The Long Con of @RJinVegas: #retweetsTHO

RJ Bell is the founder and CEO of Pregame.com, a sports betting website that includes forums, odds, contests, and picks (both of the free and for purchase varieties). It is one of the most successful sites of its kind, in no small part due to the popularity of Bell, who has accumulated over 90K Twitter followers and established himself as the mainstream media's go-to "expert" for stories involving gambling on sports.

An American success story if there every was one. That's only one side of it, though. In some corners of the internet (including this blog), there is a feeling that Bell has not found his success in a legitimate way. This is the 15th post in a series detailing the reasoning behind that particular feeling. If you'd like to start at the beginning, it's here.

We've previously looked at how, beyond everything else, Bell cannot be entrusted with simple reporting. Which shouldn't come as a surprise, since he has little reason to "provide accurate facts" and every incentive to draw attention to his #brand by stretching the truth.

Last week's Florida St.-Miami line gave us another excellent example of his untrustworthiness:

The Long Con of @RJinVegas: #TERNDZ (Part Three)

RJ Bell is the founder and CEO of Pregame.com, a sports betting website that includes forums, odds, contests, and picks (both of the free and for purchase varieties). It is one of the most successful sites of its kind, in no small part due to the popularity of Bell, who has accumulated over 80K Twitter followers and established himself as the mainstream media's go-to "expert" for stories involving gambling on sports.

An American success story if there every was one. That's only one side of it, though. In some corners of the internet (including this blog), there is a feeling that Bell has not found his success in a legitimate way. This is the 14th post in a series detailing the reasoning behind that particular feeling. If you'd like to start at the beginning, it's here.

This man is out of control. From Monday afternoon:

Entering this week, #Colts only team with 6 covers against the Vegas number.
— RJ Bell (@RJinVegas) November 3, 2014

Great info as always. A slight disagreement, though:

@RJinVegas aren't the chiefs 7-1? versus the #? Only loss in week 1.
— Steve Marsicek (@smarsicek19) November 3, 2014

Hmm. For some clarity, let's check Covers (excluding Week 9, because "entering this week"):

Okay, fair enough. If you count the 49ers game as a loss (or even a push), the Chiefs only had five ATS covers coming into the week. Makes sense, as long as you don't...

#Chiefs have covered the Vegas spread 7 STRAIGHT games - by a combined 91 points.
— RJ Bell (@RJinVegas) November 6, 2014

Oh damn it.

Don't see any getting around this one. RJ is using KC +4.5/5 to make the Colts stat work, and KC +5.5 to claim they've covered seven straight. He was corrected twice along the way, and obviously ignored the haters both times.

@keithlaw @WillBrinson You may or may not agree. My goal is to provide accurate facts for people to consider and be entertained by.
— RJ Bell (@RJinVegas) October 17, 2014

Previous Long Con post: #TERNDZ (Part Two)