Q's about gambler Billy Walters, 60 Minutes star and guru

[jjcappers]

If you haven't heard, Billy Walters was on 60 minutes recently, and it rekindled my interest in wagering on football. Please review the following video and see if you can tell me what his 'tools of the trade' are. You can first see two screens at the 3:16 mark of the video. The software on the left has white, yellow, red, gray, and black on it, along with two rows of buttons and drop down lists at the top. The right one looks like it just has white and gray.

YouTube - Sports Betting: Billy Walters

You can get a much better look at the left screen at the 3:21 point.
At the 3:37 mark, you can even see the style of font that was used to design the software. (Teletype)

1. What is this software? Is it a web page that anyone can visit, or maybe a web site that only people with accounts can log into and use? Is it software that he had to download in order to have real time access to whoever is providing the real time data? If so, who is providing software and data?

Is it something private and proprietary that he would have had coded by his cohorts, infamously known as The Computer Group, or is it something well-known and readily available to anybody? If it's the latter, is it going to be something that an independent website offers that monitors in real time the lines of various sportsbooks in Vegas, such that you can have accounts at each one, then bet the best line that you see on the screen? Or is it going to be something offered by just one sportsbook, showing the lines of all the games they offer? Can you recognize from looking which one it is?

2. Would you guess that his 'people' on the phone are spread out such that he only needs one at each sportsbook venue who can place all bets at that venue?

3. I've never been to Vegas to bet football. Are the rooms they're showing where everyone is watching TV a part of casinos, or are they places set up JUST for betting sports?

4. I've also seen pictures of venues where it looks like customers buy or rent a spot at a table and have computer screens in front of them as they watch the games. Is that like Wall St. where if you're there with enough money and willing to wager it, you get a 'seat' on the floor? (Basically, their 'best customers?') If so, what are the names of those places in Vegas and what are the stipulations to getting such a spot? Is the software they're using likely the same software, or at least the same info. that Billy Walters uses?

5. Whatever the software is, are there competing companies that want you to use theirs, and if so, what are the most popular ones and is there a website that compares them and writes a review of each so that you can test out the packages if you want?

6. Where would you imagine he got his 'people' like Wolfman? Just known gamblers he befriended over the years from being around casinos before he decided to work out of his home, or what? I doubt he ran a Help Wanted ad in the paper. Would you guess they're ONLY taking the same side of the bets that Billy does, and Billy gets a cut of whatever they make, or would it even matter? I would guess that Billy has to be paying them something in order to keep their mouths shut and not let other people tag along his coattails.

Answer any or all. Numbering the answers will help me.

I may have follow up q's depending on the response I get, if any. Thanks in advance.

[Spaga399]

narc!! just kidding...thanks for mentioning this, I missed his 60 minutes interview

[jarhead60]

1,2,6 Don't know

5. Not sure what program they are looking at. Might be current odds at different places (both Las Vegas and off shore). There are no programs that I know of that pick winners with any success.

3 & 4. Most casinos have a race and sports book...that is a room or area set aside for sports and racing. The race/sports books vary greatly from casino to casino. For example, the Hilton has a very large room, and the Sahara has a small area set up for Leroy's (I think Leroy's rents space in many casinos). So there is a lot of variation among casinos.
Some casinos have small TV's, but they are TV's which can be tuned to watch a race or a sporting event. They are not computers. I do not know of any casino that will allow you to use a computer in a race/sports book.

[dkp]

1&5 Are odds feeds. Game on the left, books on the tops. Google and you'll see examples available for free and pay.

3&4 Sports books usually have separate areas at larger casinos. Some seats are reserved and some are first-come, first-served. The quad-screen view in the piece looks like the M. If on itunes, download behind the best podcast interview with Hilton Contest winner about seating at M.