These Stories Of Horse Racing Gamblers Will Get You Psyched For The Kentucky Derby

Joe Weisenthal (0:08)

Hello, and welcome to a special Kentucky Derby-themed horse betting version of the Odd Lots podcast. I'm Joe Weisenthal.

My co-host, Tracy Alloway, is off today because she is so tired of all the episodes we've done about gambling. Just kidding, it didn't work with the schedule, but honestly, she might be happy to have missed this one. I, for one, am very excited about it, because I love every time we talk about gambling, or poker, or betting, or anything like that, which is probably too frequently. Nonetheless, with this marquee horse race coming up, we had to talk about it, and we have the perfect guest today. He's actually a repeat guest on the Odd Lots podcast. He was one of the very early guests that we had when we talked about a different aspect of the horse racing industry. I'm going to bring him right in. It is David Papadopoulos. He is an editor here at Bloomberg. A long time, well, David, thank you for joining us.

Is there a word for people who bet on horses?

David Papadopoulos (1:17)

Well, in my case, two words, degenerate gambler.

Joe Weisenthal (1:20)

He's a long time degenerate gambler here at Bloomberg, so his bonafides are impeccable.

David Papadopoulos (1:28)

My pedigree as a gambler, depending on how you like to see it, is either I'm perfectly well-bred or horrifically well-bred. But I've been doing it, yeah, for a long time.

Joe Weisenthal (1:38)

Tell us more about that. You've been doing it your whole life, and your father also bets on horse.

David Papadopoulos (1:43)

Yeah, so.

Joe Weisenthal (1:44)

How'd you get into it?

David Papadopoulos (1:45)

Yeah, my father was hit with the bug, the gambling bug, the horse racing bug at a very young age. And actually, when he was born and raised just outside of Providence, Rhode Island, and when he was ostensibly going to Brown University, he managed to somehow fight his way into Brown. He actually was studying across the street at Lincoln Downs Racetrack, and he spent many an afternoon there.

And of years later, of the five kids, we were five Papadopoulos, just Papadopoulos. I was the only one who was struck with the horse racing bug. And as a result of the fact that of the five, it was only passed on to me, I think I get a very powerful strand of it. And I love it.

I think it's the greatest game. Many call it the greatest game. I'm a believer of that. It certainly, you know, you have to be prepared to have many days where total loss of capital is the end result, but it's a great game.

Joe Weisenthal (2:43)

The last time you were on the show, we talked about pinhooking, which is the art of buying a horse for profit. So not betting on a horse per se, but going to an auction and buying a young horse and hoping it is worth more. Today we're actually going to be talking about betting on horses.

And you've brought with you some great stories of gamblers.

David Papadopoulos (3:05)

Yeah, so I mean, the game, one of the reasons why the game is what it is and as great as it is in my eyes is all the history of it and the terrific characters, the Damon Runyon sort of characters that exist and the stories that surround them. And as we lead up to the Derby here, I mean, it feels like it's a good opportunity to sort of go over some of those great old stories, but really with a particular eye on gambling and gambling coups and maybe some lessons, some gambling lessons, some investing lessons that actually come out of them.

Joe Weisenthal (3:42)

I'm glad you said investing lessons. So at least we pretend to make it relevant to the Bloomberg audience or the Odd Lots listeners.

David Papadopoulos (3:48)

Well, I would even say that there are a lot of principles that are very, very similar. I mean, it's not for nothing that Warren Buffett started way back when gambling on horses is one of the first things he did. And there are a great number, value investing shares a lot in common with gambling, with value betting. I mean, any self-respecting horse racing gambler is a value bettor. If you're not, you're a fool. I mean, if you're not, you've got absolutely no chance. So there are some similarities, Joe.

Joe Weisenthal (4:21)

In the show Billions, the hedge fund manager, Bobby Axelrod, says he got his start at the tracks. And there's a part where he's describing his history. And he's like, oh, and I realized that the stock market was the same thing or something.