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Since Baylor knocked off Gonzaga 86-70 in the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball national championship contest, there have been seismic changes to the world of sports betting.
There are now 32 states, and the District of Columbia, with some form of legalized sports wagering. Included in that number is one of the newest states, New York, which has already posted some astounding numbers: since sports wagering went live in January, the Empire State has seen a handle of over $3.2 billion.
That is a lot of money.
Now, the biggest event of the year for sports books, the NCAA Men’s Tournament, takes center stage, and the sports books are getting ready to take in over $3 billion for the 10 days of games.
With all the new bettors ready to embark on this March Madness run for the first time, it would be wise to find someone who can guide them through the upsets, underdog plays, and seeding information for a tournament that has games coming thick and fast over the first weekend.
Enter the man they call Joe Wiz from the hit ESPN radio show The Feinline: Wiz has over two decades of experience in the sports betting business, and can be heard on ESPN New York 98.7 as well as many other stations around the country. Wiz and his co-host Sean “The Genius” Miller have given out winners in many different sports over the last few months, and are focused right now on the end of the college hoops campaign.
But just because there are 16 games in each of the first two days, plus another 16 in the Second Round on Saturday and Sunday, does not mean you should be betting on games all day: in fact, Wiz says the opposite, which is something that some new bettors might not know.
That is what Wiz is here to do: help bettors, either ones new to the sports betting industry or ones that have been around for decades, make more informed wagers. For Wiz, this is about ROI: Return on Investment.
“When people are new to sports betting, especially when they come in for these big events like March Madness, they often fall into certain traps, as it is,” Wiz said. “They make some mistakes, like trying to place too many bets on games in those first two rounds. The same thing happens in the regular season: they see 150 games on the schedule, and they want to bet games up and down the card. But that leads to losses, and means that they might get frustrated and lose interest.
“Sports betting is about information. You want to have the most up-to-date info on the teams, and maybe even some stuff that is not out there in the public. That is what I do. I use information to make the most informed decisions for my clients. This is a tough industry to go at it all alone: you need someone to help you make the best decisions, and that is what I have been doing for bettors for two decades now.”
Miller, who has been in the sports betting world now for almost five years (writing for multiple sites) as an award-winning soccer handicapper for Bettors Insider, has seen firsthand what Wiz can do in his nine months with the Feinline.
“One thing I have learned in my time betting is that you often need a sounding board to help you make your picks,” Miller said. “Look, I am really good at picking Premier League and soccer, NFL, and college basketball, but I will often ask Joe what he thinks about a certain NCAA game. More often than not, he is right on the money: literally.
“I know he puts a lot of time into the research and he finds a way to use the data and information to make people money. This is a tough business if you don’t win, but he finds ways to do just that. The good thing he does is to find those underdogs that give you the ROI that he always talks about, return on investment. He gives out those picks all the time, and they hit. It is amazing to watch how he reasons out the plays.”
Rush Street Interactive, the parent company of Play Sugarhouse (active in three states) and BetRivers (active in 10 states), sponsors The Feinline show on ESPN. Both sites are expecting record numbers over the coming weeks, as the tournament runs its course.
Last year the entire Tournament was played in a "bubble" in the state of Indiana, and they did a great job to get the whole tournament in with all of the COVID-19 restrictions in place. In 2022, things are back to normal with action from coast to coast, with the Final Four set to be held in New Orleans.
The Wiz hit big with Baylor in last year’s championship game, when they knocked off Gonzaga as a +175 underdog. He feels the East top-seeded Bears will be hard pressed to repeat, or even make it to New Orleans. Gonzaga is the top overall seed in the bracket (West) and the favorites to cut down the nets on April 4.
Here is a list of some of the favorites from BetRivers/Play Sugarhouse:
Gonzaga +300
Arizona +590
Kentucky +600
Kansas +700
Baylor +1300
Auburn +1600
Duke +1600
Purdue +1800
Villanova +2000
Tennessee +2100
“I think that you can find some value in the futures bets obviously,” Wiz said. “Gonzaga is +300, but if you look a little further down the list, you start to get some very good return on investment. You have a team like Iowa, which just won the Big Ten, at +2500.
“With all of the games during the week, you have to have a disciplined approach. Once again, you can’t try to bet five or ten games a day: you have to make financially wise decisions. I try to find that one big winner each day, or maybe two with a parlay for a bigger return on investment. This is all about money management: you can’t bet with emotion and without all the facts. That is what I deal in: information. I get that, and I pass it on to my clients.”
Of course, this time of year is all about the upsets and underdogs, which is a key theme for Wiz all year. Whether it is the NFL, MLB, or even the Premier League now that Miller is on board, Wiz tries to get bettors the best value plays. It might be just one major game on a weekend, but that is how you win and manage your money.
“This is a three-week event, and there are so many games that people get so excited about,” Wiz said. “There is a chance to really come out ahead over the next few weeks. I do my best to make sure people get the best information to limit their exposure to bad bets. The winners are out there: you just need to know which games to back. That is where I come in.”
For Miller, this is a great chance to work with Wiz for the first time during a tournament. It is something the co-host is looking forward to over the coming weeks.
“Joe has changed my thinking process, which is hard, because I am the Genius,” Miller joked. “But seriously, Wiz has me looking for more underdog plays, which is something I rarely do when I pick my soccer games. It has worked out well for me since I have been on the show. I am way up over the last six months.
“Dare I say, Joe is a wiz at making picks? It is very apropos: Wiz gets the job done, and makes people money. That is what this is all about, right?”
