When there’s a problem at Pregame.com, my goal is to …
1) Fix the problem without delay
2) Prevent the problem from happening again
3) Make it up to anyone wronged
There was a problem with Tony George’s Cavs pick on Sunday. At the time he entered the pick into the system, the consensus spread was Cleveland -1.5 … but he entered +1.5 instead. To fix the problem, the official spread on his pick has been changed to -1.5.
To prevent the problem from happening again, the source of the problem needs to be identified. No matter how careful a person is, data entry errors are unavoidable. In such cases, the error is caught by the Pro upon review of his picks, or an email to customer service, or a post to our dedicated reporting thread (which is a sticky at the top of the forum, with over 60,000 views so far).
The reason for such a public & prominent dedicated thread for reporting is Pregame’s strong focus on providing W/L records and streaks that any site visitor can reasonably consider trustworthy. Part of that goal is catching the occasional data entry error, and part of that is making sure picks are graded at a fair spread. Pregame’s definition of fair is that an average bettor (defined by having two outs) following any picks from Pregame will have at least the same number of winners over the long-run as the official tally. Said another way, this average bettor (with two outs) will be playing at the same number that’s officially connected to the pick most of the time – while sometimes he will be forced to play at a worse number, while other times he will get a better number. As long as he’s getting the better number at least as often as he’s playing the worse number, his results following the picks should be at least as good as the official record over the long-run.
Occasionally there is debate regarding whether a certain line was widely available at the time the pick was made. Based upon many years of history (able to be tracked through the dedicated reporting thread), perhaps 1 pick in 500 has such a debate. Often reasonable people can disagree about the right side of those debates … but the very fact that the debate happens so rarely, and is happening in a public & prominent place provided by Pregame proves the success of our approach … the undebatable conclusion is approximately 499 out of 500 picks are graded at a fair line that reasonable people agree on, and 1 out of 500 picks MAY be a half point off (with that half point affecting the ATS grade of the pick only a tiny percentage of the time).
In this case, the corrected line of Cavs -1.5 was widely available for approximately 24 hours after Tony posted the pick … before steaming upwards Sunday morning.
So, just looking at the surface, an answer to this incident could be presented as:
Data entry error (+1.5)
Line now corrected (-1.5)
Case closed.
But, digging deeper (through reading Tony’s response in the forums), it would seem Tony mistakenly believed the line to be Cavs +1.5. This is different than a data entry error. On one hand, it’s not fair to be overly critical of one such mistake … we all have had head-smacking oversights in our lives … a mistaken perception that should be obvious but just isn’t. An expert should make such mistakes extremely rarely, but the case could be made that even an expert will have such a blind spot occasionally.
So I called Tony to talk about the details of his oversight … and during the conversation it became clear to both of us that current outside commitments makes uncertain Tony’s ability to consistently apply the intensive effort required to meet the standard of being a Pregame Pro.
As Pregame continues to grow, and as that standard becomes more and more stringent, the commitment required from Pros becomes more and more demanding … which will require us to say goodbye to some long-time contributors while adding new Pros particularly suited to the realities of the current environment.
Tony George deserves our thanks for his long service. He has always tried his very best to provide value to his followers. And he deserves additional credit for recognizing that his current commitments outside of Pregame would make it difficult to consistently delivery the time required to be a Pro.
So, effective immediately, Tony George has ceased his role as a Pro.
#3 … Make up for anyone wronged.
For those who have purchased long-term access to Tony George, email Pregame’s head of customer service (mark@pregame.com) and we will offer any fair resolution of your choosing. Over the years we’ve parted ways with more than a few Pros, and we have never had a single customer who was not satisfied with our subscription refund process. Such a focus on customer satisfaction is one of the reasons Pregame.com has a perfect A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
Regarding those who purchased the pick, the confusion about the spread did not affect winning or losing with the pick … but it did affect the customer’s enjoyment. Pregame.com’s job is to help sports bettors enjoy the action. In this case, we fell short. So I am offering a full 100% refund to everyone who purchased the pick – even to the many who won with the pick before the line move. Simply email mark@pregame.com and every penny you spent will be returned to your account without delay.
Thanks for all those who offered insight that helped me think this matter though. I hate when Pregame falls short for customers or community members. We will do whatever it takes to make sure that does not happen. You have my personal promise that I’ll not only make things right when it happens, but I’ll also learn from the experience and apply that lesson to improve our future.