Episode 13: How a Professor Won Gambling on an Obscure Sport

Joe Weisenthal (0:04)

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Odd Lots. I'm Joe Weisenthal, managing editor of Bloomberg Markets.

Tracy Alloway (0:10)

And I'm Tracy Alloway, executive editor of Bloomberg Markets.

Joe Weisenthal (0:13)

Hey, Tracy, do you know what the fastest sport in the world is?

Tracy Alloway (0:18)

Sailing? Race car driving?

Joe Weisenthal (0:21)

Those are pretty good guesses. But no, actually, the answer is Highly.

Tracy Alloway (0:26)

Highly? Highly, Highly.

Joe Weisenthal (0:28)

Highly.

Highly, it's actually originally a game that originated in the Spanish Basque Country. It's kind of like racquetball, except the players play on this gigantic court. The ball goes nearly 200 miles an hour. The racquets are these gigantic, curled things that the players wear over their hands. The ball is hard as a rock. And, oh yeah, if it were to hit you in the head, the ball could kill you.

Tracy Alloway (0:55)

This sounds like a made-up sport. Why are we talking about this?

Joe Weisenthal (1:01)

That's a good question, because in addition to how crazy and intense the game is, as I said, 200 mile an hour ball as hard as a golf ball, potentially deadly, people actually gamble on high-lie, kind of like horse racing. A bunch of players play in a tournament of sorts, and then people bet on whether the different players will win place or show. So there's this big gambling element to it.

Tracy Alloway (1:26)

Huh, that's really interesting.

Joe Weisenthal (1:28)

Our guest today that we'll be talking to is Steven Schena. He's a professor at Stony Brook University, and he wrote a book all about gambling on high-lie online and how he cracked the system and he made a bunch of money.

Tracy Alloway (1:40)

What, he cracked the system, so he beat the house?

Joe Weisenthal (1:42)

Yeah, it's basically impossible, theoretically. You know, gambling, the house is always supposed to lose.

But in these games where you're sort of betting against other people and the crowd sets the odds, it's actually possible. And not only did Stephen beat the system and make a bunch of money, there are some interesting lessons in terms of beating the stock market and odds games in general.

Tracy Alloway (2:02)

Okay, so I'm excited because not only am I about to learn about a sport, which I've never heard of before, but I'm also interested in making money. So this sounds good.

SPEAKER_4 (2:18)

Right. Think you've seen it all? Well, think fast. Experience the wall-to-wall action and non-stop excitement that is Miami Highline. See world-class athletes climb the walls to catch a rock hard ball flying at speeds over 150 miles an hour. Think fun.

Think fast.

Joe Weisenthal (2:43)

Stephen, thank you very much for joining us.

Steven Skiena (2:45)

Thank you, it's nice to be here.

Joe Weisenthal (2:46)

Tracy has never heard of Highline before. What is Highline and how did you get interested in it?

Steven Skiena (2:52)

So Highline is, as you said, a Basque game originally. It's sort of like a variation on handball.

The reason people are exposed to it in the United States is typically because in Florida it's a betting venue. There are these stadiums called Frontons in Miami and Dania near Fort Lauderdale, where you can watch mostly Basque players play this sport.

Joe Weisenthal (3:17)

And that's actually exactly how I discovered it. My family used to go down to Florida, North Miami Beach, every winter for a couple of weeks, and we went occasionally to the Dania Highline Fronton.

Steven Skiena (3:29)

That was exactly the way that we got involved. Our family would every year take its vacation visiting the relatives in Florida. We would drive down, and we would one night go to the Highline Fronton.

Tracy Alloway (3:40)

Is it fun to watch these games? It sounds intense, from Joe's description.

Steven Skiena (3:45)

I think it's incredibly exciting. First of all, it's fun to watch them make these plays, because the ball is moving very fast. They have to make great catches and very difficult throws.

But also, the scoring system involved in Highline has some interesting mathematics and structure that makes it kind of fun to watch. So depending upon how you bet, then the chances of winning change extremely rapidly with every point. And so it's very exciting because the situation is always changing.

Joe Weisenthal (4:14)

Yeah, so I said it was kind of like horse race betting, and that you could bet on win, place or show. But in a way, it's a little more complicated. Why don't you just sort of describe how the similarities, real quickly, and the differences?

Steven Skiena (4:26)

So it is like horse race betting, in that you can bet on win, place and show. And that's certainly what we're going to be doing. The difference is the scoring system.