12 Best Documentaries About Betting

 

Sports betting has been developing in the world together with the development of sports. In many countries, it is almost impossible to imagine a certain sports event for which bookmakers have not determined the odds. Sports betting has become so present and powerful in some countries that those countries have decided to ban the betting altogether. Over the years, many stories about people losing all their belongings because they were not able to stop betting have gone mainstream and that was when common people finally realize the consequences and scope of sports betting.

• Sports betting is not illegal in thehuge majority of countries.
• Sports betting industry is worth billions of dollars.
• Sports betting is no longer a leisure activity but rather full profession

Sports betting industry has become very powerful to the point that it has influenced the results of certain matches in order to make a profit. On the other hand, people who bet are often caught in the vicious circle of betting that leads them towards very dangerous situations. Some institutions that deal with the addiction research have classified sports betting or gambling in general as one type of addiction. In this piece, we will be bringing you ashort overview of some documentaries that have researched the topic of sports betting from different perspectives.

 

1.Life on the Line

• Year: 2013
• Author: Isaac Feder
• Country: the United States
• Cast: Ted Sevransky, John Netto, Jay Kornegay, Steve Fezzik
• Theme: The story of Super Bowl – the biggest betting event in the world

Las Vegas has been the center of gambling industry for a long time now and sports betting has been part of that industry as well. Life on the Line takes a look at the Las Vegas sports betting scene and it focuses on a specific sports event, namely the Super Bowl. The documentary follows the story of Jay Kornegay, John Netto, Steve Fezzik, Ted Sevransky, and several other persons involved in the world of sports betting.

With the series of interview with previously mentioned bettors, Isaac Feder is taking a viewer on the road to the usually closed world of professional sports bettors. The documentary follows the title characters through their betting process in the time of Super Bowl XLV, anevent which has become the most important betting event for all sports bettors in the USA. All the characters in this documentary indicate that sports betting or gambling, in general, is a part of our culture that should be legal in the entire country and not only in one state.

 

2.FRONTLINE: The Fantasy Sports Gamble

• Year: 2016
• Author: Frank Koughan (The New York Times & PBS)
• Country: the United States
• Cast: /
• Theme: A closer look at the fantasy sports betting and sports betting in general

The Fantasy Sports Gamble is investigating sites such as DraftKings or FanDuel which have been operating as online sports betting providers for a long time. This documentary revealed that these sites have been winning money on each other sites which caused the state authorities to ban previously mentioned websites. Both of these sites are actually fantasy sports sites where people would bet on the outcome of fantasy matches or the achievements of individual players.

Both sites managed to used the loopholes in the law and provide sports betting in many states because the authorities characterized these sites as entertainment and not sports betting. People who have lost money on these sites also have something to say about that issue. Betting on fantasy sports is not illegal, at least not yet, and websites that provide similar services have gained huge popularity and power in the betting industry and they are signing partnerships with huge TV networks and sports associations across the entire United States.

 

3.The Legend of Jimmy the Greek

https://youtu.be/ncijxEPQ5UM

• Year: 2009
• Author: Fritz Mitchell
• Country: the USA
• Cast: Jimmy ‘The Greek’ Snyder, Rich Podolsky, Brent Musburger, Hank Goldberg, Dan Rather, and others.
• Theme: The story of Jimmy the Greek and how he helped with legitimizing betting in NFL

Jimmy Snyder was the most popular oddsmaker in the entire country even before he became popular in the entire country as asports commentator. This documentary is the story of his life and his involvement in the sports betting industry in the United States. According to some, The Greek was a criminal and he was once arrested for betting across the state border. However, the documentary does not focuses a lot on that side of the story.
Jimmy Snyder was involved in sports betting in one way or another from his early twenties and he came up with the principle of determining the right ways to give points spreads during the pre-game show that he has been presenting. In that way, The Greek brought sports betting closer to a huge number of people that had the opportunity to see the system that Snyder has been using for years. His career ended abruptly after comments he made during the live show but he will be remembered as one of the pioneers of NFL pre-game broadcast as well as one of the biggest figures in the sports betting industry.

 

4.Vice World of Sports: The Line

• Year: 2016
• Author: Evan Rosenfeld
• Country: the USA
• Cast: Sal Masekela, Mark Cuban
• Theme: The legality of sports gambling

Vice World of Sports: The Line is one of the episodes of the Vice Worlds of Sports documentary series about the sports betting and the influence on betting on the world of sports. This documentary series takes us on a trip from Ghana to Serbia where the author tries to uncover issues about sports betting. Each 30-minute episode is aclear example of sports investigative journalism as each episode brings some new elements about the world of professional sports and what happens in the background.
Vice World of Sports: The Line episode focuses on gambling or betting aspect of professional sports. This episode covers many scandals from the world of sports-related to betting but throughout the entire episode, the question whether or not, betting on sports is illegal. Additionally, the episode also deals with the issue of how to define sports betting because some have found new ways and approaches to sports betting that are using the loopholes in the law that regulates sports betting in the United States.

 

5.Now Place Your Bets

• Year: 2017
• Author: James Bernardo
• Country: the United States
• Cast: Pete Rose, Dennis Tobler, Dave Oancea, Jessica Davis, Professor Richard Davies, Joe D’Amico, and others
• Theme: The role of Las Vegas in sports betting and the development of sports betting industry

Now Place Your Bets is one of the best documentary movies that deals with the issue of sports betting. It investigates the dramatic rise of sports betting that is legal in the Las Vegas, Nevada, United States and how it became an industry worth several billions of dollars. Now Place Your Bets features in-depth interviews, video recordings and photographs, and other material that provide very good insight into the world of sports betting in Las Vegas.
This documentary also takes a look at the role that Las Vegas had in the development of sports betting industry in the United States. Using the fact that sports betting is legal in Nevada, Las Vegas has become the biggest betting center in the entire country. Now Place Your Bets features some of the pioneers of sports betting, oddsmakers, bookmakers, journalists, professionals gamblers, as well as historians who have witnessed the rise of Las Vegas and the rise of sports betting industry in the United States and the world in general.
This documentary is also exploring the issue of betting as a part of the culture in the United States and how actually the drive for competition fuels the drive for sports betting. The movie depicts the world of sports betting like no other movie before as it provides aninterview with the people who have been involved in the sports betting from the early days.

 

6.The Best of It

• Year: 2016
• Author: Scott Pearson Eberly
• Country: the United States
• Cast: Alan ‘Boston’ Dvorkis, Alan ‘Dink’ Denkenson, Lem Banker, Ken ‘The Shrink’ Weitzner
• Theme: Dark side of professional sports betting

The Best of It is a documentary that provides a look into the lives of four people, Alan ‘Dink’ Denkenson, Lem Banker, Alan ‘Boston’ Dvorkis, and Ken ‘The Shrink’ Weitzner who describe themselves as professional sports bettors. Neither of them has a real work and they make their entire living by betting on different sports. The documentary follows four bettors in their process of placing bets and selecting features on which they will bet.
The movie starts with the scene where The Shrink is planning his next bet on basketball games. Those bets did not turn out the best as he managed to win some but he also lost a lot. Weitzner or The Shrink is a part of this documentary even though he committed suicide three weeks after the author of this documentary finished interviewing him. Apparently, the reasons why he committed suicide were hug gambling losses that he suffered while betting on different sporting events.
This documentary deals with the dark side of the sports betting and at one point in the movie, characters realize that it was time to leave Las Vegas as it has become too overwhelming for them to handle that situation. This documentary also deals with the consequences that betting losses can have on someone and the people around that person.

 

7.60 Minutes: Sports Betting

• Year: 2011
• Author: 60 Minutes
• Country: The United States
• Cast: Billy Walters
• Theme: The life of Billy Walters, the most successful sports bettor in the United States

Billy Walters is one of the biggest names in the sports betting industry in the world. He is the most successful sports bettor in the entire United States and over the years, he has accumulated immense wealth only by betting on sports events. Billy Walters was never kept on media presence and because of that, he did not expose himself a lot to the public. However, everybody in the sports betting industry knew the name Billy Walters because of his rate of successful bets.
This episode of 60 Minutes, explores the life of Billy Walters as he provides ajournalist with the insight into his home, his daily life, and his betting operation. However, just as it was expected, he never revealed his secret behind his bets. He said that he has anentire team that works on sports bets but that was not the case and that he uses that team only because he can afford it. Back in the days, when he was starting his betting career, he had to rely only on himself and his ability to betsuccessfully.
Billy Walters also revealed that it can happen that he has a bad week or even a month with sports betting but the year always ends amazingly well for him. Through the interviews with Billy Walters and people that are the closest to him, we have an opportunity to see the man behind the legend of Billy Walters.

 

8.The Gambling Mafia and International Sports Betting

https://youtu.be/Zzaq7y52gI8

• Year: 2017
• Author: Benjamin Best, Herve Martin Delpierre, Uwe Schwering
• Country: Germany
• Cast: Sivakumar Madasamy, Andreas Bachmann, Rudolf Stinner, Ralf Mutschke, Marco Paolini, and others
• Theme: The involvement of different mafia syndicates from all over the world in the world of sports and sports betting industry

The Gambling Mafia and International Sports Betting is the documentary that investigates sports betting and match-fixing in different divisions of German football. The initial stages of the documentary deal with the match-fixing in the Under 16 competitions in Germany and the involvement. The documentary explores match-fixing in the Europa League as well as in UEFA Champions League in regards to sports betting from different countries.
This documentary reveals the connection between football players, games’ officials, and the mafia organizations from the United States, Malaysia, Italy, Singapore, and other countries. This documentary also explores how sports betting has been influencing the world of professional sports and how often young players are the victims of the match-fixing campaigns and that they are not even aware of the fact that they are fixing a match. With clear examples of matches that were fixed for betting profits, The Gambling Mafia and International Sports Betting provides more than valid evidence that some of the biggest football competitions in the world are not immune to match fixing conducted by sports betting mafia syndicates.

 

9.Channels Discovery’s Documentary on Sports Betting

• Year: 2015
• Author: James Layode
• Country: Nigeria
• Cast: Mozez Praiz, Otunba Akin Alabi, Dr. Agwuegbo, Mariane Akiki Ohannessian, Lanre Gbajabiamila
• Theme: Sports Betting in Nigeria and the consequences that sports betting has on the entire society

This documentary explores the connection between sports and sports betting in Nigeria as well as in the entire African continent. Besides that, this documentary also explores the connection between sports and betting houses as it is not known whether sports or sports betting has more fans in Nigeria. Interestingly, the documentary takes another look at the issue of sports betting through the mathematical perspective.
This documentary also takes a look at one of the biggest sports betting providers in Nigeria, UBC 365 and the role of this international company on the society in Nigeria. In the last part of this documentary, the author explores the need of regulation the matter or gambling including sports betting. Currently, gambling industry in Nigeria is operating under only a few regulations and the documentary takes a look at this issue and whether or not the authorities are preparing new regulations.

 

10.$10 to $1,000,000 Documentary Series

• Year: 2016
• Author: Trademate Sports
• Country: Norway
• Cast: Jonas Gjelstad
• Theme: A day in the life of Jonas Gjelstad, professional sports bettor

$10 to $1,000,000 is a documentary series in several short episodes that depicts the life and career of Jonas Gjelstad who is one of the biggest and the best sports bettor in Norway. This documentary series follows Jonas Gjelstad during one day of his life as he gives the audience the insight into his betting record.
The story of Jonas Gjelstad, a man who became a millionaire by betting on different sports events and who was previously a poker player, has been present in the media for quite some time. This documentary series introduced Gjelstad to the wider audience and gives insight into the world of sports betting in Norway.

 

11.Money Talks – Sports Handicapping Reality TV Show

• Year: 2014
• Author: CNBC
• Country: the United States
• Cast: Steve Stevens, Chris Pirelli
• Theme: The story of Steve Stevens and how he operates his company VIP Sports Las Vegas

Money Talks is the story of Steve Stevens and it explores the business life of this handicapper and sports bettor from Las Vegas. Over the years, Steve Stevens was nicknamed the ‘bookie-killer’ as he was successful with huge number of his bets. In this documentary, he operates as betting advisor for clients that want to bet high.
This documentary in a form of reality show follows the life of Steve Stevens and his business. It provides insight into the life of one of the most successful bettors in Las Vegas but it also speaks about his bad days when he loses huge amounts of money whether his own or client’s money. This documentary also follows the story of Chris Pirelli who is also one working as a betting advisor and it depicts the hard moment in his career and the reactions of his clients when he fails to bet successfully.

 

12.FRONTLINE with Jessica Savitch

• Year: 1983
• Author: Jessica Savitch
• Country: the United States
• Cast: Jessica Savitch
• Theme: Exploring the connections between NFL and organized crime and the match fixing of Super Bowl 50

This documentary investigates the connections between the NFL and the organized crime of mafia families in the United States. Through interviews with some of the leading figures from the industry at that time, this documentary managed to reveal the connection between match fixing and sports betting books that more and more casinos are featuring in their offer.
Additionally, Jessica Savitch also investigates the links between illegal sports betting in the USA and the consequences that betting syndicates had on the games in the NFL. The FRONTLINE is truly a master piece of investigative journalism and this documentary gets another dimension when a person finds out that Jessica Savitch, the author of this documentary has been killed in car accident just days after this documentary was aired.