David Leong had a hunch, but that’s how it is for most sports gamblers. Luck is mistaken for skill, and skill, it is believed, can make you a killing. On a Saturday morning, Sept. 3, 2016, he and a friend flew to Vegas, scored an 8-ball of coke and checked into a suite at Bally’s. Leong had an $18,000 credit, and it was time to make it rain. “There is no way USC can beat Alabama,” he remembered thinking as he visited two sportsbooks to spread the wager.
Now, he had $1,000, right there on his phone, while many of his friends didn’t want to spend $6 on lunch. But he always needed more. Unable to get credit as a minor, he got a job as a sign twirler, standing at Renaldi Street and Reseda Boulevard, spinning the giant arrow for condos in Porter Ranch. More often, he and his buddies would hide in the bushes, smoke weed and watch Netflix. He liked the feeling of not working and still getting paid.