Odds Man Out

Three San Francisco traders became internet gambling pioneers after launching the first truly online sports books, but the fix is in as the professional sports leagues flex their muscle to game the system and turn its founders into fugitives, proving that no bet’s a sure thing.

Before the Supreme Court unleashed legal sports betting with its 2018 landmark decision, an unlikely trio of traders from the Pacific Stock Exchange, took a huge gamble and wagered their lives on a bet that online gaming was in America’s future. Now Americans, in 2024 alone, wagered nearly $150 billion on sports—with professional sports leagues, casinos, and betting apps all cashing in. But, before this gold rush, these same leagues fought viciously to keep sports gambling illegal.

The revolution began in the mid-1990s, the early days of the internet, when three San Francisco traders dared to pursue a bold, new business venture. Jay Cohen, an options trader who had never placed a bet, found inspiration watching colleague Steve Schillinger turn the fever of the OJ Simpson trial into a wildly popular futures market. With Schillinger and twenty-one-year-old Haden Ware, Cohen set up World Sports Exchange (WSEX.com) in Antigua, a Caribbean Island paradise where sports betting ventures were legal and regulated.

WSEX’s futures sports exchange platform and innovative live betting features quickly became the industry’s crown jewel. But their explosion into the gambling scene would soon unleash a powerful backlash—the first federal prosecution of internet sports betting. While Cohen willingly returned to the US to fight the charges, his partners stayed behind to handle their booming business while battling the Department of Justice, professional sports leagues, and an army of lawyers, politicians, and lobbyists. Cohen and WSEX fought back and convinced Antigua to challenge the US in the courts of the World Trade Organization, setting off a decades-long battle for justice.

Odds Man Out is an insider’s account from WSEX founder Jay Cohen, detailing a sixteen-year rollercoaster ride that ended in tragedy. Were Cohen and his colleagues criminals or ahead of their time? As today's sports leagues ultimately decided to cash in themselves and embrace an industry they once demonized, Cohen’s story exposes how a Goliath wielded power and influence to crush the pioneers of internet betting.