Props.cash founder Pete Smaluck

Props.cash software

For The Washington Post

The Washington Post

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How an aspiring math teacher created props.cash, a service for sports bettors - The Washington Post

In 2020, Pete Smaluck built software that could teach middle-schoolers math through NBA stats. Students could pick their favorite player or team, and the software would generate a worksheet with relevant questions. An example: <i>James Harden shot 36 free throws. Of those he has made 88.9 percent. How many free throws has he made?</i>

Smaluck tested it with 50 teachers in Ontario, Canada, where he lives, and though he said the feedback was positive, he could not convince school boards to pay for the software.

With a new approach, he found a way to make it valuable.

Smaluck and his buddies long enjoyed prop betting — placing wagers on specific outcomes within a sporting event, such as how many rebounds a power forward will grab or which player will score a game’s first points. And the software he created, a few tweaks later, provided helpful data in researching which player props might be worthwhile. So helpful, in fact, his friends suggested he offer the resource online.

A year and a half in, <a href="http://props.cash/" target=_blank>props.cash</a> is a profitable subscription service, according to Smaluck, and its red and green charts often pop up on #gamblingtwitter, where bettors use them to support hypotheses or thank the company for their victories.

“I never really wanted to be in the gambling space. That wasn’t my ambition,” Smaluck said during a video call from his Hamilton, Ontario, office, a painting of Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hanging behind him. “My ambition was always to teach math, but it just turns out that the prop bettor is a student of math. And having these basic tools helps them.

“So I’m still teaching math at its core, but it’s not to students.”

Smaluck — 38 and engaged to be married this fall — has a degree in math and stats and a masters in education, but he struggled to land his preferred job after graduation amid a teacher glut in parts of Canada. Instead, he worked in data visualization for a newspaper and then as an engineer for start-ups, where he expanded his skills as a developer and learned how businesses run.

Now he works full time to build his company, which employs eight people. Its product streamlines research — organizing what could otherwise be a dozen browser tabs into a clean dashboard — and simplifies statistical trends with color-coded graphs, much like a math teacher might.

“It’s such an excellent, savvy app that gives you a great starting-off point,” said Beau Wagner, an Illinois real estate attorney who, since mobile betting became legal in his state in 2020, has established himself as a high-volume bettor and influencer. “They boil down the numbers for you so you can at least see the trends.”

The universe of available props has ballooned in the past two years as sportsbooks offer more and more ways to invest in anything that might happen on the playing field. Want to predict whether there will be a run scored during the first inning of an MLB game? There’s an increasingly popular prop for that. It offers immediate gratification — or angst.

Johnny Avello, director of sportsbook operations at DraftKings, said more than 10 percent of his book’s handle is from prop betting. Bets that used to be offered merely for big games such as the Super Bowl are now available every day.

Meanwhile, savvy bettors say it’s often easier to beat the books at props than at standard spreads or over/unders, which are more scrutinized.

“The sides and totals are so sharp,” Wagner said. “The bookmakers that run these books that come up with those lines, they’re brilliant. … I think with props, there’s so many of them you can find the soft spots.”

Avello, from DraftKings, agrees props can be a bit softer than other bets, especially as sites rapidly expand their offerings. And so a cat-and-mouse game transpires between the books and the bettors.

“As we find tools to make odds more efficiently, they find tools to try to find ways to beat you,” Avello said. “I think they are getting better. I think we’re getting better. If that’s the way it’s going to be — we get better, they get better, and it’s a standoff — I’m fine with that.”

Props.cash — which charges $19.99 for a monthly subscription or $199.99 for an annual one — doesn’t offer explicit advice on where to put your money, but it strives to make bettors better.

Griffin Carroll was a props.cash user before becoming its public relations manager, a role that includes blogging on its website. He says he scored big this year by firing at a vulnerable market: shots on goal props in NHL games. Carroll publicizes his picks, and his company’s green-and-red bar charts — also represented on the props.cash logo — serve as proof of concept.

“People sharing winning slips goes a long way,” Carroll said in explaining how props.cash has accumulated more than <a href="https://twitter.com/propsdotcash?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target=_blank>49,000 followers on Twitter</a>. He added a caveat: “Obviously it’s important to acknowledge that nobody’s going to go on Twitter and say, ‘Thank you for this loser.’ ”

Heading into the fall, Carroll is looking to master a niche within the NFL: longest reception props. The joy, he says, is in the research.

That has also been true for Smaluck ever since he began betting props a decade ago on <a href="https://www.olg.ca/en/sports.html" target=_blank>Proline</a>, a service offered by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission. Smaluck knew it would be tough to turn a profit, but analyzing data was part of the thrill.

It is his mission at props.cash to make the research process engaging for all. He says he aims to “teach people math using relevant and exciting data,” regardless of his occupation — which, maybe someday, will involve a classroom.

While Smaluck said he understands his connection to gambling could scare some in the teaching community, he still envisions working with students. Eventually, he wants to revisit a career as an educator.

“I’m going to go back to it,” Smaluck said. “Once this props journey is done, I’m circling back to teaching kids math. There’s no question; it’s my lifetime journey.”

Mark Selig is a print and digital editor in the Sports department who occasionally dusts off his keyboard to write.

Mark Selig

washpost

How an aspiring math teacher created props.cash, a service for sports bettors

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Aspiring math teacher finds a winning formula for sports prop betting

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How an aspiring math teacher created go-to advice for prop betting

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Sports betting sign-up bonuses: A user's guide - The Washington Post

Chris Sununu

Nearly every sports fan now endures a bombardment of advertisements from gambling operators, each making seductive sign-up offers in the name of customer acquisition. These companies hand out money — in the form of free bets — and count on you eventually giving it back. <i>Take $1,000 now and become a sucker for life!</i>

Over the long haul, the sportsbooks will beat most bettors. But sign-up bonuses can level the playing field in the short term.

A common offer is a “risk-free” or “no-sweat” bet that allows you to place an initial wager — in the case of Caesars, up to $1,250 — and get the money back in bonus funds if you lose. But to turn those bonus funds into actual cash you can withdraw, you have to earn it with successful bets. The promotion does not completely remove risk (or sweat), but it does mitigate it, allowing you to take bigger swings with less fear of striking out.

For the risk-averse, you can sometimes hedge free bets against one another to guarantee yourself some green.

In January, when New York introduced mobile betting, a Reddit post explained, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/sportsbook/comments/s08tgv/new_yorkers_how_to_make_7k_guaranteed_from_these/">“How to make $7K guaranteed from these sign-up offers</a>.” Through a carefully calculated and precisely timed series of bets at various sportsbooks, users with enough liquidity could have ensured a nice profit.

That methodology is a bit extreme, and the sign-up offers consistently change, but by simply registering for each site and taking advantage of their bonuses, you initially tilt the odds in your favor and can build a healthy bankroll.

Keep in mind: This behavior can also normalize betting larger amounts than you’d usually be comfortable risking, which is exactly what the sportsbooks are banking on.

<b>What are the current sign-up bonuses?</b>

Each of the eight most widely available sportsbook apps in the United States has a sign-up offer. They are ranked below by how valuable they are, with concise explanations.

Be sure to read a promotion’s details before using it, as some specify that bets must fall within a certain odds range. And as mentioned, typically a “free bet” does not return the stake of the bet, only the winnings. That means if you successfully use one, you’re effectively just turning what was fake money into real money.

Two risk-free bets: <a href="https://nj.pointsbet.com/promos" target=_blank>Up to $500 for a normal fixed-odds wager</a> and up to $1,500 for a points betting wager. (A points betting wager is when you multiply your bet amount by the number of units your bet wins or loses by. It is a high-risk/high-reward alternative.) For both risk-free bets, losses are refunded in free bet credits that must be used within seven days.

A guide to the most popular sports betting apps

One risk-free bet <a href="https://www.barstoolsportsbook.com/promotions?tab=new_player" target=_blank>up to $1,000 on your first wager</a>; a loss is refunded in free bets. Unlike most other promotions, your free bets here <i>will </i>return the stake of that bet. You must play through all of your bonus money to convert it to cash, though, which means using it in at least one more bet.

One risk-free bet up to $1,250 on your first bet; <a href="https://www.caesars.com/sportsbook-and-casino/va/" target=_blank>a loss is refunded with a single free bet</a> that must be used within 14 days. So if you wager the full $1,250 and it wins, you get a nice payday on Caesars’ dime; if it loses, you would have to nail a subsequent $1,250 free bet just to break even. (You are not required to bet the full $1,250 if the thought of consecutive losses at that value makes you squeamish, but playing these promotions to their maximum limit offers the highest expected value.)

One risk-free bet <a href="https://www.va.betmgm.com/en/mobileportal/promotions/sports/king-of-sportsbooks" target="_blank">up to $1,000 on your first wager</a>; a loss is refunded in free bets that must be used within seven days. If your losing wager is more than $50, you get multiple free bets adding up to the sum of that bet — rather than one single free bet of that amount. (For the max $1,000 wager, you’d get back five $200 bets. This allows you to diversify your free bets, which could result in you winning back a portion of your money.)

In most states, <a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/promotions" target=_blank>a $1,000 no-sweat first bet that is refunded if it loses</a> with a single free bet that must be used within seven days. This is similar to BetMGM’s promotion, except the free bet arrives in one lump. In Virginia, the offer is a bet match up to $250 on the first wager, which is less appealing.

An initial deposit is <a href="https://va.betrivers.com/?page=promotions" target=_blank>matched up to $250 in bonus money</a>. Users must play through that bonus within 30 days. This is less risky than the other offers, because you don’t have to make a single large bet to make the most of the promo; you could deposit the full $250 and then make 25 bets at $10 apiece.

Bet $100 and get <a href="https://co.wynnbet.com/promotion/136" target=_blank>a free bet of $100</a>. (The initial bet must have odds of -120 or greater, so no picking an easy winner.) The free bet expires within 10 days and must be used on an event with odds at -150 or greater.

A 20 percent match, up to $1,000, <a href="https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/lp/prereg-bonus-offers-terms?wpsrc=Organic%20Search&wpaffn=Google&wpkw=https%3A%2F%2Fsportsbook.draftkings.com%2Flp%2Fprereg-bonus-offers-terms&wpcn=lp&wpscn=prereg-bonus-offers-terms" target=_blank>of your initial deposit</a>. On its face, this sounds cool; you can deposit $5,000 and get $1,000 free. But read the fine print! With stiff play-through requirements, DraftKings doles out just $1 at a time for every $25 you bet over the course of 90 days. DraftKings will indeed put $1,000 into your account, but only if you wager $25,000 — yes, <i>$25,000 </i>— over the course of three months.

Mark Selig

Washington, D.C.

How an aspiring math teacher created go-to advice for prop betting

Sign-up bonuses can give bettors an edge, but read the fine print

A guide to the most popular sports betting apps

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