Phil Steele in Bed With a Sportsbook

[savage1]

I am not going to mention the name of the Sportsbook, as that is not the point.
Yesterday I received a free preview issue of Northcoast's PowerSweep Newsletter.
Included in the envelope is all kind of advertising from the sportsbook offering anywhere from a free year's subscription to Powersweep to all kinds of signing bonuses.
He spent some more time on the comp. phone today repeating this.
He did the same thing last year with another sportsbook, and if you sent enough money, you could get most all of Northcoast's pay services for nothing.
Hmm-I wonder who Phil is working for anyways,

[moondog22]

interesting

[savage1]

On the other hand, if I can go on a romance tour to Colombia, I guess Phil can try to get his "romance" by shacking up with a sportsbook.

[Sportsrmylife]

I think that this is something that most of the sports services out there do. I know that ASA does it with WWTS.

I think that they consider this a win/win situation for them. People go through their site for the sportsbook and they get tagged to that service. Any deposits they make now sends the service a bit of money. Well, the service wins, the person sends the service more money for more picks, the service loses the sportsbook sends the service a "royalty" like payment for the deposits their people make.

Pretty simple concept that can make the services alot of money.

[ROCKDEMANSPORTS]

Sports Books

Ive Had Several Make Me Offers But Im Sure as Hell Not About To Tell My Clients Bullshit Just To Make A Quick $ .
I Use A Local Book In Atlanta And 1 Offshore . Ive Been With Them Since They Opened And Thats The Only One I Would Tell My Clients To Use If They Asked Me . I Dont Sell My Clients Names Either But Then Again I Never Ask For
Your Name Or Phone Number Anyhow !!

[savage1]

I don't care how many services do it;to me it smells.
In an exaggerated sense it sort of reminds me of the night before game 7 in the World Series lets say Red Sox vs. Braves, and you saw David Ortiz having a casual dinner with John Smoltz, the starting pitcher for the Braves.

[Sports Guru 4u]

There are still a few very good honest services out there! I've been in the business over 10yrs now(Independent Service) no affiliations. Clients are my boss.. my job is to make them happy. I don't get paid unless they get paid. That's how I've ran my business from the start.
Have a profitable Sunday!
Rob (Sports Guru 4u)

[savage1]

There are still a few very good honest services out there! I've been in the business over 10yrs now(Independent Service) no affiliations. Clients are my boss.. my job is to make them happy. I don't get paid unless they get paid. That's how I've ran my business from the start.
Have a profitable Sunday!
Rob (Sports Guru 4u)

I commend you on that, and wish more would do the same.
It is easy to understand why many of the big name services are laughed at:
Many falsify and/or spin their records to their advantage, and then they proudly announce they are sleeping with the enemy(the sportsbook);that is why many of them are or will be a dying breed in the coming years.

[Sportsrmylife]

Many falsify and/or spin their records to their advantage, .

I think that most of these services play the percentages that say they are not going to get caught providing false records. How many years now has Joe Wiz been claiming to be the #1 handicapper in america hitting around 80%!!! If that were true you would have every major sports talk show trying to get him on for his advice, you'd have him winning contests all over the place and lastly....vegas would stop taking sports bets. Everybody would be playing his picks....he'd be a billionaire and not living in the backseat of a van!!!!

[savage1]

Sportsrmylife-I received this book in the mail which rates many of the big sports services.
They have the stats to back up their claims.
Get this- after getting an A+ in 2001, Northcoast received a C+ in 2002, a C in 2003 and a C- in 2004;this only points out that Phil Steele long winded speeches are nothing but a lot of bluster.

[BackDoorCvr]

Steele/Northcoast

Savage-

I think Phil has been recommending this particular sportsbook for a few years now. To his credit, there are no links to this particular book on his site to attract people just passing through. I do agree with you that the arrangement, while not unique to the industry, does seem a bit incestuous (sort of like having a financial planner recommend trading through E-Trade vs. some other company). However, I don't put Steele and his company in the same category as many of the scumbags out there (giving out both sides, 10,000,000* Games, This Game Guaranteed or The Rest of the Century is Free, etc...). Your magazine is right though in that he has had a few sub par years recently and he is a bit verbose at times. I have no idea what the particular financial arrangement between the two of them is (one would think that the most honest one for Phil would be some sort of advertising fee coupled with maybe a certain percentage of any new deposits that result from advertising with him) but as long as whoever signs up with this book gets fair lines with fair vig and gets paid quickly when they win I personally have no problem with it. Obviously I would have a problem with it if he were paid based on the profitability of all of the new accounts he brought in. That being said, I don't believe that Northcoast is intentionally trying to lose its clients money (which I took to be the tacit implication in your argument). Besides, I'm not sure how many people would actually switch offshore books that they were happy with or stop going to their local guy just because Steele said so.

[savage1]

Savage-

I think Phil has been recommending this particular sportsbook for a few years now. To his credit, there are no links to this particular book on his site to attract people just passing through. I do agree with you that the arrangement, while not unique to the industry, does seem a bit incestuous (sort of like having a financial planner recommend trading through E-Trade vs. some other company). However, I don't put Steele and his company in the same category as many of the scumbags out there (giving out both sides, 10,000,000* Games, This Game Guaranteed or The Rest of the Century is Free, etc...). Your magazine is right though in that he has had a few sub par years recently and he is a bit verbose at times. I have no idea what the particular financial arrangement between the two of them is (one would think that the most honest one for Phil would be some sort of advertising fee coupled with maybe a certain percentage of any new deposits that result from advertising with him) but as long as whoever signs up with this book gets fair lines with fair vig and gets paid quickly when they win I personally have no problem with it. Obviously I would have a problem with it if he were paid based on the profitability of all of the new accounts he brought in. That being said, I don't believe that Northcoast is intentionally trying to lose its clients money (which I took to be the tacit implication in your argument). Besides, I'm not sure how many people would actually switch offshore books that they were happy with or stop going to their local guy just because Steele said so.

I was being sarcastic;I don't think he is intentionally trying to lose;but on the other hand,something tells me if a big game of his loses and many of his customers bet the game through this particular sportsbook, Phil will be compensated in some way;thats show biz!
Also, and I agree there is no comparison with Steele and the scummy services like Feiner, Jack Price, Joh nny Demarco and so many more which have been lying and ripping off the public for many years.
That being said, I still frown upon this practice, as at the very least it brings into question the integrity of the picks,

[BackDoorCvr]

Savage, I agree with you there. It's kind of like doctors prescribing drugs that they get vacations or other perks from the drug manufacturers for dishing out. GL the rest of the year.

[MasterShakes]

It's Millenium

I'll say the sportsbook's name. It's Millenium. The sportsbook last year was Bet Royal. Both books are listed with relatively poor grades on Bill Dozer's ***.

I can say, from people who have personal experience with it, that he goes further than simply mentioning Millenium. At least sometimes, when he gives out his 5* college selections (does this something like 6 or 7 times a season), he says that the line is locked in for the next hour or so at Millenium, and this is typically the line he will measure the pick's success by. A few times, while the line is locked in at Millenium, the line will have moved several points at other books, probably leaving the majority of his clients with a pick that's not worth nearly as much, if anything.

I will give Steele credit. He is generally FAR more honest than your average handicapper. He is monitored (by two reputable monitors I believe), and certain picks of his have a pretty good record (I think his 5*s have done well, and I think his college totals have been dynamite for several years now).

Friends of mine who have used him have complained that the line he typically gives when he reads off his selections is typically unrealistic to find, even for somebody who uses five or so different sportsbooks. The line simply doesn't stay in place that long. I think we all know that even a little difference in the lines makes a big difference over the long haul.

To me, his service seems outdated. He still gives his selections primarily by phone just before kickoff, rather than over the Internet. His site is horrible. I would value his advice a lot more if he provided his executives with Internet access to his advice on CURRENT lines throughout the week.

All this said, his Power Sweep newsletter is still an excellent source of information, and his preseason magazines and worksbooks for football are outstanding.

Overall, I'm on the fence with this guy. If he pulls his service together for some good seasons, it would do a lot to change my mind.

[savage1]

MasterShakes-I agree with a lot of what you say.
However, I think he overkills his PowerSweep with too many stats from past seasons, many of which have no bearing on what will happen on the field say in a big game in the middle of the season, the outcome of which is much more contingent on what is happening with the teams in question now and not 5 years ago.