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Ratings were apparently good enough to keep “Money Talks” in the CNBC Prime lineup with eight new episodes ordered and a Season 2 premier date of March 19 scheduled.
The controversy surrounding its main character, sports handicapper Steve Stevens, apparently didn’t matter much to the powers-that-be at CNBC either.
Stevens was 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?”
Well now, at least, people have probably heard of Stevens. There are even reports that his company, VIP Sports, is cold calling unsuspecting sports bettors ahead of the 2014 Super Bowl.
CNBC knew of Stevens conviction years earlier for running a telemarketing scheme.
CNBC issued a statement addressing the concern this past summer:
“We are aware of Steve Stevens’ 1999 conviction, and while we are very clear in the press release that VIP Sports clients risk big dollars in the hopes that Stevens and his agents have the expertise to consistently deliver winners, viewers should tune in on September 10 at 10pm ET/PT to draw their own conclusions about VIP Sports,” CNBC said in a statement to FoxNews.com. “We are merely betting that viewers will be interested in the world of touts and handicappers and in no way endorse either Stevens’ picks or his business model.”
Jim Ackerman, who heads up primetime programming for the business network, told the Las Vegas Sun: “Our goal at CNBC is to bring viewers intimate looks at all sorts of businesses. And the world of gambling, for the most part, has not been seen on reality television.. It’s an exciting world with colorful characters and major stakes. And even in a city like Vegas, Steve Stevens stands out as one of the biggest and most dynamic characters you will meet.”
- Dan Shapiro, Gambling911.com
