Until the letter arrived, Ike Lee thought he pretty much had Connecticut sports betting figured out.
He would bet tirelessly at off-track betting sites in New Haven, where he is a medical student at Yale, capitalizing on statistical insights and slow betting lines to make thousands of dollars in a game inherently tilted against the bettors. When he wanted to place larger bets, he would drive to one of the state’s tribal casinos, where the betting limits were higher. He befriended employees at various locations, studied the mechanics of the kiosks he used, and took on the puzzle of predicting sports outcomes.
Lee, 29, didn’t consider himself a sports fan and rarely bothered to watch the games he bet on, but he could recite statistics on high school football teams and throw out players on the Korea Baseball Organization’s rosters. He was hyper-competitive and willing to pursue any advantage – and he saw these traits as the secret of his success.
Then, in late May, a letter arrived, one page from the Connecticut Lottery informing him that he was banned from betting on off-track betting sites across the state, making him one of only five people in the state on a special list of “banned patrons.” ” Just like that, his days of betting the way he loved were over.
“From my perspective it was quite unexpected,” says Lee.
The lottery, the letter explained, says Lee broke the rules and can’t be allowed to bet anymore. Lee says he was never informed of the rules in question and was banned at least in part because he was making too much money from betting. A lottery official says that argument sounds like “sour grapes.”
Lee has hired a lawyer and is currently in the middle of an appeals process that appears to be the first of its kind since Connecticut legalized sports betting. It’s the kind of drama that probably wasn’t in sight when lawmakers voted to legalize sports betting last year, but that inevitably comes with legalized gambling.
For someone who bets as much as he does, and who fights so hard for his right to continue, Lee says he’s uncomfortable with the role of gambling in society, especially now that it’s allowed in so many places. He wonders what value the games really provide to the state of Connecticut. He questions the state’s ability to properly regulate sports betting. And he struggles with his role in what he sees as a morally questionable industry.
Although Lee believes he could make a healthy living from sports betting, for now he plans to finish medical school and become a doctor.
“For all intents and purposes, I’m a leech in the system,” he said of his sports betting exploits. “I’m not creating any social value for anyone involved anywhere. This is the most selfish professional thing I’ve ever dealt with, and I’m not comfortable with it.”
As Lee sees it, his story is about more than his personal ability to make a bet. These are vexing questions that sports betting continues to raise in Connecticut and beyond. Who wins and loses from legal gambling? Who decides? And what exactly did countries like ours get involved in?
‘I get very satisfied when I’m right’
Ike Lee is not like most sports bettors. To see also : Over two million sports bets placed in Kansas since September 1st.
Most people who bet on sports do so casually, placing a bet here or there, often just for fun. Lee does this with purpose, precision and research, taking into account fluctuations in odds that few notice.
Most people who bet on sports lose money, if not in the short term then certainly in the long term. Lee says he’s made thousands of dollars in the year since Connecticut legalized sports gambling and that betting has helped pay off his student debt.
Most people who bet on sports bet on teams and games they care about and plan to watch. Lee says he doesn’t particularly like sports or care who wins.
“I’m not a sports fan,” he says. “I don’t have a hometown team, I don’t root for anybody — maybe Yale, but more than that I literally couldn’t care less who wins and who loses.”
Lee grew up in New York as a “goody two shoes” who spent most of his time studying. He attended Yale as an undergraduate, then entered medical school there in 2016, planning to be a doctor.
Not long into medical school, a friend persuaded him to try sports betting, which at the time was illegal in all but a few states but still widely popular. He started with Ivy League basketball, betting on games and posting insights on online message boards, and found he enjoyed it.
“It made intuitive sense to me that it was just another puzzle to solve,” he said. “The market gives you a ‘price’, tells you a team is favored by two or three points, and then you say, ‘No, I think that’s wrong’.”
Before long, Lee found himself getting deeper and deeper into the world of betting, learning from people he met online and eventually recruiting others to help him. He looked for odds in the most unlikely of places, learning more about Asian baseball than he ever intended to know after finding odds on games he liked.
As most fans watch big games between highly ranked teams, Lee prefers under-the-radar matchups where he can find an edge. In late 2020, for example, before sports betting became legal in Connecticut, he won thousands on a college football game between Houston and Hawaii after the Houston team was hit by the COVID-19 outbreak. (He didn’t watch that game, of course, because, in his words, “Why would I?”)
Lee won’t say exactly how much money he’s made from sports betting, only that he reliably comes out ahead. At one point he dropped out of school to focus on gambling, though he soon returned.
While Lee cites profit as his main motivation, he says he’s also driven by self-indulgence. While medical school was focused on the pursuit of knowledge, sports betting had a satisfying ending. You placed a bet on what would happen, and a few hours later you were proven right or wrong.
This, Lee said, appealed to his personality type. Brian Patt, a friend who met Lee online and often talked sports with him, describes Lee as “high energy.” Sam Lee puts it differently.
“I’m kind of a New York City [a-hole],” he says. “I am very pleased when I am right.”
When sports betting became legal in Connecticut last year, Lee happily began placing bets at approved locations. Although he would sometimes drive to the casino to place big bets, it was easier to do so at a betting site near where he lived in New Haven, operated by the lottery and its affiliated sportsbook, PlaySugarHouse. Soon he was on a first name basis with the staff.
Then, with little warning, the letter arrived.
Banned for life
The letter, which Lee shared with CT Insider, got right to the point. This may interest you : Big 12 look to Brett Yormark, executive of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, as the next Commissioner.
“You are immediately kicked out of all PlaySugarHouse Sportsbook outlets,” Lee informed. “You are also prohibited from entering the premises of any PlaySugarHouse Sportsbook facility in the State of Connecticut.”
According to the letter, Lee committed three crimes, which were allegedly caught on video: placing bets “just below the kiosk limit”, using multiple machines at once and placing bets on behalf of other people.
Lee denies placing bets on behalf of other people. He admits to betting large amounts using multiple machines (“I’m really bloody good at manipulating the kiosks”), but says no one ever told him it wasn’t allowed. In fact, he was unable to find any documentation of these rules that he allegedly violated. The kiosks are self-service and while there is video surveillance, no one is watching over the user’s shoulder.
“In my opinion, there is a huge miscommunication from … the CT Lottery to the good guys at Winners and Sportech who are actually trying to run the business on the ground,” Lee said.
In an interview, Greg Smith, president and CEO of the CT Lottery, declined to comment on the specifics of Lee’s case, except to emphasize that Lee is only banned from retail locations and not from online betting.
Generally speaking, Smith noted that Connecticut state statute gives gaming operators like the CT Lottery the power to designate “prohibited patrons” in cases where a bettor violates the law, places bets on behalf of others or is determined to “pose a threat to the integrity of the game because cheating or involvement in criminal activities.” He said officials usually look out for bettors who are not behaving “normally”.
“Normal betting goes like this: someone walks up to the kiosk, puts in their money, places a bet, leaves with a betting slip,” Smith said. “When people don’t behave normally, things come to our mind to either take a closer look, to connect with the person or to follow their activities.”
Because it didn’t seem “normal” to Lee as a reason to lose his ability to bet, he hired a lawyer and told the lottery he wanted to appeal his ban. Months passed until finally, in early December, he appeared at a hearing before Smith and other officials, arguing that he had not intended to break any rules and that the lifetime ban was excessive and unnecessary.
Earlier this week, lottery officials had not informed Lee whether his elimination would be upheld or overturned, but Lee is confident he will be banned for good. Smith and other officials, Lee recounts, told him they had broad authority to run sports betting as they wished and that they had the right to bar him from retail locations.
The most significant lottery evidence against him, Lee said, was a video of him allegedly placing a bet on behalf of a man at a kiosk next to him. In reality, Lee insists, he was actually betting on himself, while the man looked on.
Before the hearing, Lee told CT Insider that he no longer wanted to go forward with the interview and would instead let the process play out quietly. His experience with lottery executives changed his mind.
“It seems the lottery is willing to use no evidence to support their claims about what I do,” he said. “It further emphasizes the point that they don’t know what they’re doing.”
‘You’ve got to give the winners a chance’
To lottery officials, Lee’s story seems to be that of a bettor who flew too close to the sun, tried to exploit the system and got into trouble. See the article : AG Healey, Education Leaders and Boston Sports Teams Host Conference at TD Garden on Preventing and Addressing Hate in School Sports.
For Lee, it’s a quasi-public government agency abusing its power to prevent a waste of money. He contrasts the lottery with tribal casinos, which publicize their rules and, as he sees it, better understand the cat-and-mouse game between bettors and operators.
“You don’t like what I’m doing, tell me what to do, tell me exactly what the procedure is and then reprogram your software,” he said. “[Casinos] know how to deal with gambling. The state is in this state of flux where they’re trying to figure it out.”
While Lee may be biased on the subject, he’s not the only one who sees the situation the way he does. CT Insider was relayed the details of Lee’s case by Declan Hill, a widely recognized sports betting expert at the University of New Haven, who said that betting on behalf of other people is usually a no-no, but that the other offenses Lee is accused of seem harmless. .
“Everything else sounds like, hey buddy, if he’s got a strategy to win, if he’s worked on this, if he’s done his homework, God bless him,” Hill said.
Hill said casinos and other gambling institutions often want it both ways. They are happy to target addicts who lose huge sums but keep coming back, but when someone beats them they look for ways to get rid of them.
“You can rob the perennial losers, but you have to give the winners a chance,” Hill said.
Smith, of the CT Lottery, countered that the lottery had nothing against “sharp bettors,” only those who broke the rules.
Lee is scheduled to graduate from medical school in May and plans to choose medicine over gambling, in part because of his ambivalence toward the sports betting industry.
To be a good bettor, Lee says, is to think of athletes as “pawns on a chessboard” in pursuit of personal profit and little else, amid an industry in which casinos, the lottery and the state of Connecticut capitalize on people who are serious problem gamblers. In his opinion, the system he has been living in for years is actually “an exhibit of capitalism gone wrong.”
“I don’t like that what I’m doing doesn’t create any value for anyone else but me, and it can still be profitable,” he said.
Still, Lee would like to be reinstated, partly so he can continue betting and partly on principle. If the country is going to have legal sports betting, he says, die-hard bettors like him should be allowed to bet like anyone else, regardless of the chaos they may cause.
Before he eventually retires from sports betting (if he ever does), Lee hopes to send a message — a warning of sorts — to the CT Lottery and the state of Connecticut.
“If you want to play with guys like me and go against it, mano a mano, procedurally correct way, you have to improve your stuff,” Lee said. “Because I’m way ahead of you.”
While it’s certainly possible to get into medical school with a 507 or lower (and there have been cases of students admitted with scores below 500), it’s unlikely—especially if you’re applying to a more competitive college. In general, it is difficult to get accepted with an MCAT score below 500.
What is the easiest do medical school to get into?
Top 5 Easiest Medical Schools: Based on Acceptance Rate
- American University of Aruba School of Medicine. …
- University of Mississippi School of Medicine. …
- University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Medicine. …
- Central Michigan University College of Medicine. …
- University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Which MD degree is the easiest to obtain? A general practitioner is probably the easiest doctor to become. Although students must complete four years of medical school and one or two years of residency, this is the minimum amount of education required for MDs.
Is it easier to get into osteopathic medical school?
Is it easier to get in? DO programs are somewhat less competitive. First, the GPA and MCAT scores for DO admission are much lower. While medical school acceptance rates for both DO and MD are around 40-41%, the pool of applicants for MD programs is much higher and therefore there is more competition.
What’s the lowest GPA to get into medical school?
Most medical schools set the cutoff at a 3.0 GPA. Generally, a low score is less than a school’s 75th or 80th percentile. You can also view the average GPA of the selected school for accepted students.
Who has gotten a perfect MCAT score?
But Graham Wehmeyer, a senior microbiology major, was going into the dreaded MCAT, or medical school admissions test, fully prepared. Seven and a half hours later, Wehmeyer became one of the few test takers to score a perfect 45 on the MCAT. But the path to this perfect result was not easy.
Who got a 528 on the MCAT? Tyler Benning first learned he had earned a perfect score on the medical school entrance exam five minutes before classes began at the College of St. Olaf in Northfield. After three straight hours of class, he rechecked his scores—and discovered that he had, in fact, received the elusive perfect MCAT score of 528.
Is a 528 MCAT possible?
The highest possible MCAT score is 528. The MCAT scale is centered so that 500 represents the mean score. The AAMC recommends that medical school admissions committees consider applicants near the center of the range, rather than placing the greatest emphasis on the higher end of the scale.
What happens if you get a perfect score on the MCAT?
If you earn a perfect MCAT score, you will be judged. I actually heard that from an admitting doctor, so I’m not the only one talking. People who happen to get a 528 on the MCAT are not considered normal.
How many people have gotten a perfect MCAT score?
Since this method isn’t perfect, we’ll leave you with a range; between 30 and 70 students score a perfect 528 on the MCAT each year. This is out of nearly three hundred thousand students taking the exam. Therefore, achieving a perfect MCAT score is quite difficult, but not impossible.
What MCAT score do I need for NYU?
The average MCAT for accepted students is 522 with a range of 516 – 526. In our experience, students who have an MCAT score lower than 517-518 find it difficult to earn interviews at NYU unless there is something exceptional about their experience, background, and/or circumstances .
What is the #1 university in New York?
What GPA is required for NYU?
Admission Requirements Applicants must have a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Is New York University Ivy League?
NYU is not one of the eight Ivy League schools. However, its top academics and athletics are considered on par with the Ivy League. That’s why NYU is part of the so-called New Ivies, a group of schools that may not be as elite as the Ivy Leagues, but are nonetheless prestigious.
What pre-med major has the highest acceptance rate?
Which pre-med studies have the best chances of admission? As indicated by the medical school acceptance rates by major section, acceptance rates vary between 36.7% – 47.7%. Specialized health sciences have the lowest acceptance rate, while physical sciences have the highest acceptance rate.
What is the easiest major for pre-med? According to the latest data released by the AAMC, the top 3 majors with the highest acceptance rates are the physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, and the humanities.
Which pre-med major has the highest chance of acceptance?
According to this data, there are three major groups – the humanities, mathematics and statistics, and the physical sciences – that enjoy higher enrollment rates than the others. In fact, these are the only three groups that attend medical school at a rate greater than 40 percent.
