organization or with him specifically
that he's I think this is something that.
It's a problem, not just in my department,
but you know, across a certain demographic
and especially in the fire service.
And he's man, I've got a
lot of my guys and gals.
there's a lot of betting going on
in a lot of different fashions.
So Louis and I are gonna try to
tackle that topic and just talk
about some of the things that are
involved with, whether that's betting
on sports, gambling in general.
There's a whole new subset.
Betting, that is called
the prediction markets.
This has kind of come out since COVI,
outta right field, where you're not
betting on just like a team or something.
You can bet on anything.
Like as long as there's someone
that's gonna take the other side
of that bet, there's a legal way
that will make that happen for you.
So they're literally our
betting on elections.
They're betting on outcomes of
all sorts of different things.
One, we're gonna invade
Venezuela, one's the Iraq organ,
like just like you name it.
There's betting on everything.
Yes.
So it's very interesting.
So Louis and I are happy
to talk about this topic.
Yeah.
Um, and,
Louie: and full disclosure, John,
I just want our listeners to know,
unless they think I'm too buttoned up,
that I have a sports betting account.
I was in Vegas and we were in there,
we were there during the time when
Michigan was playing in the Final four.
My boys in blue did it, brought
it home, brought home the trophy.
I knew it.
I never doubted.
Never doubted, but I was like,
yeah, I'm gonna go place a bet
and watch the Michigan game.
And we did that.
but that's because sports
betting is massive right now.
I think sports betting, at least it
appears to me, surrounded by firefighters.
Everyone has a sports betting
account and they are at least one,
you know, Sportsbook account on
their phone that they can go ahead
and place bets for anything for.
hockey games and football games
and basketball games, and it's just
kind of like this accepted thing,
like guys will talk about it.
And even if they're not betting, even
if some of the crews aren't betting
or they're not really into that,
they're talking about it, they're
like, Hey, who's the underdog?
What does, who does Vegas say is gonna
Jon: the odds?
Louie: that, that lingo now in the, in
the sports world is just very common.
If you're watching sports, you know
what the odds are and what the points
are and who, what's the over under
on the game and stuff like that.
It just infiltrated our culture, it seems
Jon: Yeah, that's interesting.
What would you say, do you think there's
a, a specific, platform or app that
you find most people are using, or is
it just kind of all over the board?
Because I, I have to imagine
Louie: yeah.
Jon: there's gotta be hundreds
if not more of different ways
that you can access Yeah.
Put a, placing a bet.
Louie: Yeah.
I don't know what the, I don't know
what like the most popular one is.
I know obviously the big
ones from like Caesars.
And draftings
Jon: which one, which ones do you
have in your app when your phone,
Louie: True confession.
So I'm gonna tell you how I got
into sports betting real quick.
We're gonna start into this.
So a few years ago, this is
before Michigan football won
their national championship, okay?
And they were really good
at breaking my heart.
there'd be games that they
should win against, like
Michigan State or Ohio State.
And at that time, sports
betting was just legalized.
So think about.
2021.
It was just legalized in
Colorado or not too long ago.
And these sports books were
giving these amazing deals.
there was, there was this one deal,
I don't even remember the sports book
right now, that said if you, deposit
a hundred dollars, we'll give you a
hundred dollars to bet on something.
You just have to place the bet.
Michigan was favored
against Michigan State by
Jon: I don't
Louie: know.
It was a lot like 13
points or 10 points in
Jon: football.
Uhhuh
Louie: for football.
And I was like, this is the kind
of game that Michigan's gonna lose.
And I thought it's a risk free bet
because I'll get the money back, I'll
get that a hundred dollars or whatever.
Didn't know how it worked
exactly, but I was like, I'm
gonna bet a hundred dollars on.
Michigan to lose that game.
'cause I know they're
gonna lose this game.
I bet.
Against my boys.
I felt dirty.
But you know what, I also was like,
I know Michigan has broken my heart
and I've got,
Jon: I've got young kids, I've
Louie: Yeah.
I was there for App State.
I was there during like the,
the five, seven year Ohio State.
run.
Yeah.
So I was like, I know we're gonna
lose this game, so I bet a hundred
dollars, to get a hundred dollars.
And then, they were so heavily
favored that I won a few
hundred dollars off of that bet.
Like, I want to say I won 250 bucks
or $290 or something like that.
So that's how I got started.
I immediately pulled my a
hundred dollars back out that
I put in, and then I left that
Jon: You're just playing with house money.
Louie: So I was playing
with house money for that.
And to this day, I've never deposited
more than that a hundred dollars.
And I think I actually have, I made $500.
I think I can make I, I'll say I make
$500, which we'll talk about later.
That's not the norm.
And I'll lose it if I keep playing.
I know I'll lose that all.
But that is how I got into
Sportsbook and I think it was
with DraftKings or BET MGM or
Jon: something like that.
Okay.
So they gave you just enough of a teaser
Louie: yeah.
Jon: yeah.
To get you.
And
Louie: they know.
Jon: and it's like anything else
where you're selling something and
you just gotta get people just hooked.
Yeah.
They're always gonna give you some
type of free in, or what seems like
a free in like just deposit five
or 10 bucks and we'll give you 50.
Yeah.
Louie: and then they were just like,
Hey, just no, no strings attached.
Here's the $10 free bet.
Just get on the app.
Go spend $10 on any event of your choice.
And it's oh, that's kind of
cool that they're doing that.
They're taking care of me
Jon: be a loyal customer.
Louie: They know.
They know.
They do know.
Oh, do they know?
Jon: They do know.
And that's the one thing, and I'll be
honest, like I am not a gambler and you
guys can probably pick of that and my
wife will tell me I'm quite the square,
which I guess you are what you are.
but also I do know that I do have a
predispose that, I think I've gone to
Vegas before and I have gambled before.
It's not like I've never gambled.
And the first time I went to Vegas, I won.
Big.
I went and, played blackjack
and I won about $6,000.
dude, it was just like one of those
miracle runs and I like, couldn't lose.
And I went oh my God, this is
like the easiest thing ever.
Why don't people just do this every day?
Well, like the next four times I came
back to Las Vegas, I lost all that money.
And then some, I just had this
weird string of, and it's not even
luck, just, it just happened, right?
Just mathematically.
Sometimes things happen.
so after that.
Experience.
I know, like I would have a tendency
to go a little bit over the edge
and I just know myself and I'm
like, I'm not even gonna have that.
I'm not even gonna have that.
it is like being an alcoholic
and being around alcohol or just
I'm just not gonna touch it.
'cause I can't just have one.
I.
Feel like I would be that person
that would have a really tough
time of putting limits or whatever.
Like, I just think that's how I'm wired.
so I'm gonna have Louie curious through
some of this stuff when it comes to
how the betting works and edges and
percentages and stuff like that.
You probably are much
more, versed in that stuff.
But nonetheless, I think we just
gotta acknowledge How influential
this is in our industry.
Yeah.
Like I think that's part of why we're
bringing this to up as an attention.
Louie: and I'd be curious,
John, what you think about this?
So, you know.
The, the stats are that 57% of Americans
participated in some form of gatting
over the last 12 months, and 21 to
27% of that was in sports betting.
So about a quarter of people-ish have.
Participated in sports
betting over the last year.
I feel like for firefighters,
that number is at least double.
I would say there's at least 50% of
firefighters at West Metro have placed
a bet, have done some sports gambling.
it's mostly sports gambling, like
these are guys that like sports,
they're into sports, they're active,
they're risk takers in general, right?
Firefighters have the reputation of
being more on the risk taking side,
and so I would say if it's 25%.
For the general population,
for firefighters.
I, and I don't know this, I wish we
would've pulled our whole department
'cause that would've been kind
Jon: Fun.
Yeah.
Louie: gonna guess it's over 50%.
Jon: just think about working
at the training center with,
you know, the 10 of us ish.
And I just think about going around
the table and I can think of at least
six outta 10 that I know of that we
talk about sports betting all the time,
and I know they're actively placing
bets, so that's 60% just in a small,
obviously cohort or sample size.
Louie: Yeah.
But
Jon: I think it is a good representation.
Probably much like Louis's talking
about with his crew and just the
organization that I think we would
definitely lean on the heavier end
of these stats and the lower end.
Louie: And then the other thing that
makes me think that is, the stats
show that 22% of Americans have
an active sports betting account.
But if you look at men aged 18 to 49,
nationwide, almost half 48% of them
have an active sports betting account.
And if that's, if it's 50%.
Nationwide, I mean, firefighters
who are predominantly men, between
18 and 49 like you, it's guaranteed
to be over 50% at this point.
It has to be.
Jon: Yeah.
That is interesting.
I know we're starting to get
some more exposure to this.
So if there's anyone, similar to a
Mike Benny that is doing some type of
research and a lot of the IFF is about
supporting its members and its health
and wellness and financial initiatives.
This might be one that's brought on
by maybe the IAFF Financial Corps to
do a little bit of a study and see
how, if is this pervasive or not?
Like how much of is a really factor?
'cause I think it's one of those,
canary in the coal mines that I think
this is really starting to influence
people's, not only their behaviors,
but what, what they're doing as far as,
financial security aspect and, This is
definitely on, on some radars, so to
Louie: yeah.
Yeah.
And it's attractive.
It's attractive to the younger
generations, I think, like the Gen Zs
and the millennials who, you know, I
think a lot of them maybe hope to strike
it big or to make place a big bet.
And.
Maybe they'll be able to pay off a debt
or even kind of help put some money away
for a down payment if they could just
get through this football season with a
couple of big wins or something like that.
Yeah,
Jon: that's a, actually,
that is a good thing.
Maybe we will, we will
unpack that for a second.
Why?
mean, obviously there's the,
there's the ease of use, right?
It's all app based.
Everyone carries their
phone twenty four seven, so
transactionally, super simple, right?
And a lot of these, platforms gamify
it to some degree and it's so enticive
and we just know how screens and, dick.
Behaviors work, and they're just always
trying to get you hooked and trying to
get you to do more of something because
that equals either more revenue or
advertisements, whatever that looks like.
So there's a lot of science behind how
you keep someone addicted to something.
So I think that's part of it.
But why do you think, what is like the
underlying root cause of so many people,
especially the younger demographic, which
is a lot of our new folks, you know?
Here in our organization, we've hired
a couple hundred people in the last,
call it six, seven, eight years, almost
half of our organization fits this,
you know, 20 to 30 5-year-old profile.
Like, why do you think so many of them are
so influenced or so susceptible to wanting
to bet on sports or bet on whatever it is?
Like, why is it just so common?
Louie: So the, I don't know.
That's a great question.
I think if you a, the answer you would
get from people I think is gonna be
different than the real answer because
I think if you ask most people, they'll
tell you what all gamblers say, which.
This is just entertainment for me.
I consider this just entertainment.
It doesn't matter if you spent
$5,000 at the blackjack table
over a two day period or whatever.
Or sometimes it's like over
a, you know, six hour period.
I think they'll tell you like,
I'm just doing this for fun.
I.
I think there might be some truth to
that, but I think that there's a lot
of just like it's a dopamine hit.
You feel like you like the high of winning
a hundred dollars and I think there is
probably some misguided hope that people
place in Hey, I could probably do this
and I can make hundreds of dollars,
like I could supplement my income.
It sounds crazy to say that, and I think
most betters would not tell you that this
what they're trying to do, but I think
internally there's some of that in there.
Like I could.
I could do this.
Like I'm pretty good with the s and
I'm pretty good with these teams
and I really know whatever it is.
Well, baseball.
Yeah, football, basketball.
so I don't know.
I feel like I could do better than the
most, than the average better out there.
That'd be my guess.
Jon: Yeah.
Louie: I don't, I
Jon: bias for sure.
Louie: but I don't think you
would get anyone to admit that.
Jon: No, I don't think so.
And I think to Louis's point, I
think a lot of this is driven by
entertainment first and foremost.
And they have done a lot of research and
studies how much more engagement there
is in watching sports now because people
have not just oh, I really like this
team and I get some kind of excitement,
but now I got some money on the line,
so I'm that much more financially
invested in watching this team or this
whatever sporting event that might be.
I think that's a big portion of it.
I think there is a small
subset of the population.
This is the ones that I get concerned
about the most, are the ones that are kind
of feeling a little bit left behind based
on where they are in society right now.
Maybe they had a little bit of school
loans, maybe they didn't, but they
come into an area like where we live
in and the cost of living is very high.
And even though they have a good income,
I think a lot of 'em are feeling left.
Behind in that.
They're like, man, even if I save,
you know, Louis and John keep telling
me to save, you know, 10 or 15%
of my salary, and over time that's
gonna grow and I'm gonna have this
really nice, comfortable lifestyle.
But even with them saving that
amount of money, they still are not
getting enough for a down payment.
They're still not getting the
opportunity to purchase a home.
And some of these other like life goals
that so many of us have, they feel like
they're just so far in the future or not
achievable, that they're willing to put
a lot of money on like really risky bets.
And these are the ones that pay
out like a thousand to one, right?
Like triple parlays that are
like, dude, the likelihood of this
happening is like one in 200,000.
That's why they're giving you one to.
Louie: but all it takes
is one time to hit, man.
And I'm set.
I'm good.
Jon: I think there is so much of that
too, that's just it's, it really is
that lottery kind of mindset that,
dude, if I can't, I keep saving and
it's still not enough, but if I put
enough of this away, at some point,
this might happen for me and I'm
willing to kind of take on that risk.
Like I don't think
they're internalizing it.
That much from the math aspect of it.
But I think there is that opportunity
that like they feel like this is their
only way to achieve some of these certain
goals, and that's the ones that I think
I'm the most concerned about, that
aren't just truly doing it for just an
entertainment or it's a small, it's a
small amount of their disposable income.
It really is becoming much
more of their income and.
Now that's influencing other things.
I don't know.
It's kind of very, dark to
think about it like that.
Yeah.
But I do feel like, I don't
think that's the majority, but
I definitely think there is
Louie: a significant portion of
Jon: that are in that age group that are
feeling that, and that's been studied.
There's a lot of people that are honest
and candid with certain surveys that
they feel like they, they just don't
have the opportunity to get ahead.
Louie: And look, here's our point
with it is like, you know, John and
I are not just beating up people who
like sports and like to bit on sports.
we, maybe we are beating up
a little bit on this episode.
we like to beat up people
in general when we talk.
Like we, if you get us going about
individual stock pickers and people
who are trying to think that they
know more than Warren Buffet.
the Senate when it comes to predicting
stocks, like that's a form of
betting too, I would consider that.
So we're, even though we're just not,
we're not picking on that group of
people or the crypto people, which maybe
we'll do in another future episode.
We're just trying to show
like the math doesn't work
out and you need to know that.
I think it's fair that you
know that going into it, and I.
Think people instinctively know it,
but they just don't realize what that
looks like when it comes to actually
opening an account and betting on
something over a long period of time.
But in general, for sports
betting, the house has somewhere
between a four and 10% edge.
That's according to most,
like gambling sites.
There's no real study
that I can get from, a a.
College or university
that shows what it is.
But in general, it seems like
they build in a four to 10% edge.
and they do that with the way they
set the lines and the way they,
you know, change the lines based
off of where the money's coming in.
But when it comes to sports
betting, three to 5% of those bets
are profitable in the long term.
And these are like pros.
Not like some guy who just bets all the
time, but like people who like are living
in Vegas, they're driving from sportsbook
to Sportsbook and they have eight apps
open and they're doing all these crazy.
Spreadsheets to figure out
the odds and things like that.
But in general, 95% of people are losing.
In the long term, you might win.
You might have a good month even,
but if you keep playing, you're gonna
lose eventually and it doesn't get any
better when it comes to, to ca casino
gambling, if you will, blackjack and.
Of those kind of geek table games, the
house has probably around a two to 15%
edge, according to most gambling sites.
they'll tell you that's what it is.
People think oh, I can minimize that
edge or even make it more of a 50 50.
Boy, I, you probably can't, you probably
don't know enough to do that, and
the house will win in the long term.
that's why they built this.
This massive complex in the desert.
Jon: it's very
Louie: hopes and dreams.
No.
Yeah.
Jon: super lavish.
There's a lot of money that it gets
exchanged there on a daily basis and,
yeah, they, that was built on people
losing money and not making money.
So that's always good to
put that in perspective.
I think from that aspect, you know,
and the one thing is about the whole
sports betting and all of these things.
It's just like you're trying to.
man, it's math.
I don't think people get into
it for the math aspect of it.
I do feel like there is, to Louis's point,
you know, much like stock picking and
other things, there is something that is
called an overconfidence bias, where you
are very good at tracking your winners
and you're very conveniently forget about
all the losers that you have, you know?
And I think there was,
Louie: a coping
Jon: a coping 100%.
'cause if you just really
took stock of like.
All of your losses versus your wins,
at some point you'd be like, you'd be
like, oh dude, I am really in the hole.
And I think that's the one thing as we,
as we kind of talk about this, and that
was the one thing that the guy that,
brought this to our attention, he is
like, Hey, at my station and I don't
know how many people were at his station.
He's we added up.
How much money was transacted.
Now this isn't their losses, but this
is just how much money was transacted
and at his station alone, once
again, I don't know if we're talking
about five people, I dunno if we're
talking about 15 or 20 people, like I
don't know how big this station was.
$100,000 was transacted in one year.
Now once again, this
is not losses or wins.
This is just the amount of
money that they could see.
That was bet on.
Yeah.
and dude, I don't know man.
I was like a little bit.
Not mortified, but just really shocked.
I was like, wow, that
seems like a lot of money.
Yeah.
You know, and once again, I don't know the
sample size, if that's five people, you
know, you're talking 20 grand per person.
That seems like a
significant chunk of change.
so I don't know.
I think, but I think the reason I'm
talking about this is, I think part
of it, just like anything else you do,
is I think if you can be accountable,
that if this is something that you
do for entertainment and we'll talk
about this a little bit more, is you
gotta have a certain budget for that.
So like Louis, you put in
a hundred bucks, right?
And then you took out your a
hundred right away and then you've
never put money back in there.
You can take actual accountability
for how much money that you've
had into this whole thing.
Whereas I would say that most people
that are probably on these sites do not
take like stock of like how much money
has transacted, how much money have I
won this year versus lost this year?
Now I'm guessing at the end of the day.
and I don't know much about this because
I don't play it, but I'm imagining
if you're getting winnings and you're
cashing those out, you gotta report
that as reportable income from the IRS.
I'm sure you get something above
whatever, I can't remember if it's five
or 600 bucks, they have to send you a 10
night, you know, basically saying this
is the amount of money that you won.
So I guess maybe you do have start
to understand if you're winning
versus losing now from that aspect.
But I still don't think the
majority of people really.
Understand how much money has
been transacted over time,
how much money they have
Louie: and I don't think
people are pulling it out.
if you have a big win and it hits your
account like it's real money in the sense
that let's say you win a hundred dollars
on a bet, you now have that a hundred
dollars that you can immediately withdraw.
But I don't think people do that.
They just leave it in their.
Balance or their role, I think is
what the gamblers like to call it.
Yeah.
And they will just leave it there and
say now I got more money to bet on
future games and I'm not gonna withdraw
it 'cause I know I'm gonna wanna play
some more bets and win some more.
So they're not even withdrawing
that money, they're leaving
it in their account.
It's almost like a bank account that
they have with this sports book.
And that's what they're using.
And so they'll use it until it's gone
and then they'll deposit more into it.
And they know that you're gonna do that.
They know that they're, you're
gonna leave it in your account.
Gamble with it more, even when you
do win a decent chunk of change.
and that's the issue I think is
to your point, John, there's a
real cost to playing these games.
And I think, if you, if
here's how I would look at it.
All of these apps, these sports betting
apps or these gambling are directly
competing against savings and investing.
Every dollar you spend on gambling
or betting is a dollar less.
You have to invest your money.
And I know I sound like the
old curmudgeony, like Dave
Ramsey kind of guy or whatever.
I don't know, but it is true,
and I'll just show this.
I'll just share this study with you.
So this was from a school, this is from
the Kellogg School of Business, which
is at the University of Northwestern.
And they showed that when it comes
to sports betting, every $1 bet
led to a dollar less invested.
And the reason why that's important, that,
in, in some ways that sounds obvious,
Jon: like Yeah, very obvious.
Like intuitive.
Louie: Yeah.
then what am I saying?
But what that.
Flies in the face of is all the
betters who say, no, no, no, this
was just my entertainment money.
I'm not taking money from
important savings goals or
debt repayment or whatever.
I'm just using my entertainment money.
So some people like to go to movies
or some people like to, you know,
do whatever for entertainment.
I, I just sports bet and that's
what I do for my entertainment,
but it's not impacting my savings.
While this really well done study by, the
Kellogg School of Business showed that.
No, that's not true.
For most betters.
For the average, better, a dollar played
in sports betting or a dollar gambling
in sports betting is directly coming
out in terms of a dollar invested in
your retirement or your savings account.
That's significant.
Jon: That is very significant.
And especially when we're talking
about some of the monies that are
getting exchanged or traded on.
And I think that's very, I think
that's, I think it all comes down to
discipline in a lot of circumstances.
Right.
And if you were that regimented and that
discipline that you're like, okay, I've
got my little spreadsheet or my bucket
strategy and this money goes for this and
this, and you are, you know, and you are.
Maxing out your four 50 sevens
and you are saving in a brokerage,
a con, or you do have a Roth.
I, you're doing like all the things
that like the finance nerds tell
you, like you're on the right track.
Then dude, blow your hair back, man.
Honestly, like let it, let it rip.
But to Louis's point, most people.
Are not doing that, and they are
sacrificing the opportunity to fund
their four 50 sevens or some of these
other saving vehicles that long-term
have proven to grow your income
and your wealth and your kind of,
and your lifestyle opportunities.
So I think at the end of the day,
that's kind of what this is about.
it's supposed to be a little bit
cheeky and lighthearted and we all
like to have a good time and we
like to go out for entertainment.
And if this truly is your
form of entertainment and
you're using it responsibly.
Man, more, more CODOs to you.
And if you do drive more, excitement
and satisfaction from watching
sports because you got a Fiverr
on it, you're like, that's great.
I really do.
I, there's no judgment here.
But I think what I'm starting to hear
and what I'm starting to witness from
others is I think this is becoming a
little bit more nefarious and it is
starting to influence more on just
beyond just pure fun and entertainment.
And people are trying to
use this as an avenue.
For investment.
And I think that's what Lou and I are
really trying to just, you know, preach
from the mountaintop so to speak, is like,
this is not for investment opportunities.
Like you are never gonna be statistically
speaking in that, in that 5% that's
gonna come out ahead over time.
You might get some big wins here and
there, but when you add that all up over
time, you're gonna end up being a net
loser on the money that you put in there.
Just bringing awareness and being
honest about what's going on here.
and I think it's just, we wanna just
have this conversation because I do feel
like this is gonna become even more of
an issue as, you know, things get more
expensive and has this whole, in inqu
income inequality expands and just people
feeling a little bit left behind and lost.
I don't want our folks to feel like this
is gonna be their good option for getting
some of those lifestyle goals in the
Louie: future.
the FanDuel account isn't what's
gonna turn it around for you.
We can promise you that.
Jon: Yes.
I'll go on record with saying that.
And if someone has done a big,
by all means shoot us a message.
Let us know.
Yet I, I'll tip my hat to you, but
I'll also tip my hat knowing that
you are one of the really lucky ones.
You're lucky.
Louie: were lucky.
Lucky, right?
That's what it's all about is luck.
Jon: It's not so much about
the skill on that one.
And
Louie: then, you know, the other
thing, John, is that I'll mention
when it comes to real cost, and this
is actually the not cheeky part.
This is like the really sad part
is that it can be very addictive.
It's designed to be addictive.
That dopamine hit is real.
And I think that it's easy to
start betting on sports or casino
games or just gambling in general
that you know nothing about.
And before you know it, you
are just down this rabbit hole.
And I think, you know, as
firefighters, as paramedics, we run
on a lot of people who are addicted.
And it's easy to spot someone who's
addicted to alcohol on these calls
and be like, man, this poor guy.
It's easy to spot people who are
addicted to meth and to fentanyl
because you run those calls
and you're like, man, this guy.
As an addiction, and we can see it,
we can see the medical impacts of it.
Sports gambling or just
gambling in general.
You don't really see that addiction
from a medical perspective.
We don't run on calls for someone who lost
$10,000 or wiped out a hundred thousand
dollars, retirement account on gambling.
But those people absolutely exist.
Like that's a, there's a reason
why there's all these hotlines
and support groups and gamblers
anonymous groups because they are.
Absolutely out there, and we
would probably remiss if there,
if we're assuming that there's
no one in our organization who.
Jon: who
Louie: It doesn't have a problem.
who meets the definition of
someone who's addicted to sports
gambling or gambling in general?
but man, those are some
of the saddest people.
And I would say that those, gambling
addicts are equal to the people who
are addicted to meth or fentanyl.
Maybe not from a physical perspective,
but from mentally they are broken and
they have, they, there's people that
lose their entire livelihood and all
their savings, over a weekend of crazy.
Degenerate gambling and we throw that
term out there, light like, oh, this
poor degenerate, but those people exist.
Funny story about that, John,
and you can back me up on this.
We were, we went out one night to, an off.
strip casino.
'cause we wanted to try to
play some $5 some cheap,
Jon: is a challenge to find.
You
Louie: find that in Vegas.
Like all these tables are like $20 and
even if you can find $5 blackjack or
something, it's one table and it's packed.
we did find it off the
strip at this cd casino.
We go in there and, a couple of us
gambled and definitely lost money.
'cause that's what everyone
does and that's okay.
We didn't lose much though.
Don't worry.
My, my Roth IRA and my 4
57 are still fully intact.
But, we saw this guy there.
This is probably the first degenerate
gambler that I ever, it was so sad.
It was like watching a train wreck.
We all watched him, everyone that was
there, all those US guys together,
all just like peaked from, peaked
at him from the corner and just
watched this guy lay down hundred
dollars after a hundred dollars.
And he would bet it was $5 table,
but he would bet a stack like a
hundred dollars around, he'd lose.
He'd lose the round and then
he'd pull out another a hundred
and pull out another a hundred.
And he kept doing that
until he was all out.
And then he would get up, go to the
ATM machine and pull out another
$2,000 or something, go back and do it.
And he did this for.
Hours.
Yeah.
And we were just like, we all felt like
this thing in the pit of our stomach.
Like I can't believe this is happening.
and that.
That's not uncommon.
I, you know, it's not like he's the
only person in Vegas or the only
person that gambles and does that,
but it was so sad to see that.
Jon: Yeah.
So speaking of that specific gentleman,
and he was a regular there, the
people definitely knew who he was.
They knew his name, they
knew what he liked to drink.
It looked like some kind of chardonnay,
Louie: Yeah, it was like some white
Jon: which he had to
have spill like 17 times.
But I was actually talking to one of the
people from the, from the casino, and I'm
like, man, I'm like, this is something.
He is like, yeah, this
guy comes in every month.
So my suspicion is he probably gets
a social security check, honestly, on
that date, and he cashes it all out.
Or gets deposited in
his a checking account.
And then he just uses that money.
And this guy did not look like
he had, he was by no means, in
poverty or impoverished, but he was
definitely not high on the hog either.
He was what you would think of,
late seventies, early eighties.
Retiree is, So maybe he
used that as his fund money.
But, that was interesting 'cause I
was trying to figure out like what was
his, did he have a strategy involved?
'cause like sometimes it was like small
chips and then big stacks to Louis point.
And every time he lost, he
seemed like he added a little
bit more, so I had to do a little
Louie: Yeah.
Jon: So there actually is a strategy
involved where every time you lose,
you basically double up your bet.
Do you know, do you know
what that strategy is called?
Louie: Is it a logical
strategy or just a gambler's
strategy?
Jon: it's logical in the fact that as
long as you can eventually hit, you will
get your money back, you won't lose.
But at some point, it's like, how
many times can you continue to double
before you're completely bankrupt,
where you don't have any much, I
Louie: I don't know that strategy.
Thank
Jon: called the, Martin Gale Strategy.
So I had to look it up and
yeah, look that thing up.
but I was like.
Because you would think
mathematically at some point, right?
Eventually at some point
like, I have to win.
But like it's how long can you
stay solvent before you don't win
and then you just lose everything.
And it seemed like to me at some point
this Gab was trying to bastardize
that to some degree, but he was trying
to use that strategy, but it just
Louie: Oh, it was not working,
Jon: But when we first got there, this
dude, he had a stack, like this dude
had a stack once again to Louis $0.50.
$5 table.
He had a stack of probably three grand.
Yeah.
Easy.
And then by the time we left though, he
had lost not only that three grand and
who knows how much money before atm.
Louie: ATM?
Yeah.
Jon: was just, it was sad.
Louie: at one point they, his
ATM wasn't giving any money.
Like he hid his daily limit.
Yeah.
And he was ca he was on the phone
with the bank at the ATM machine
trying to get more money out of it.
Yeah.
Just, and he wasn't having fun,
like he, his fists were clenched.
He just looked, a little drunk for sure.
And also just ragged, like
you could tell he was not
Jon: having the highs and lows that
guy that we could witness, that guy
have, like when he went on the street
kind of right when we got there, like
the dude literally couldn't lose.
He was hitting on stuff that
Louie: $50 to the dealer and
like he was having a great time.
Ugh.
and
Jon: could just see all of
that pent up, happiness and
just excitement he was feeling.
And then it just manifested though when he
started losing and he was getting angry.
It was just like, I'm like, it's like
golf, like to some degree, right?
Like why now?
Louie: you're
Jon: But no, I'm a huge
golfer, but like I watched some
people take golf so seriously.
I'm like, why do you pay $150 to go
out here and break and break your
clubs and just act like a fool?
Like I can tell this is not satisfying
Louie: Oh dude.
It was pathetic, man.
It was,
Jon: it was really hard to watch.
And that's what true addiction is.
Yeah, for sure.
Like to Louis' Point, that's
what true addiction is.
Louie: be careful of those costs.
be careful of that and obviously
get help if that's, if you feel
like you're going down that path.
'cause it's, it, the easiest time to
stop is yesterday and the second best
time or whatever they say is today.
So yeah, if you feel like you're going
down that path, stop, you gotta get help.
That's,
Jon: yeah.
And just for everyone out there, we
all, owe it to each other in our crews
to just watch out for each other too.
So if you do see whatever, and a
lot of this time, a lot of these
get, manifested similar to what.
Substance abuse looks like, right?
Where people are really struggling,
where they're gonna be, you know, a
little bit more isolated, where they
may be a little bit more tardy or
they're not showing up to work on time,
or they're not showing up to work.
Like all these like red
flags and warning signs.
it could be a whole host of things,
but to Louis's point, like I.
The gambling one is one that
will really hide in the shadows
until things get really bad.
Yeah.
And when things get really bad
is when you start to not be able
to pay your mortgage anymore.
When you have to start borrowing
from maybe accounts that you had
before and liquidating those and
you're selling things, there's a
lot of, financial infidelity that
breaks up marriages like it, it just
got this massive cascading effect.
Yeah.
And that's really, we're gonna start
to see a lot of those signs and
symptoms that we've been accustomed
to through other avenues of.
Of stress and depression and
all sorts of other things that
some of our members go through.
So just, you know, keep an eye out for
each other on, on any of those signs.
Louie: said.
said.
Yeah.
the last thing I want to talk about,
we don't have to go too into depth
about this, but I did wanna talk
about prediction markets because
they're really hot right now.
Jon: really hot.
This is the new thing.
Louie: and the economist nerd in me really
likes the idea of prediction markets.
Like I think it's a cool idea and it is.
From a legal and a technical
standpoint, not considered gambling.
And that's why they
Jon: made that very clear.
Louie: make it very clear.
but a prediction market is
something like sci or poly market.
You can create an account, you can
deposit money, and then you can bet, a
yes or no bet on something that happens.
And the idea is that it rewards
knowledge because it aggregates.
Collective intelligence
on real world issues.
So you can bet on the elections or
on something passing or on on a world
event happening or not happening.
so they don't, they don't build
in margins like sports books do.
They know, it's not like they're
building in this vi is I think what
they call it in the industry, but
like this margin that they get.
Prices are just determined by supply
and demand, and that's what the.
the economics nerd in me really thinks
is kind of cool, is like, you can see
how many people are betting that this
world event will happen or that this
election is gonna go a certain way.
and so your events kind of,
they, they trade like stocks.
You're buying a stock, a yes
or no stock on whether or
not something's gonna happen.
So it is different and, you know,
Jon: it's a zero sum game.
You either win or you don't.
unlike investing in a stock where,
sometimes they do go to zero or the
company does declare bankrupt, and
basically your stock is worthless.
But most even really bad run companies
still typically have some type of value.
Even if you bought your stock for 10
bucks and it went down to five, well at
at least you still have five, $5 of value.
Yes.
Whereas the prediction
market, you either want it.
Or you didn't, there's not
Louie: ah,
Jon: oh, I kind of
half, half in, half out.
And
Louie: that's why it's functionally very
similar to gambling in a lot of ways.
So legally, and technically, John and I
fully admit, like it's not sports betting.
It's not gambling, but boy.
Does functionally, does it seem like a
lot of people are using it like that?
So in fact, on those, markets like poly
market or sci, you can bet on all the same
sports that you can bet on a sports book.
You can go bet for the, March
Madness Tournament winner on that.
You can bet on football games, you
can bet on any kind of sports that
you could on a sports book, and
many people who participate in those
prediction markets, they're not.
Economists, they're not experts
who are trying to aggregate data.
They simply wanna wager an
amount in an attempt to win.
They just think oh man, there's good
odds on this pers this team not winning.
Maybe I can, maybe I think
they're gonna win, so I'm gonna,
I'm gonna make a bet on it.
And I'll even say I'm betting
on this person and I'm using
Cal Sheet to do it, or whatever.
So, you know, at the end of the day,
it's, a lot of it is based on speculation
and uncertain future outcomes.
I think that.
the joy of hitting or the dopamine
hit that comes from winning
that bet is the same on SCI as
it would be on bet MGM, right?
Jon: Yeah.
No, and that's, you know, this where,
to me, where this thing really started
taking off was, where this really got
highlighted was the last election,
the last presidential election.
And I can't remember if it
was cashier or poly market.
It might've been both.
But one of those really, was
like the poster child for.
What's becoming inadequate now.
And that's polling honestly.
And because all the polls were
basically saying dude, for everyone
that we get to answer these questions,
both what we consider independents,
democrats, republicans, all of our
polling, even within its source of
error, whatever they call margin of
error, they're basically like, oh yeah.
what's her name?
Kamala.
Louie: Sorry.
Oh, you're
Jon: Kamala.
she's gonna win.
Like I'm all our, all of
our things are this way.
And then dude, but Calci and
Polly Market both said Nope, all
of the money is on Donald Trump.
And they was like.
Tremendous amounts, billions of
dollars getting traded like that.
And if you really want to see how someone
feels about something and how they're
Louie: when they put their money
on
Jon: when they put their money
on it, is truly how they feel.
So I think like, you know, to Louis's
point, I think there actually could
be some like societal benefit from
this to some degree and truly feeling
or truly seeing how people feel,
and not just lying on some kind of
survey or you have such a sampling
error because there's only a certain.
Percentage of people that
are gonna fill out a survey.
Like I think it gives you much
more intelligent, knowledge as far
as how a society feels or how a
population feels about something.
And I think this will continue to
be tremendously popular for things
like elections or ballot measures
or something else like that.
Like I think there's a
lot of value in this.
What I get concerned about with
stuff like this is like the amount
of insider information, like to me,
feels like if I'm the one betting.
Boy who's ever taking that other side
of the bet, like I would just be really
concerned, like they were talking about
the Venezuela specifically, and there
was a bet on CCHI as far as when we were
gonna, or if we were even gonna invade
Venezuela and what that looked like and.
You know that all of a sudden there was
this huge uptick in betting on this.
Louie: Oh yeah.
Jon: Oh yeah.
And once again, you have
to be like, why is that?
Louie: there insiders?
Jon: has to be someone from the
inside that leaked out to something.
And I don't know, it's just I
feel like from an insider trading
perspective, I would be very, very
suspicious of some of this stuff.
Are you like the, are you the sharp, are
you the person that has the info or are
you the other person on the other side?
And I don't know, man, I.
I think to some degree this
is gonna be kind of a fad.
'cause I think people are gonna get
frustrated with that zero sum game
where they're gonna bet on something
and they're gonna lose it all.
And they're gonna be like, I've
kind of run outta money and I
don't want to go do this again.
Whereas some of these other things,
whether that's Robinhood and trading
stocks and stuff like that, at least
for the most part, at some point there
is still some, store of value to some
degree, and you don't lose everything.
I think this.
I don't know, maybe I'm biased,
but I think this is gonna kind of
run its course and I don't know if
it's gonna be the latest, greatest
thing, but it's definitely a thing.
And I know a lot of our folks
are doing the prediction markets.
Yeah.
They're, I,
Louie: it's the hot thing right
now.
Jon: it might be taking
over the sports betting
Louie: Yeah.
Yeah.
I agree.
Jon: it's just stuff to be aware of.
Louie: Alright, the final thing is just,
we, you know, we're just gonna give you
some tips 'cause we don't think that
everyone's gonna listen to this is'
gonna close down their sports betting
app, or they're not gonna gamble.
They're not gonna ever go to Vegas.
And we get it like
Jon: we, yes,
Louie: we're, we're not.
Complete sticks in the mud.
So just a couple quick tips though
on how to be smart about it.
If you are going to do some sports
betting or gambling, and I would say the
first thing is you must have a strict
entertainment budget that you stick to.
So I think it should be one to 2% of your
disposable income, not your total income.
But if you guys can call back episodes
and episodes ago when we talked about
when you're setting up your budget.
the least important and the final
thing that you dedicate money to
is your discretionary spending
or disposable, income budget.
And if you are like, Hey, I just
like sports gambling and I think
it's fun, or That's what I do
for entertainment, go ahead.
Go ahead and put one or 2% of that
disposable income that final income
that you have into your sports
betting account or whatever, but
then stick to it once it's gone.
It's gone.
It is completely gone.
And you should not be being
like, ah, you know what?
I'm gonna take money out of my
grocery budget now or next month's,
rent money so that I can come back
and make myself whole this month.
Don't ever do that.
Once it's gone.
That was your entertainment.
Hopefully you enjoyed it.
Probably didn't, but if
you, hopefully you did.
And that's it.
So I would say that's the first thing.
the second thing is I think you should
have an emergency fund in place.
You should be saving for retirement
and you should save for all your
other personal and family goals,
whether that's a car replacement or a
vacation or a down payment on a house
or your Christmas fund or whatever.
Those budgets that you and your
significant other, if you have one,
have set up, meet all those goals first.
Have all those things in
place and then say, okay.
I still like sports betting.
I still like gambling.
Now I'm gonna set aside
some money to do that.
Don't ever put that first.
That's don't rob from yourself, which
as we mentioned, the Northwestern study
showed that's what people are doing.
Jon: Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I think the highlight for me is really
having, and they'll even tell you on all
the sports betting sites or all the places
that they refer you to, gamblers anonymous
and all these other things is like.
The key to being successful
at this is to have limits.
Know what those limits are and
don't go outside of those limits.
'cause the minute that you start
going out those sides of the limits
is really where people get in trouble.
Right.
Where they didn't set boundaries and
and we went with quite a few people
and they're like, yep, I know this
is my little budget for Las Vegas.
I take two or 300 bucks and
that's just my gambling money.
And when it's gone.
And I don't even think about it.
And we just move on with the day.
Yeah.
Whatever that is.
And it, that is.
There is a way to do it responsibly.
Just like there is a way to drink
responsibly, there is a way to,
to do all this stuff responsibly.
So I think that's the hardest, maybe
not the hardest part, but that's really
what we wanted to emphasize and bring
some awareness is just know what those
limits are, have those limits, stick
to those limits, and just, and do it.
And have a good time though,
'cause it can be a lot of fun.
I know, dude, you were thriving
when Michigan was doing their thing,
but what was really funny about
that, Louis, 'cause I caught up
with you guys at the very end, was.
Louis and Reed were in the
sports book, actually at the MGM.
And they're watching
it on the big screens.
And there was literally like three people
going up actually to with the paper
tickets that like, would actually exchange
their bets with the ticket agents, right?
Everyone else is, in these kind of
recliners or they're at these tables
watching these big screens, but they're
on their phones like doing the bets.
Louie: which I was so disappointed by.
'cause I'm like, I'm in Vegas.
I want to do that old school
sports betting, like what in
movies or something where they
come up and they cash their ticket.
Yeah.
And the guy at the sports book
was like, don't do that, dude.
He's we'll give you a free bet or
a couple free bets if you just.
Download the app, download the
Bem GM app and bet on your phone.
And I was like, that's lame.
I could do that from my hotel
room, or I could do that from home.
That's what I do in Colorado.
That's what everyone does though.
Jon: Yeah.
And it is interesting 'cause I
was wondering like what would
this place be like, 'cause it's
right after March Madness or
it's right during March Madness.
Like what would Vegas be like, especially
at this sports book, pre all of these apps
in, in the phones and everything else.
And I have to have imagined
it would be mayhem, right?
Yeah.
It would just be craziness.
Louie: up to go place
another bet and stuff.
Yeah.
Jon: And now it's just, it was like
a ghost town from that aspect of it.
Louie: It was weird.
Jon: Yeah.
And I don't think, I'll be honest,
I don't think Caesars or any of
these places are complaining 'cause
I think they're making more money
because it's all about convenience.
And if you don't even have to
get outta your hotel room because
you're hung over to go make a bet,
you can just do it from your bed.
Like I can just imagine
how that's happening.
And now, because most states have some
form of legal gambling when it comes
to sports betting, I just have to
imagine places are just raking it in.
they just have to be raking it in because
Louie: can do it from anywhere.
Jon: they can do it and
it's not a big deal.
So it was a interesting, like harken
back to historical perspectives on
what it used to be like in the days.
the one place that still looks legit.
And it's actually coming up.
It's always the first
week in May on a Saturday.
Do you know what, what
sport I'm talking about?
Louie: first week of May on
Jon: Huge Sports
Louie: Oh, is this the RA horse?
Jon: Kentucky Derby.
Yep.
Kentucky Derby, is always the first
Saturday in May, and I think those
guys still do it, old school, at least
at Churchill Downs with the tickets
and all of the pomp and circumstance
and everything else like that.
That's on a bucket list for this
Louie: guy.
Oh yeah.
That'd be
Jon: Kind of funny.
Yeah, we used to do a derby party
back in the day, get all dressed up.
But,
Louie: hey, I'll just say shout
out to my boys at Station three.
I won my bracket and
we do a little bracket.
Yes.
I won mine 'cause of course I
chose Michigan to win and they did.
So I'm gonna take.
Their money that I got from
them for winning the bracket.
I'm gonna put it into
my Sportsbook account.
I'm gonna add to that original a hundred
'cause it's, it was free money basically.
Jon: There you go.
House money.
Louie: and that'll just go to
my extra a hundred and that'll
be my Sportsbook account.
Once it's gone.
until I win next year's
Jon: did you win total?
Louie: we had this crazy thing read, set
up like this whole thing, like a payout.
We give, like the person who
did the worst, they get some
money back 'cause they were so
bad that we wanna shame them by.
giving them some pity money.
Yeah.
And then we give money for,
like the top three finishers.
So I didn't win a lot.
I want to say it was like, I don't
know, I wanna say 90, 90 bucks, a
hundred bucks or something like that.
but hey, I'll put in my Sportsbook account
Jon: There you go.
Louie: outta my Roth IRA or my 4 57.
Boom.
Jon: yeah.
See Louis and I truly are,
we're not sticks in the mud.
We do like to have fun.
Yeah, we do try to do it somewhat
responsibly, but we also know
who we're surrounded by and we
don't want be ostracized, so
Louie: no.
Or made fun of.
No, we already are.
We
Jon: We are, which is really good.
the last point is, and Louie hit,
hit the show with it, but we met
a lot of good people at Strive.
We actually found some other
podcasters out there apparently.
The podcasting thing has really
taken off from all sorts of different
avenues, which is really cool.
So we might be making a couple guest
appearances on a few other ones, but we're
not gonna tease it out too much more, but.
I promise you the show is
gonna look different here
shortly, very soon, very soon.
stay tuned for that.
But, as always, thanks for everyone's
words of encouragement, man.
We are really excited to just see how well
this is resonating with people, much more
than Louie and I would've ever imagined.
So thank you for listening,
for sharing your time with us.
And, until next time,
Louie: stay safe and keep saving.
Disclosure: The Fiscal Firehouse
Podcast is a podcast curated
specifically for local 1309 members.
This podcast is for informational
and educational purposes only,
and should not be construed as
professional financial advice.
Should you need professional
advice, consult a licensed
financial advisor or tax advisor.
The opinions of John Beatty, Louis
Barilla and their castmates are
solely their own, and don't reflect
that of West Metro Fire Rescue.