The season after I left the Brain Trust, in 2000, Rick Matthews moved his operations to another nation, where sports gambling is an established industry (and heavily taxed). Given the contentious and increasingly uncertain legal climate in the United States, Big Daddy Rick reluctantly retired from sports betting after the 2003 football season. “It stopped being fun, 44,” he told me. “And I’m too old not to be having fun.” Bookmakers around the world breathed a collective sigh of relief, happy to know that the most fearsomely successful gambler of all time would be sating his wagering appetite on the golf course.
Brother Herbie inherited the Brain Trust’s key asset, the computer. He continues to bet on sports from a beautiful island estate he purchased in the Caribbean. Whenever you see the point spreads move, it’s probably Mr. Herb picking off the good numbers.
He has competition, though. Algo Andy now heads his own syndicate of bettors, known throughout the industry as the Nerds, many of whom were once his students. He no longer teaches at MIT, though rumors of a triumphant return to academia persist, particularly whenever the concept of game theory is mentioned. Our original Baby is now BabyIV, and according to Andy, “She’s dramatically more efficient than anything else out there. Honestly, I don’t know how the Brains ever made a profit. Their program just isn’t very visionary.” Andy claims that the Nerds win at every sport (and I believe him), but baseball, the statistician’s smorgasbord, is his favorite.
I haven’t made a sports bet in several years. Occasionally, a friend or former colleague will ask me my opinion on a game or a point spread, and I’ll usually offer my meager advice with a serious caveat. Sure, I know a little something about the betting lines, and, yes, every week presents a few profitable betting opportunities that I can recognize. But these days I’m just a casual sports fan, like everyone else.
I’m no longer the smart money.