Rob Gorodetsky is a 25-year-old college dropout who wins and loses millions of dollars on a regular basis. He is one of the most compelling and controversial figures in sports, even though he is relatively unknown. That’s not for a lack of trying though. Gorodetsky does not hide his ostentatious ways, and his Instagram is populated with photos of beautiful women and pictures of winning betting tickets that bear his ID number. He sits courtside at NBA games and behind home plate at Major League Baseball games, and regularly posts pictures of himself hanging out with athletes like Odell Beckham Jr. or celebrities like Drake. In just seven days, he wagered well over $1 million on a range of sporting events and an additional tens of thousands of dollars on blackjack and roulette. Gorodetsky and his friends think he could emerge as America’s leading sports bettor if sports gambling was legalized outside of Nevada. He says that it’s “not just gambling. It’s a lifestyle.” He places wild-card bets but using his knowledge and “trusting his gut instinct” he told USA Today. But his methods seem more like performance art than statistical analysis, but he said it’s “luck. It’s odds. It’s probability.” Gorodetsky started betting other students in middle school. He went to the University of Arizona for a semester, dropped out, began to play professional poker, and took his winnings of $90,000 to Las Vegas to try to start making a living as a sports bettor. He quickly became successful. Gorodetsky has denied being involved in drugs or money laundering, but he has faced legal action. In 2014, he had to pay a mother and a son $59,000 for a breach of contract. Linda Joseph and Jeremy Joseph said they have been unable to collect the judgment from Gorodetsky.
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