Bet on a Sure Thing?
Adam Flower
The San Francisco Chronicle.
I’m sitting in an office overlooking Market street on the 25thth floor of the McKeason building in the financial district of San Francisco. A few cubicles can be seen in the room that opens up into the hall leading to a row of offices. I silently watch the girl at the front desk typing away and wonder if she is actually performing tasks of her profession or if she is staking an old boyfriend on Facebook. “would you like a soft drink?” she inquisitively asks, pulling on her long blonde hair. This is the fourth beverage she has offered after water, coffee, tea and I suspect she is hoping for a reason to escape my gaze and considering how young and beautiful she is I may be staring. “I’m fine, thank you’ I pleasantly answer certain at this point that only men work in this office hence the minx that sits before be.
“Sorry buddy, I got caught up with Europe on the phone, Jeffrey Spotsworth,’” says an outreached hand connected to a smile. “Adam” I reply startled, I think he just materialized out of the wall. “You need anything, lets go back to my office,” not waiting for any reply as an invisible force emanating from this $6000 suit is leading back into the bowels of glass and chrome like tractor beam from a science fiction movie. Following these Prada loafers in what could be at any investment house or trading firm but I’m not on Wall Street. I’m at the headquarters of Sports Science LLC, a company that has developed a sports betting system from a Neural Network computer program.
Ten years ago Jeffrey was designing artificial intelligence software for Hedge Fund Managers searching for opportunities in equity and currency pricing. Collecting mass amounts of data and looking for patterns that the traders can profit off of. This technology is known as a “Neural Network System”. It’s basically a computer system that functions with the same logic, method and analytical reasoning as the human mind but able to process massive amounts of information much like the human brain.
“I was telling my brother basically the basics of AI and what I do when he asked if it could work for the predicting the weather- I stated that any prediction is possible as long as there is enough past data to feed the program. Then he joked “can you tell me the winner of tonight’s game?” Now I had known that Neural Network Systems have been applied to sports betting before but for some reason at that point it really hit me hard that this could be an exciting proposition.”
Jeffrey met George Kemp (CEO of Sports Science) years earlier through a mutual friend. “I always knew that we (George and Jeffrey) would work together, and George’s ability in marketing and branding was a perfect fit for what I had envisioned. This new application was just awesome and he gathered the initial capital to built our own proprietary account.”
Selling the system retail was not what either man had envisioned. “At that time we had reservations about selling the system due to many different reasons. Threat of resale, maybe even effecting the odds. But there are so many different expenses that arise during the R&D stage that it really just boiled down to a needed second stream of revenue. Now in retrospect the fears we had were foolish- it has become a wonderful product that has helped many people.”
Now some hardcore gamblers think allowing a computer program to make your picks is sacrilegious. But one of the best aspects of using computers for gambling purposes is that it takes the guesswork out of making your selections. Enter the required data and the computer tells you who to bet on.
There’s no more hemming and hawing before placing a wager or having second thoughts if Team A really is a good bet. It’s all clear cut and laid out right in front of you.
Another key factor in using sports betting software is that Sports Science’s computer can do calculations faster and more accurately than you can. Even if you’re just spending three hours with your calculator and a notebook trying to add together a multitude of numbers, mistakes are going to happen. You certainly don’t want your money lost on the basis of a subtraction error. Imagine data going back 10-20 years!
The most valuable aspect of using the Sports Science System to come up with your selections is that the computer will be able to pick games with a higher accuracy than you can.
“It takes the fun out of it” says Scott, a local customer at the bar I frequent maybe a bit more than I should. Even after explaining the how profitable it could be he protested. “No damn computer can tell you about the fire and determination in a player or team’s heart. That’s just immeasurable! It comes from your gut’, he murmured as the team he bet against hit the winning run, betraying his beer filled gut.
Jeffrey left me with these thoughts- “Look, either you bet to make money, or you do it as a kind of entertainment, we just offer both those options at the same time. We win and that’s the sales pitch.”
Worked for me. I bought the package and can’t wait until the next game. Go Giants, well… I mean whoever the system picks.
For more information on Sports Science go to www.sportsbettingstar.com
About the Author
Adam Flower is a contributing writer for the San Francisco Chronicle.
What U Say ‘Bout Me? (performance at Ted’s Sports Bar and Grill)
