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CNBC renewed the controversial sports betting reality show “Money Talks”, which premieres Wednesday night (March 19) at 10 pm EDT.
"Money Talks" takes viewers inside the world of Steve Stevens, a sports handicapper who runs VIP Sports out of Las Vegas. Each one-hour episode follows Stevens and his agents who sell their picks to gamblers looking for any kind of edge. From small-time bettors to big-time whales who put six figures on the line, this is a world built on high risk, high reward and high emotions.
But Steve Stevens has been called out by a number of Vegas bigwigs, some of whom just stopped short of calling the capper “a fraud”.
Prior to the show’s first airing, Don Best TV’s Todd Furhman suggested Stevens is part of a “disturbing trend”.
“We’re seeing a disturbing trend start to emerge; the proliferation of docudramas, movies and articles that lead to sensationalizing dishonest personalities within the sports betting industry,” Fuhrman, a former Caesar’s oddsmaker, wrote in a blog post on Monday.
“The media consciously chooses to validate the wrong personalities, creating an aura around characters that are no better than modern-day carnies.”
Fuhrman then went on to point out that “no one, and I mean no one” knows Stevens.
“My disgust with the topic runs deeper and is with the supposedly reputable network for their half-baked attempt to do appropriate research on the featured personality,” Fuhrman wrote. “Did they talk to respected voices in the field? Did they reach out to actual sportsbook operators? Did they track Stevens for at least two seasons to see if his claims were warranted before giving him his own show?”
Stevens, was convicted in a telemarketing scam that bilked elderly investors of at least $234,000 nearly 15 years ago.
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
