Since we started the site in 2012 (originally The Saturday Edge), I have pretty much heard, and/or been accused of all the negative tropes associated with being a sports handicapping service.

Tout, charlatan, scamdicapper initially come to mind.

We’ve been accused of not being good handicappers:

I gave it like five weeks. Only one week was a winner. This free newsletter costs me money. Can’t complain because it’s free but your cappers are not pros or even winners. Good luck with your site. I would suggest posting some winners so you can build a reputation. Good luck. – Nate B.

And every year since 2016, my man Nick sends me 2-3 emails a year letting me how much we suck as handicappers and that we are liars.

As a sports handicapper who has been on both sides of the fence, and as an entrepreneur who has been the purveyor and/or the recipient of good and bad products and customer service, I think I have a pretty good understanding of where Nate and Nick are coming from.

Neither one of these guys had a good experience with our service, whether it was free in Nate’s case or paid for in Nick’s case, they both lost money, and that SUCKS!

If you’re so good why do you sell picks?

A few weeks ago I sent out a newsletter asking our subscribers “what do you guys want to see more of on the site and in the newsletter? Please send me your thoughts, comments, suggestions and questions” 

One of the responses/questions I received was the following:

If you’re so good why do you sell picks? If you were actually profitable you wouldn’t need to sell your picks in the first place. – Teddy H.

I’d often seen this question/comment in forums, on blogs and in written articles, but up until last week I hadn’t given it much thought until I actually received the above email. And my initial thought was …

… Why wouldn’t I?

Perhaps I don’t understand the question, but if I “was so good” and was “actually profitable” why wouldn’t I sell my picks … or as I prefer to say, my information?

It seems to me that the information (and the picks) wouldn’t have much value if they weren’t very good or profitable.

I understand the gist of the question. If I was such a good college football handicapper, I’d be making so much money that I wouldn’t need to sell picks & information.

Perhaps that would be true if I had a MASSIVE 6-figure plus bankroll …. I don’t.

But then again, perhaps it wouldn’t.

Let’s say for conversation purposes I had a $250,000 bankroll (I wish), and I was wagering $4,400 per game (1.76% per game).

Last year I would have won/earned $52,000 (46 wins, 30 losses) in college football.

Not bad.

But again, I ask, why wouldn’t I sell all the experience I’ve accumulated and all the information I gathered in order to make additional income?

I’ve already done all the hard work in order to make my wager. So, it’s not like I am putting in much additional time to share my thoughts with our subscribers via my write-ups.

True I sometimes get carried away with some long-winded analyses, but those are usually labor of loves. I’m having fun sharing the information.

VALUE. VALUE. VALUE!

Which brings me back to my original answer to the question, why wouldn’t I sell my information?

It has value. In fact, 55% to 60% of the time it usually has a lot of value. LOL!

I save people a lot of time by selling my time.

I provide people with “experience and expertise” that they either don’t have or it would take several years to accumulate.

In addition, for a reasonable fee they gain indirect access to far more information than they could accumulate on their own.

For example, during the typical college football season I pay for numerous services that provide exceptional information, advanced stats and analytics, which I in turn share with our subscribers.

SUMMARY

Information is the lifeblood of sports betting, perhaps the most crucial and valuable element of the entire industry.

So perhaps someone could enlighten me as to why I WOULDN’T sell the information I spend hundreds of hours accumulating during (and prior to) the college football season.

And why WOULDN’T I sell the experience and expertise I have accumulated in over 35+ years of handicapping college football?

If someone were to come to you and offer to fairly compensate you to spend 2-3 hours summarizing in writing what you did at your job this week, would you take it?

That’s really all I am doing when I “sell” my information and picks.

So, back to the original question “If you’re so good why do you sell picks? If you were actually profitable you wouldn’t need to sell your picks in the first place.” 

I sell picks because I am good — in fact I am probably better than most — at accumulating information and deciphering it in order to make profitable decisions. Subsequently, I am able to concisely summarize this information into written form which my subscribers can use to make profitable decisions themselves.

That has value! To me and to them.