@MidAmChaser So as both a golfer & a gambling expert (but not a lawyer) - this is a game of skill legally. It’s legal so long as he is participating. Most importantly, he is legally called ‘not cool’ though.
I remember we spoke to one of the orthos approving these ‘cases’ remotely while researching Align. According to him, they weren’t paid if they denied it… I think they approved a treatment every 10-15 seconds. Wildly reckless
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: How SmileDirectClub went from $9 billion to dead overnight
On September 12, 2019, two childhood friends stood in front of the Nasdaq stock exchange as their company, SmileDirectClub, went public at an $8.9 billion valuation. But by the end of the very first trading day, the company had already lost $2 billion in value.
Just three weeks later, an analyst published a report titled “Moving Fast and Breaking Things in People’s Mouths.” The analyst predicted the stock would eventually fall 85%.
It turned out he was wrong, just not in the way anyone expected.
The stock fell even further. Four years later, SmileDirectClub abruptly shut down overnight. Along the way, the company had treated nearly 4 million customers, but when it collapsed, almost 10,000 people were still in the middle of their dental treatment and the company was carrying roughly $900 million in debt.
This is the wild rise and fall of SmileDirectClub.
I don’t know who needs this reminder: August & Everything After by the Counting Crows is one of the best ‘play through’ albums of all time.
I’m willing to defend Anna Begins as the best song…
This is wild. I cannot believe people didn’t get these signed off on. Every board I’m involved with we sign transfers no sweat. I cannot fathom selling someone private shares without registering them with the company.
The follow up LP lawsuits will be worth watching.
Some thoughts after listening back to the $GAMB earnings call over coffee ☕
Sports Data Services (Optic + OddsJam + RotoWire) hit 28% of overall Q1 revenue, highest. yet. Within that, B2B was roughly half — mostly Optic. I understood Optic to be closer to 1/3 at the time of the OddsJam acquisition. Credit to @restivo and team for continuing to crush.
@kmccrystle casually dropped that Optic landed an integration with Perplexity. They already had the MCP integration in Claude. They are well positioned for the coming wave of vibe-coded sites and AI tools.
A few Optic stats highlighted:
• International partners ↑178% YoY
• Total active partners ↑28%
• 86% of customers are using the API (not just the Odds Screen)
At the end, someone asked if the company is considering a rebrand as it becomes more data-services focused. The question almost felt planted. @charlesgillespi said it’s under active consideration.
$GAMB is getting wrecked as a publicly traded affiliate but they’re sitting on a real gem in Optic Odds.
Traditional marketing/affiliate is in decline, but I see new affiliate opportunities opening up through deep-linked betslips originating from these B2B data integrations — especially in the form of “Payment for Betflow,” to borrow @DCat7 's term.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually rebrand to something like Optic Odds Group to tell this new story and try to rerate the stock
Anyway, I bought more on Friday. The bag is red and heavy.
@CalSpears Great breakdown @CalSpears and thanks for the shout out.
We are digging into the partnership segment here as it is lower margin than traditional organic SEO - but it also could be a much stickier business.
. @DCat7 hears a lot of pitches from prediction market entrepreneurs seeking investment: "Some of the things we’re seeing are really interesting, others are just sort of people who wanna build a business around it because it’s hot.” https://t.co/QrgTtZoRl8
Imagine being the guy who bought the $GAMB shares on Monday morning for $5.24 in that weird spike. I honestly thought someone knew something… but nope. Down -40% in 4 days. Tough stuff for that guy (not me).
@sportsrapport I’m with you. It will be the first real institution taking on Kalshi’s shoot first & deal with consequences later approach. My big question is that if Rothera is better - can it break the mind share lead of Kalshi?
Am I crazy or hasn’t this been known for weeks? Is this news because it’s now a fact that’s reaching the masses?
It’s messed up that it happens but credit to the groups involved for enforcing rules reasonably quickly.
BREAKING: A US special forces solider involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was arrested for allegedly betting on that operation, netting him $400,000 in profits, per CNN
One of my absolute favorites. It’s about being refined day by day through challenges.
Proverbs 17:3
[3] The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and the LORD tests hearts.