Regular visitors to Pregame.com know that we do things the right way. With our success comes ever growing scrutiny from the mainstream media – often by those with an anti-gambling agenda; often by those with a limited understanding of the sports betting industry. Making it vital for Pregame to clearly communicate all the ways that we are different from the competition.
The many and deplorable wrongs of this industry’s past makes it easy for outside observers lump all of us in the same pile of crap. Objective measures like having been vetted over the prior decade by nearly every major media outlet and Pregame’s A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau for 7 straight years (and counting) should make it obvious that we are different. But that doesn’t stop lazy critics from saying: “Pick selling? Like in that Pacino move? That’s bad.”
Lamenting their ignorance doesn’t prevent the damage. Pregame must not only meet a different standard every day – we also must effectively communicate those differences.
7 Important FACTS that Make Pregame Different
1) Pregame NEVER tempts with easy money schemes nor do we encourage get rich quick dreams.
(spend any time at the site and you’ll clearly see how strongly we stress the difficulty of beating the bookie. Winning over the long-term is hard. Edges are earned a half-point at a time. No claims of "locks" or "inside info." We're clear that the best any expert or site can do is improve your odds. These warnings are repeated again and again.)
2) At least 95% of Pregame’s content is FREE.
(an unmatched amount of free picks, audio, video, handicapping tips, and more - a significant portion from experts who don't sell picks)
3) EVERY pick from EVERY active Pro is publicly graded and archived for review.
(rare full transparency, allowing customers to make informed decisions)
4) Your record following picks will be AT LEAST AS GOOD as the results archived and promoted at Pregame.com
(many others grade in a deceiving way; our line grading policy from the Pros is quite simply the strictest in the business)
5) Public reporting (via dedicated forum thread w/100,000+ views) empowering anyone to alert the entire community to any possible Win Streak or Game Archive errors. (it’s only fair to allow the Pros to promote the truth in an attractive fashion, but the price for that right is extreme accountability. Make a mistake and everyone knows. A second in the same month results in suspension)
6) Pregame has NEVER done any outbound calls – no phone marketing of any kind.
7) Pregame has absolutely NO financial dealings with any online sportsbook. Not a single penny!
(this is simple to prove: a quick look around the site shows no sportsbook ads, links, or any type of promotion. Pregame turns down that big money, while most of our competitors take it; and they are compromised in the process.)
Reasonable expectations, tons of free content, full transparency & accountability, no hard selling, and no conflicts of interest with online sportsbooks.
Much is debatable. Facts are not. And these are facts cannot be honestly refuted. Facts stated simply and clearly enough that there’s no excuse for anybody to say otherwise.
And Pregame is not resting on our laurels … Here are 3 new improvements coming soon:
* Although Pregame consistently stresses how hard it is to win, we are taking another step to make sure nobody misses this key reality. Pregame is adding a prominent “No Easy Money” LINK on our pick selling homepage, with sobering details about how difficult it is to win over the long-term. (Hopefully this will be completed by EOD Friday)
* All major sports and pick types are automatically graded and archived by our pick system. Picks in non-major sports (e.g., golf, MMA) and niche pick types (e.g., 1st Halves) are NOT automatically tracked. These make-up far less than 1% of picks. Most Pros have been adding these non-standard picks to the analysis area of standard picks – which means these extra picks ARE being effectively archived, but it’s not always obvious where. The improved rules will require that any non-standard pick must be logged each day in that Pro’s dedicated forum thread (with a link from his homepage to that thread). This way, all non-standard picks can be easily reviewed in one place. (Our goal will be to have this fully rolled out by Wednesday)
* Many on the Internet use screen names, but I believe it’s important that Pregame provides the legal name of every Pro. Allowing anyone to research their past - or to confirm that they are actual people (you’d be shocked at how many non-existent “people” sell picks on the Internet). I also think it’s important that Pros be required to declare of any past trouble with the law. (I think Pros are squeaky clean collectively, but we’ll soon see.) I’ve been planning this for a while, but I never got it done. My fault entirely. This new standard – with full public disclosure - will be completed by July 15, 2016. If I am late again, for EVERY DAY after I will donate (with public confirmation) $100 to “Big Brothers Big Sisters” till the project is complete. I won’t be late.
The entire Pregame.com team is very proud of what makes us different. As always, we are open to your feedback right here in this public posting thread. And maybe that's the most convincing point ... read through the Pregame forums and you'll see a healthy amount of disagreement (so it's obviously not repressed), while the overall feeling is one of a community having fun with their sports betting. We are most proud of that.