Ricky Gold had grown up around sports betting and there was something very important that he had noticed. What he observed was that there were lots of gaps in the experience from the sports bettor’s perspective. That’s when the idea for Juice Reel began.
“There’s always been people who take bets and there’s always been games on TV,” said Gold. “But the experience of betting, I feel, had always been lacking.”
So, Gold decided to do something about it and created Juice Reel, a data-driven sports bet tracking and analytics app that syncs with over 300 sports books and allows the sports bettor to have anything he or she needs to know at their fingertips.
“There was no way to keep track of your bets and the tooling for sports bettors was really lacking modern-day technology,” said Gold. “Our goal is definitely to cater to very experienced bettors and to novice bettors. We like to take them down the journey of let’s help you figure out what to bet on and let’s figure out where the best place is to place that bet.”
Along on the Juice Reel ride with Gold is former CBS Radio President Dan Mason who is now dipping his toes in the sports betting waters for a second time. Mason was the Chairman of VSiN, The Sports Betting Company which was sold to Draft Kings.
And now, Mason is excited about this new venture.
“It’s kind of like a radio programmer who hears a song for the first time…you know it’s a hit when you hear a hit,” said Mason. “With Ricky’s company, he’s made this product really fun…it’s not all X’s and O’s here. It’s got color, it’s got robots and it’s got all kinds of ways to captivate creativity.”
One of the more unique aspects of Juice Reel is that there is a layer of social media attached to it. A bettor can interact with friends and get a good perspective of how they are doing with their selections as opposed to the others. With a bettor’s history on a graph overlaid against a friend’s performance, it’s a really cool feature that makes this app unique in the sports betting industry.
“People are competitive naturally,” said Gold. “So, to be able to see effectively effortless how you versus a bunch of your friends are betting and who is good at what, who is bad at what, how you stack up against each other, I think people find really exciting.”
With sports betting now becoming legal in more and more states expanding the amount of people who can now utilize mobile sports wagering, the industry has exploded in recent years. It has also had a significant effect on how people watch games in person and on television as well as how it has become an important piece of content for sports radio.
There’s still even more room for expansion and Juice Reel plans on being a big part of it.
“Moving the needle with the legislature in some of these states is like molasses,” said Mason. “It doesn’t go like we think it should all the time. There are big states out there that still have not legalized sports betting leaving a lot of tax money on the table.”
From an advertising and marketing standpoint, Juice Reel is advertising heavily on VSiN at this moment, but the ultimate goal is to integrate their product into the content that a bettor can hear on sports radio, either locally or nationally.
It’s not just about paying for commercials or live reads. It’s about forging a partnership with sports radio outlets, including the biggest sports station in the country WFAN in New York.
“We’re not really interested in buying spots,” said Mason. “We look at integrated content. That’s where it’s at. I’m not really interested in what we know as traditional 30s and 60s and 10s. If we can come to an agreement with ‘FAN on how we can showcase our integrated content, that’s what we’re really striving for.”
Another piece of technology that Juice Reel is tapping into is Artificial Intelligence. What Juice Reel offers its users is a robot named “Robo Jackson” who makes two selections a day and so far, he’s doing fairly well in the selection department.
“Automatically every day at noon, based on all of the bets and all of the data in our database, the bot selects two picks every day that he thinks are the best two bets to hit,” said Gold.
At the time of our interview this past Thursday, Robo Jackson had made 150 selections and had a record of 84-66 which equates to a winning percentage of just over 56%.
And that’s what Juice Reel is trying to do for its users: give them a space to see how they’re doing with their picks but also get good advice on what to bet on and where to do it. Purchasing betting advice is a multi-billion-dollar industry and Juice Reel is trying to protect those who need help making their picks.
The industry has some flaws and Juice Reel is trying to help.
“Most of the people selling betting advice today are touting fake performance metrics,” said Gold. “What we’ve created is an automated marketplace where everyone in our app becomes a betting advice salesman and everybody is backed by their historical performance data. Now, you can buy betting advice from real people who actually have money on the game.”
Juice Reel has exploded onto the sports betting scene with its helpful tools and information and a really sharp and vibrant look. It’s something that was missing from the marketplace and now those, whether they are experience bettors or they are novice wagers, have a new and exciting space to further enjoy the experience of sports betting.
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
