The Fox Sports network will be among the first to cash in on the legalization of sports betting with new programming, according to an exclusive report in the Sporting News.
SN reports that Fox is planning a sports gambling-centered TV program starring Charissa Thompson, Brent Musburger, oddsmaker Todd Fuhrman and Fox Sports radio commentator Clay Travis. Thompson will host a discussion program described by a source as “around the horn for sports betting.”
Fox declined to comment to SN on the report, but the publication quoted sources as saying the FS1 network will host what will be one of the first major sports betting shows on cable TV. The cast would provide an eclectic mix, designed to compete with ESPN. Thompson is a former ESPN analyst, and the controversial Travis has blasted ESPN for being too liberal. Fuhrman and Musburger are the sports gambling experts, with Musburger still broadcasting a radio show from the South Point casino in Las Vegas.
Musburger, who has made gambling references in his commentaries for years at CBS and ESPN before starting his current radio show on VSiN, last week offered advice to first-time sports bettors, saying no one should expect to make a living off sports wagers.
“Be careful,” Musburger said, according to USA Today. “I would tell you right now that not many people can beat those numbers over a daily, weekly, however you want to do it.
“If you’ve never been around it, never experienced it… listen to what people tell you, how to approach it. But don’t think that you’re going to walk in and say ‘this is my life, this what I’m going to do. I’m going to make a good living at this, I can beat these numbers.’ I’m here to tell you you can’t.
“Let’s be honest, there are a few guys and a few syndicates who have been successful at it over the years, but there’s a reason why those casinos get bigger and bigger. My warning would be just kind of tiptoe in, stay in the shallow end.”
