A good friend of mine suggested I give a little color on my background for those that may not already be familiar with my work in the space over the past 5 years. But in a nutshell, life’s journey has taken me so far through two fascinating industries: sports betting and financial markets.
So let’s recap briefly from the begining…
From Costa Rica, although born in Mexico and spent childhood mostly in the US. Am a native speaker in both Spanish and English. So culturally I’m a mixed bag, but my roots are tico. Today I live in Charlotte, NC.
From 2000 to 2008 I worked in the sports betting industry, and yes, that means offshore! The first ~3 yrs I helped book bets at the famous Hotel Del Rey (Google it!). Among the crowd of folks stopping by I met many bookmakers who were moving to CR to setup shop, and so I eventually got picked up to go be a ‘line manager’, which is the term used today to refer to ‘sports trader’. So some good hands on experience in the biz, along with some great connections ‘til this day.
In 2008, upon graduating, left the former industry to start career in the world of investment management and finance. Started off as a buy-side bond trader, cutting my teeth negotiating best execution with broker-dealers in NY and Miami. This was of course during the Great Recession, so names like Lehman and Bear Stearns should resonate with some of you.
Moved to the US in 2010 with my wife and first son. Things were still looking dicey from the crisis, so spent some time getting an MBA. Eventually landed a seat doing high-yield research at Barings for a couple of years, before getting picked up to go trade bonds, this time taking risk for an electronic bond dealer called Millennium Advisors… high-yield or junk bonds if you prefer.
The repeal of PASPA in 2018 brought my career full circle and started becoming active on social media. Then, towards the end of 2019, I left trading bonds to do some consulting work while I sat out on a non-compete. Problem was covid hit right around the corner, so the plan went haywire. Thankfully, the gaming analyst over at Deutsche Bank, Carlo Santarelli, needed a little bit of help ramping coverage in the nascent industry… and so I got a lifeline and that is how I ended up doing a bit of equity research for the past 4 years.
And with all that, this is where we are at today. The next chapter is yet to be written. In the meantime, this site is just a reflection that journey above. One in which I worked for old-school bookies and another that has taken me down the path of Wall Street. The experiences and skills acquired along the way have been key ingredients for the rigorous and diligent work I like to do. And hopefully you will find it helpful.
That’s it for now.