Interview with Mike McClain

How did you first get involved with sports betting?

As a child, I was a student of American football. Studying historical teams, creating player ratings, simulating match ups between great teams of the past with computer software called Front Page Sports Pro football. So even at a very young age I showed a tendency towards this. At the time it was just for fun, I was a kid; I had no knowledge of sports wagering or even that it existed. As I got older my father would discuss betting on horses. He liked the track, I was never into the races, but my questions to him started to introduce me to odds. When I was 17, I joined an office pool for the NCAA football bowl season. I had little idea how to actually handicap games, but I won, it felt very rewarding. I didn’t have any real hobbies or clear career interests; I enjoyed statistics, psychology, and history. I decided to start using Excel to break down statistics and handicap games. One hour of play time turned into ten hours. One day turned into 12 years. I returned to the same interests I had when I was young, but with the understanding that what I love to do can also provide financial rewards.

I’ve logged thousands upon thousands of hours on Excel building custom statistical models and historical databases. Most the stats I use are created by me based on a combination of several statistics. I apply situational handicapping, trends, market influences, and motivational aspects of each match. Information is power, and most services do not have the depth of information or the type of information I have accumulated over the years nor do they analyze each match up with consideration to all the factors in such detail. If you read the vast majority of my game write up’s it’s clear I take the depth of my research very seriously.  

Be conservative as possible in your approach. You could be the best tipster in the world but if you don’t have sound money management and a cohesive strategy you will fail. Good tipsters can generate 100% annual return on your initial investment. Traditional investments pail in comparison to those returns, yet so many people still prefer to take the get rich quick approach. That approach is a big reason for such a high failure rate in the industry. To be successful at this you must dedicate your life to it. If you don’t feel that level of commitment you would be much better off working with a professional who you trust.  

My goal is 100% return on my investment each year while remaining conservative enough to not put my investment in jeopardy. If you compound your returns annually, you can see how quickly even a small investment can grow in 5-10 year period based on those annual returns. I also place a lot of emphasis in managing downward trends. The nature of this work involves fluctuations, so it’s important, especially when serving a client base to manage downward trends at all times. A client could sign up at any time, and just because you show good historical results your still at zero in regards to a new clients profit margin.  

I focus on American Football, Basketball and Baseball. I do not focus on European sports, so it’s difficult for me to say what exactly sets one apart from another when I only have a deep understanding of one. That said I know a major benefit to adding American sports to your portfolio regardless of your geography. What’s great about sports investing is allows you to constantly reinvest your money. If you take €10,000, with a traditional investment, earn 15% on the year, you now have €11,500. In sports investing, if you take €10,000, average 2% per wager, 1000 plays a year (I’m using my averages), you would have invested €200,000 over the course of the year. The more you can take advantage of the volume benefits of sports investing safely the more successful you will be. American sports provide a lot of additional opportunity’s, and regardless of your interests if you find a profitable tipster in American sports it’s in your best interests to utilize that service.  

You can see Mikes full history and download the full history of his tips by going to his profile page.