The industry itself has emerged from big time money making boiler room operations to small successful money making internet enterprises run by individuals from their own home offices, the likes of Johnny Detroit (winner of last year's prestigious Hilton Sports Handicapping Contest and owner of www.letitridesports.com ) and a member of the USA Deaf Golf Team, Craig Bryden ( www.fantasybetszone.com )

"This would have been a perfect movie to come out ten years ago," Prezman stated.  "Today the industry is made up overwhelming of great guys who really do love to handicap sports."

Prezman in fact was the first man ever to organize a conference which brought sports handicapping industry professionals together. 

Guys and Guns?

The film synopsis goes a little something like this:

Brandon Lane (Matthew McConaughey), a former college football star, finds his uncanny ability to predict the outcome of a game introduces him to an unexpected new career when his gridiron glory is sidelined by a crushing injury.

Brandon's talent makes him a prime candidate for recruitment by Walter Abraham (Al Pacino), the head of one of the biggest sports consulting operations in the country. Walter hires the small town ex-athlete and grooms him into a shrewd front man. Brandon soon begins to enjoy his status as a Manhattan golden boy and finds himself growing comfortable with Walter's high-rolling lifestyle. The surrogate father/surrogate son relationship fattens Walter's business and personal accounts...until Brandon's golden touch begins to falter at the same time that Walter's manipulation of his protégé crosses the line.

With millions of dollars on the line, Brandon and Walter engage in a deadly game of con versus con, each one trying to maintain the upper hand while everyone in their world, including Walter's wife, Toni (Rene Russo), are drawn into the escalating duel-where ultimately everything isn't what it appears to be.

"I will be very surprised if there is not a scene with guns at the end of the film," Prezman commented.  "A car chase and a gun scene smack in the middle of a friggin' movie about (sports) handicapping would not surprise me in the least."

Alas, this is a Pacino film.

This film threatens to expose the sports handicapping industry as one that emerged well over a decade ago, filled with shrewd but seedy marketers and con artists. 

For every legitimate hard working service (and there are many that exist today thanks to the Net), you will be sure to find three or four services known as scamdicappers, whose sole intention it is to screw naive sports bettors out of some serious cash.

While most of the definitions you will find for the term "Scamdicapper" are provided by sports handicapping services themselves who are looking to differentiate themselves from this breed of unscrupulous characters, www.madduxsports.com does provide a solid description:

A Scamdicapper is a term that is used to refer to a sports handicapping service that is not in the sports wagering business to help their clients, but to profit off of, and scam you out of your money. Some common practices of Scamdicappers are that they will claim outlandish winning percentages, go under multiple names, give out both sides of a game, or even call and harass you until you purchase their picks.

This about sums it up. 

A number of legitimate sports handicapping businesses believe this film will discourage potential customers, even though the movie should draw much attention to the industry itself.  Not surprisingly, Two for the Money - which will be released nationwide October 7 - has been advertised heavily during NFL and college football games. 

"This movie represents all that is bad with the handicapping industry," says Michael Cash, Founder and President of www.bettorsnetwork.com, "When the line is posted on this movie, take the under for the max. It's a shame to finally have this business get some recognition and it's butchered this way. Pacino should be ashamed to attach himself to this product given his previous bodies of work."