If you are a gambler, you need to read this. I have read everything I can get my hands on about the subject and feel I am extremely well informed about what I am about to tell you.
First some background, I live in Las Vegas and have resisted the temptation to gamble for many years, but I had read that money can be made by conservatively gambling on either the craps table or through sports betting. Personal experience has shown me that the craps table involves alot of time standing at a casino with some expectation of coming out ahead on betting the pass line only. Whereas sports betting involved picking a winner against a posted spread or moneyline. Against a point spread, one only has to win about 53% of the time to break even. Money line is a different story which only fellow gamblers that are reading this understand.
Anyway, I am an avid sports fan and know that any particular event can be decided by the bounce of a ball, or a mishandle, or a foul, or whatver. Therefore, I did not completely trust my own judgement and decided to seek the help of a "professional" sports handicapping service. I chose Doc's Sports Service.
Now Doc's sports Service touts that they have been in business for over 35 years and they provide winning sports picks consistently and claim that you will be up many, many, many units if you just follow their system. I found this not to be the case.
I chose one of his handicappers named Robert Ferringo. I checked them out on the web and all searches led right back to their site. How great this guy is, how he just knocks them out, all these supposed winning streaks, written articles on other websites, etc, etc, etc Ad Nauseum. Needless to say, it was not enough home work.
I jumped in and paid for a subscription to the second half of the MLB season $420. I bet the man's selections religously through the end of the season. I lost $40 (round numbers here) in August, I lost $225 in September, and I won $192 in October. A total loss with the price of the subscription of $493.00. Oh, well, just like the stock market right? That's why they call it gambling right? Well, since I hadn't lost too much betting his baseball picks, I figured I'd sign up for the football package, I mean the guy should know what he's doing in football right? I mean there are less games and he's got more time to do his homework right? Wrong.
So I pay $695 for all college and pro football picks through the Super Bowl. I win $44 in August on the exhibition season, Lose $90 in September, Lose $427 in October, Lose $492 in November (I stopped playing the picks in November out of disgust, but kept tracking them since I had paid for the subscription), Won $183 in December, and won $100 on the playoffs and the Super Bowl. Loss of almost $1300.
That's almost $1800 lost on the services of a professional. Sour grapes right?
No, I knew what I was getting into and that is why I am writing this now. Beware of anyone touting themselves as experts or winners. Anyone that says they win more than 58-59% of the time is trying to rip you off.
I believed these people knew what they were doing. But... I ignored the red flags.
Robert Ferringo did not "flat bet" his selections, He would tell you to bet $10 on one game and $40 on another. The $40 bet would more often than not lose. Many $50, $60, $70 losers also.
The handicappers web site was filled with ads for On Line Off Shore sports books. The odds and spreads often changed at these books (and in Vegas) as soon as the handicapper released his own selections, thus the handicapper would record more winnings even though it was impossible for the customer to get the same numbers. (If you bet on sports, you know what I am talking about).
Ferringo distorts his numbers. He posts what he thinks he won and skews the math with statements like "3 out of 4 winning days" when what really happened is he won $10 3 days and lost $50 on the 4th.
Doc's also publishes a guarantee on his website that if the selections don't net you a profit, then your subscription will be extended for free until you do. This is a total lie as I was never extended and never heard from them again after they took my money. All I get from them is some Junk e-mail containing links to off shore sports books.
Anyway, the thing that really made me write this, is that Ferringo released this Blog on his webpage to discuss any supposed issue a client may have. I posted twice to it and created so much havoc that he deleted my comments and called me everything but a liar. The people that did catch my comments also were posting that they were expressing the same level of dissatisfaction because he was losing with College Basketball. As of this writing, I saw a post from him that he was filtering all posts to his blog, before they were published. When I tried to post, I found that he has blocked my IP address as well as many others. As a result, there have been no comments posted on his blog in 2 days, because presumably he is trying to block all the negative coming his way.
I caution anyone considering using a "professional" handicapping service to research your choice thoroughly. Do not subscribe to anyone that:
Does not publish their record by sport (Including $ won/Lost) through an independent source. This guy does not. It took hime 3 months for him to put up his own numbers for October and November which were exteremely distorted.
Do not use anyone that links to on line sports books. This is an obvious conflict of interest and should be an instant red flag.
Do not bet multiple "Units" on any one play. Especially beware of "Game of the Week", Game of the Month", or Game of the Year" picks. They are just one game of many. If you lose, you will need at least 1 more win to make it up and believe me you never will. This guy was an expert at multiple unit losses. (See on line sports book links above)
Bottom line, In my opinion, these guys are not the legitimate "experts" they tout themselves to be. They are only fellow gamblers that need someone elses money to keep playing. They get that money from suckers like you and me along with kick backs from the off shore books for their advertising. Buyer Beware!
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