Mad Bets: Women in Sports Betting
Minty Bets is joined by Bookit Sports' Olivia Moody and Haley Hull to discuss what it is like working as a woman in the sports betting world.
Video Transcript
MINTY BETS: welcome to "Mad Bets," everyone. I'm Minty Bets, and this is a special women in sports betting segment. I am joined by the Bookit Sports team-- Olivia Moody, up and coming sports betting personality, and Haley Hull, a Las Vegas local who works in the center of all the action supervising a Las Vegas sportsbook. So ladies, thank you so much for joining us today. Let's get started. What made you get into sports betting? Olivia, I'd like to hear from you first.
OLIVIA MOODY: Yeah. So, you know, I've always been a huge sports fan. I've loved sports my whole life. Originally, I wanted to do some news stuff, so I always wanted to be on TV entertaining somehow. And I was the sports host my senior year at TCU, which was super fun.
And then actually the CEO of Bookit Sports-- he also graduated from Texas Christian University. And he saw my real, which is super interesting, because it was actually a lot of new stuff on my real. But he saw it. He had this wonderful idea to create the Bookit Sports app because he knew that the sports betting industry was booming and growing very, very fast.
So he had this idea because we went to the same college. He joked and said that I actually took his job at TCU. His dream job was to be the sports host, and I stole it away from him.
MINTY BETS: Aw.
OLIVIA MOODY: But that's where he saw my stuff. So it worked out great. And he reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to be the face of the company, and I was obviously apprehensive. I don't know anything about sports betting at that point.
But he said you'll get it, and you'll get the hang of it. And it's a great community, and you'll learn a lot. And that's exactly what I've been able to do. So I jumped into it about three or four months ago, and I've loved every second of it.
MINTY BETS: Love it. And Haley, you work at the Books. What made you get into sports betting, and what made you want to work at the Sports Book?
HALEY HULL: I've been making NFL picks since I was like five years old. So I actually moved from Montana to Vegas seeking a career in sports, and I just feel really lucky to be in the position that I am.
MINTY BETS: Why do you think people are so critical of women posting their sports takes on social media? Olivia, you go first.
OLIVIA MOODY: I think it's just because, like I said, we're in a male dominated industry. And, you know, women typically don't know sports. That's the narrative that we've painted as society is that women don't know sports.
Well, we do, and we know sports really well. And we can talk sports just like the rest of them, just like the men in this world. But I think, also, men-- they typically believe that women are weaker and that we get our feelings hurt. And we're emotional. So they like to come after us on Twitter and make comments and hoping that, you know, it's going to hurt our confidence and our self-esteem. But what they don't know is typically women in the sports industry have the thickest skin and have the best witty comebacks of them all. So it's a risky play to come after a woman in the sports industry because we are tough cookies.
MINTY BETS: Do you have any advice for women wanting to get into the sports betting industry?
HALEY HULL: Yeah, I think women should dive in. Even if you're a woman that isn't interested in sports, sometimes the gambling aspect can bring that in. And it can cause better relationships, and you can find new friendships. Olivia I just started a few months ago, and she's a completely different person now than she was four months ago. Like, crazy growth. So get out there and try. I mean, we're all here to help.
MINTY BETS: Yes, I've definitely seen Olivia's growth. Olivia, what is your advice getting into this industry?
OLIVIA MOODY: The biggest thing is just be confident in yourself. Like, the people that have already been in this industry that are already established-- they will lose bets. Everyone loses bets. So just give it a try. And I always make a running joke that when it comes to your guy friends, or your boyfriends, or husbands, or whatever, they're never going to give up sports betting. They just won't. They love it too much.
So instead of getting mad at them for it, just join them. It's fun. And you'll have bragging rights forever when you beat them in a bet, and then you can just feel good about yourself. But yeah, jump in head first, and just be confident in yourself.
MINTY BETS: Those were the ladies of Bookit Sports. Thank you so much for joining us today, ladies.
If you want in on the action, head over to betmgm.com/yahoo, where new users get a 100% match up to $1,000. Available in New Jersey, Colorado, Indiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
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