Brent Musburger knows more than a thing or two about gambling. Beginning this season, he’ll know more than a thing or two about the Raiders, since he’ll become the team’s play-by-play announcer on radio. But he doesn’t believe the inside information he’ll acquire will make it any easier to beat the bookie.
“Let’s say I’m gonna pick the Raiders game every week,” Musburger said recently on the #PFTPM podcast. “Oh, I’ll know for sure what’s going on . . . uh, not so fast my friends. I have found that the closer you get, the less apt you are to see the truth when it comes to picking football games. The best handicappers I have ever been around have nothing to do [with the sport] -- no such thing as inside information. They look at numbers, they certainly watch the game, they know the personnel. But they’re not biased. If I did that, there would be a bias factor, mentally, that would kick in, and listen I might be right maybe 50 percent of the time about the Raiders season. . . . The bookies would all be broke if such a thing as inside information could help you beat them. These are very sharp numbers.”
The question of inside information will become a potential concern as legalized betting spreads. Some reporters and broadcasters will know much more than the average person, and they’ll be tempted to try to use it. Some networks may eventually ask their employees to sign documentation in which they promise neither to wager on the games they cover or to pass any information acquired along to others.
It’s one of the many wrinkles that will need to be ironed out as this new era of gambling unfolds. Regardless of whether inside information helps, there will be a perception that it could.
