Handi-Scammers vs Handi-Cappers

P.T Barnum once said “there is a sucker born every minute.” That is particularly true if you relate it to betting. Many people just do not have the time to make their own betting selections so they rely on a handicapping or pick service. There are some good services out there, but be careful as there are also a lot of scam artists.

You can spot them by the outrageous claims they make. They are usually much better marketers than handicappers. All too often folks get suckered into believing the advertising from what I call handi-scammers. People fall for these ads because they are usually motivated by greed and these scam artists play right into their weakness.

Those who claim to be in possession of some exclusive classified information that will absolutely and positively decide the outcome of a game are simply lying. Also, when you see a label given to any one game such as lock of the year, 50 star play, or a sure thing, RUN, don‘t walk away. The people that make these claims plain and simple are not legitimate.

One of their most common tactics is to give out both sides of a game and thus, ensuring 50% of the callers will receive a winner and as a result, those 50% will fork out more money next week.

The following week they’ll do the same and now 25% of the people that they initially contacted have gone 2-0 and are now ready to hand out big bucks. Hopefully, you’ll be one of those people that went 0-1 and won’t be conned into dishing out more money.

A variation of this is the you only pay if you win. Again, they are using the exact same tactic mentioned above by giving out both sides of a game, knowing that half of the people will, in fact, win. If you lose you don’t have to pay them but you still lose money because you lost the bet . If you win and have to give them a percentage of your winnings it raises the percentage of wins you need just to break even.

Here is another almost comical ploy that these scammers use. If you happen to get on their mailing list you may receive a full schedule for the NFL season. Well if you flip through the schedule you will see that they often will already have highlighted locks or specific blowout games for
two or three months in advance. Are they so clairvoyant to know which game will be the lock of the week two or three months down the road ? I don’t think so.

There are legitimate handicappers out there that you can use if you do not want to go through the work of handicapping your own games. First of all , you should never pay more than 1% of your normal betting amount for a play. So if you normally bet $100 per game you should pay no more that $1.00 per pick. That’s in stark contrast to the $10-$50 or more per play that the so called Gurus often charge for their picks.

Also, do not go with someone that has a short time period of success. Anyone can get on a hot streak. In line with this, beware of sports services that spend a lot of money claiming how great they are. These services make a ton of money signing up clients, but it is usually the client that loses because they get caught up in the hype.

You will be much better off going with someone that is consistent, reliable, honest and obviously good. Look for handicappers that charge a reasonable amount and that do not make pie in the sky promises. Ask a handicapper if he has ever had a losing month. If they tell you NO, you can be sure they are not being truthful.


George Kallajxhi
703-217-0805
gak555@yahoo.com