Is this the future face of sports gambling?
It's not just gambling. LAS VEGAS — A fat, Jewish kid from Chicago, by his own account, Robert Gorodetsky is also a 25-year-old college dropout who has emerged as one of the most compelling and controversial, albeit largely unknown, figures in sports.
He wears a black cap with white letters that spell GAMBLR. , and like his personal logo with the missing "e suggests, Gorodetsky is no ordinary betting man.
Sitting courtside at NBA games and behind home plate at Major League Baseball games. Canoodling with beautiful women, including a former Miss Utah and a former Miss California.
Sharing photos of himself with athletes such as Odell Beckham Jr. and celebrities such as Drake. Using gut instinct to bet upwards of $100,000 on games. Winning and losing millions of dollars in what he calls BigRobStyle..
In seven days of being shadowed by USA TODAY Sports in October and November, Gorodetsky wagered well over $1 million on a range of sporting events and tens of thousands of dollars more on blackjack and roulette.
He bets upwards of $350,000 on NFL Sundays, $100,000 on MLB games and tens of thousands of dollars on the NBA, WNBA, tennis, soccer and high school sports — even on "smoking hot" women whom Gorodetsky calls dimes.
(Dimes, as in perfect 10s. "You see this girl, right?'' Gorodetsky said. "We'll set a line like Vegas does. Can you get her or not?''.
Photos of beautiful women populate his Instagram account (@bigrobstyle), along with photos of winning betting tickets that bear Gorodetsky's ID number.
He rarely posts losing tickets, explaining, "If you have a hot wife, you're going to show her off, right? If she's ugly, she's staying at home. You know what I'm saying?''.
With photos, videos and text messages to support his story, Gorodetsky said he has gambled with Drake, played blackjack with Beckham and formed relationships with other professional athletes who, according to Gorodetsky, do not want to be associated with him publicly because it could draw unwanted scrutiny.
But Gorodetsky isnt hiding his ostentatious ways. In fact, with momentum building to legalize sports gambling outside of Nevada, Gorodetsky and his inner circle think he could emerge as America's leading sports bettor and sell his advice to gamblers across the country.
"When it goes legal, we're going to be billionaires,'' said Elo Hankham, one of Gorodetsky's confidants. 1 entity, and we're going to have a market share of at least 5% of a $150 billion industry.''.
Gorodetsky's introduction to America's sports gamblers figures to be memorable. A few months ago, for instance, he told a reporter to meet him at his unofficial office, the High Limit Lounge at the Aria Resort & Casino.
He arrived with all the subtlety of a royal flush. cap, he also wore a red-and-white Louis Vuitton hoodie, black Louis Vuitton high tops and a Hublot watch that warranted a price check.
The hoodie cost $6,000 and the high tops ran $2,500, according to Gorodetsky, who said he was so drunk when he bought the watch he couldn't remember the price.
So with a visitor in tow, he walked into Radiance, a watch and jewelry store across from the High Limit Lounge where he bought the watch, and asked for a copy of the receipt.
"I thought I paid $37,000,'' Gorodetsky said, looking at the receipt, "but it was actually $47,000. Reminiscent of Entourage, the HBO comedy series, Gorodetsky rolls with a colorful crew that includes a financial manager, a pickup artist and an enforcer.
"It's not just gambling,'' he said. But it's the gambling that's generating buzz, with his big bets attracting attention from the likes of RJ Bell, a longtime gambling analyst in Las Vegas.
"Imagine if you were writing about this guy that was walking on the high wire in the wind with no net,'' Bell told USA TODAY Sports. "Well, the fact that you're still writing about (Gorodetsky) means he hasn't died yet.
But the story is about two things. How amazing what he's doing is, right? And number two, when does this end?''. People have been wondering that for years, according to Gorodetsky.
"Be honest,'' he recently told Peter Tran, Gorodetsky's casino host at the Aria. "You thought I was going to go broke two years ago.". Replied Tran, "I thought you were broke. And then you somehow came back.
"I've never seen a gambler like you. How he does it. Reclining on a couch in a luxury suite at the Aria, Gorodetsky monitored the Colorado State-New Mexico football game Oct. 20 on which he'd wagered $100,000.
The bet was a parlay, and cashing it would require the NBA's Washington Wizards to beat the Detroit Pistons (which had happened earlier that night) and for Colorado State to beat New Mexico.
"I can't name one (expletive) player on the field, Gorodetsky said. "I can't name a quarterback, I can't name anybody.. "Can you believe we have $100,000 on this stupid college game that nobody's watching in this world?'' he continued.
Actually, it's the kind of wild-card bet that helps define Gorodetsky, who said he has wagered as much as $150,000 in a day on NBA summer league games.
"I would take my knowledge and my gut instinct and bet the best numbers,'' he said, referring to the point spreads on the games. "I just kept pounding them.
(The casinos) started lowering my limits because the house has no idea who's going to win in summer league. They don't know anybody who's playing..
Gorodetsky speculated that obscure games such as the summer league or small-time college basketball are open to point shaving, or, as he calls it, rigging.
"You just pay college kids, inner-city college kids who don't have any money, he said. Give them 10 grand. That's like a million dollars to them. You know what I'm saying? Have a bad game, here's 10 grand.
I don't see how they wouldn't do it. "I'd spread it around Vegas, 20 grand a place. I wouldn't beat one casino badly. I'd take a little piece from every single (sports) book..
While Gorodetsky said he hasnt engaged in any such schemes, he has puzzled many experts here with his betting methods, which look more like performance art than the statistical analysis used by most savvy sports gamblers.
"People are always like, 'What's the secret?' " he said. "I'm like, 'There is no secret.' It's hard work. It's not a magic show. His own act, Gorodetsky said, started in middle school when he was taking bets from his classmates.
In high school, Gorodetsky said, he organized poker games and was suspended when school administrators learned students were losing lots of money — to Gorodetsky.
"And I got in a little trouble for cheating, too,'' he said. "I never did the homework. I ran a gambling hall. I've been gambling since I was 13 years old.''.
While other students were focused on classwork, Gorodetsky periodically flipped open his laptop at school, logged into his father's Ameritrade account and made trades for tens of thousands of dollars, according to Gorodetsky and his parents, immigrants from Estonia.
His father, Alexander, said Gorodetsky made up to $500,000 in high school trading stocks. The teachers at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill. , a Chicago suburb, were not amused.
"He definitely burned a lot of bridges here,'' said Garrett Forbes, who was Gorodetsky's high school adviser. After graduating, Gorodetsky enrolled at the University of Arizona. He lasted less than a semester.
He dropped out over his parents' objections and began playing professional poker. Three years later, after turning 21, he took his winnings of $90,000 and headed to Las Vegas to try to make a living as a sports bettor.
The gamble, Gorodetsky said, paid off big. His Instagram account includes photos of dozens of winning betting tickets, marked by Gorodetsky's ID number, that steadily climbed from $10,000 payouts to $100,000-plus payouts along with stacks of cash and piles of casino chips.
Gorodetsky said his bankroll is at about $3 million, which he has spread out at casinos across Las Vegas.
When it comes to the blackjack tables, Gorodetsky has lost as much as $1. 1 million, according to Tran, Gorodetsky's casino host, and Gorodetsky proudly acknowledged it.
"The thing that gives me the edge is there's no fear of losing,'' Gorodetsky said on a night he was losing big while monitoring games at the Aria sports book. "We lost $100,000 over here, we lost $50,000 over here.
You're still going to see me here tomorrow. You're going to see me here the next day. We're going to be in the game.''.
20, the night's betting success hinged on the Colorado State and New Mexico football teams that Gorodetsky said he knew nothing about — other than that he needed Colorado State to win to make $100,000. New Mexico was clawing back.
Down 21-10 at the half, New Mexico pulled within 27-24 and recovered an onside kick with 22 seconds left to play. Gorodetsky sat up and moved forward on a couch. Soon it was fourth-and-4 on the Colorado State 47-yard line.
Three seconds to play. "Here we go,'' Gorodetsky said. "Only a hundred grand on a Hail Mary.''. New Mexicos quarterback dropped back to pass. Looked for open receivers downfield.
And down he went, sacked as time expired. "That's game, bitch,'' Gorodetsky said.
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