Why don't Hedge Funds diversify into sports betting, poker, black jack?

CFA General
#41

Bump

#42

Bump

#43

Bump

#44

ohhhhhhhhhhh… the rare triple bump.

#45

http://www.finalternatives.com/node/11978

#46

read michael konik’s book about getting bets down. sports betting is a very, very thin market. for example, i think ncaa basketball over/under is extremely beatable but i think pinnacle and others limit you to a few hundred bucks. so if you have 10% advantage (ridic optimistic), congrats you just made $20 if you care, i think mark cuban thought about this a few years ago

#47

The sharks in vegas or the EPL dudes in Europe are basically mini hedge funds anyways. Listen to the ESPN vegas expert on Bill Simmons podcast or read his articles. He talks about how the sharks use certain rules, and bet on certain games. Very similar to a Portfolio Manager.

#48

Bump.

#49

Poker Analyst looking to transition to PE.

Hacksaw 100% of the time

#50

Blast to the past seeing all those names.

#51

The limits are too low.

#52

Along with all the esoteric reasons mentioned, more fundamentally theres no money in it! Thats why. Few gambling enterprises are anything but a zero sum game at best…and almost all are tilted to the house so over the long run its a losing proposition. Unless of course we are willing to consider the value of “inside information” which seems to be looked on more kindly in horse racing, boxing, basketball, and the like!

#53

I think there are legal issues too, but the big one is that the only way to make money consistently in gambling is to be the house.

I had a friend (uncle-type) who was driving by Reno, NV with me one day. He was not a very math-y guy, but he knew that gambling in the houses was a losing proposition. His argument “Where did the money come from to build those big buildings and flashy lights?” It didn’t come out of nowhere, it came from those who were gambling. I don’t need to know math to know it’s a bad proposition.

Not a bad argument, actually. What’s the point of providing capital to build one of those casinos if you aren’t expecting a return on it.

#54

timothy bradley vs pacquio would have thrown the world back into recession

#55

Hmm… SEC regulations?

#56

There are a few hedge funds active in sports betting. One of them went broke last year:

http://www.businessinsider.com/sports-betting-hedge-fund-collapses-2012-1

I agree that it is probably better to just own a sports betting or poker site instead. The house always wins.