The story of Pinnacle Sports is a case study in how bookmaking sites, illegal in the United States, manage to operate on American soil. By JAMES GLANZ, AGUSTIN ARMENDARIZ and WALT BOGDANICHOCT. 25, 2015
In an in-depth profile of offshore book Pinnacle Sports in the New York Times, the writers cite Huntington Press’ Gambling Wizards: Conversations with the World’s Greatest Gamblers, authored by Richard Munchkin, himself an accomplished professional gambler, expert backgammon player, author, movie producer, and talk-show host.
Every successful sports book needs a Stanley Tomchin. He is not shy about his analytic mind, his digital foresight or his role in the building of Pinnacle. Raised on Long Island but now living in Nevada, Mr. Tomchin, 70, acknowledges that he not only helped establish Pinnacle in Curaçao, he also handled one of its most important jobs.
“My role was the oddsmaker,” he said in written responses to questions from The Times. “My knowledge and experience allowed me to make better odds than N.Y., Las Vegas, anyone in the world.” Mr. Tomchin claims to have been one of the original members of the so-called Computer Group, credited in gamblers’ lore with bringing the first computer-based betting schemes to sports books. His reputation is such that he was featured in the book Gambling Wizards: Conversations With the World’s Greatest Gamblers.
The complete article can be read at nytimes.com/2015/10/26/us/pinnacle-sports-online-sports-betting
