Read on….this is the big weekend for playoffs and porn!

Some time ago, the idea that I'd be writing for a sports gambling and casino website connected to cryptocurrency would have been unthinkable. After all, I've been one of crypto's most outspoken critics for years. So, let me explain this apparent contradiction, including more about who I am and what I'm doing here.

Just Be Yourself

I am deeply honored to be asked to join the editorial staff here at Betcoin.ag.
https://www.betcoin.ag/blog/Betcoin-ag-Welcomes-Nolan-Dalla
When I was initially approached to write for Betcoin.ag, their instructions to me were simple and even a little bit scary: Just be yourself.

Wow, what an opportunity! Talk about an offer I couldn’t refuse! This sounded perfect!


However, along with being given a voice and joining a highly-visible public platform also come inherent responsibilities. Any writer, reporter, or blogger worth following must first of all be honest. Always. And the information contained therein in what we write must be accurate. Always.


Honesty and accuracy. It all starts there. Without this, there is no foundation.


The reason I accepted this unique challenge is simple. I'm eager to broaden my experiences and learn more. I'm not being tasked necessarily -- to write. Rather, I'm being tasked -- to learn. How cool is that? Staying within the confines of familiar comfort zones may be uncomplicated and stress-free, but without risk there is no true reward. I'm here to experience things, to learn, and ultimately to share those insights with others.


This isn't a time for false modesty. I've been extraordinarily fortunate. And I’ve worked hard most of the time. I've been around the gambling scene for nearly three decades and have met everyone in this industry who’s been a real “player.” I've worked as a casino executive, a writer and journalist, and as a sports gambler and poker player. I'm lucky to have been successful in multiple spheres of gambling. I consider these unusual skill sets to be the ultimate crossover effect. Each experience was a building block for another. Oh, and I’ve made just as many monumental mistakes in the past, too. If you like bad beat stories and love to wallow in the misery of someone else’s stupidity, check out this funny article I wrote years ago titled: “The 20 Craziest Bets I’ve Ever Made.”
https://www.nolandalla.com/the-20-craziest-bets-ive-ever-made-one-isnt-true-guess-which-one/


We’re all human. And, I'm not sure it's entirely possible to separate the emotional from the analytical. Removing biases from our analysis and judgment is supposedly vital. But then, is it really? If we're being totally honest with ourselves, I ask, can we really set aside who we are and all the things we've experienced? In fact we are all the sum total of our past and those things which affect us.


I say the answer is – no. We cannot fully divorce ourselves from emotion or what we’ve experienced in the past. And, that’s a good thing. I wouldn’t want it any other way or have it any other way.

Traditional Financial Institutions Have Failed the Gambling Market

Why am I writing for a major website that promotes cryptocurrencies?


For those who may be unaware of my previous writings on the subject, I've been brazenly outspoken in my philosophical opposition to cryptocurrencies. I'll share more about my concerns in future writings here at Betcoin.ag (which the editors graciously will allow and even encourage), but this does require some immediate explanation.


Here's some background.


My first exposure to cryptocurrencies occurred way back in 2012, before just about anyone had ever heard of it. A poker player and gambler I knew was one of the earliest disciples of crypto. His projections seemed phantasmal (that's a polite way of saying "ridiculous").


Las Vegas, where I've resided for more than 20 years, is full of characters (that’s a polite way of saying “crazy people”). Quite a few of the people you meet daily are scammers and hustlers. That said, he was credible. I’ve always trusted him and respected his judgment. Moreover, the more he talked, the stronger his arguments became. His pitch in favor of a new method of financial exchange sounded plausible.


There's a funny story that happened around that time. The crypto disciple was sitting in a no-limit hold'em game on the Las Vegas Strip. Another poker player who I knew very well had just won a big pot containing several thousand dollars. The crypto disciple was also sitting in the game and famously told a friend if he were to take that one pot and invest it all in Bitcoin, then he'd be worth millions of dollars within a decade. He said something to the effect: “You’ll eventually blow that money, but invest it just this one time and you’ll thank me later.”


Actually, it didn't take that long. Bitcoin was trading for around $13 per unit at the time. It would rise to around $69,000, which was 5,307 times that price at its peak (* see footnote).


Fast forward four years ahead. In 2016, I opened my first online wallet. I was paid some gambling winnings out of a sports betting website in Costa Rica, which amounted to $6,000. It was easier to get money that way rather than wait for international checks to arrive by snail mail and then the banks to clear the money, so I buckled under pressure and actually did my first Bitcoin trades and transactions.


It was really strange for me back then, because Bitcoin machines were not common. I had to go to a candy store here in Las Vegas (seriously – a candy store!) which was the closest Bitcoin machine to me. I could take out a max of $1,500 at a time. So, that was four transactions. Well, this was interesting. I had to admit the means of exchange was every bit as convenient as an ATM machine. Plus, at the candy store I bought a box of chocolate-pecan turtles which was devoured by the time I was out of the parking lot. Win-win.


Bitcoin was trading for about $500 a coin at the time and my contacts in Costa Rica (once again) pleaded with me to just leave the money in there and wait. Park it and pray. I'll see it increase tenfold, they predicted. Well, they were dead wrong. Actually, it went up a hundred times over the next five years. The crypto ship sailed with me swimming for a lifeboat.


As I said, this writing exercise will also be an opportunity. Learning is an evolution. Compromise is an art. While 99.9 percent of the stuff out there is junk, I do recognize that vetted core cryptocurrencies probably do have some future, and perhaps even a very bright one, at that. It just remains to be determined what that future will be and how and if it will be regulated.


There's no doubt that traditional banking and financial institutions have failed the gambling community miserably. Sick and tired of being disrespected and considered outcasts by traditional service providers (mostly banks -- can I use my first "fuck you!" here?) cryptocurrency and online wallets are a natural progression for the disenfranchised and disassociated. Given the global proliferation of wagering on sporting events (and bustling market for online casino gambling and poker worldwide) there had to be more convenient and instantaneous methods of financial transfer. This burgeoning need was met through......drum roll please.......cryptocurrencies. Hence, as a means of protest against stoic traditional banking and the judgments of many, crypto fills the void.


One other thought coming from someone who (I repeat) still remains opposed to cryptocurrencies as a common mainstream common financial instrument: The biggest beneficiaries of the emergence of cryptocurrencies are clearly those nations and people where traditional banking institutions have failed them. This mostly applies to developed countries, where banking is virtually non-existent. try to finance a small business, or buy a home, or lease a car in half the countries in the world, right now. You can't. Banking is a rich person's race car and tire track over the poor. Crypto evens the playing field in places where there are few financial instruments for common people. Fact: All people and all businesses need a means to exchange money and pay for goods and services. Since traditional financial institutions including international banks not only ignore this crucial market, but attempt to subvert it, then alternatives like crypto will step in. That's precisely what's happened.

Coming Ahead: It’s Playoffs and Porn – Oh, What a Weekend!

Later this week, I’ll share my thoughts and picks on the two NFL conference championship games. Fortunately, I’m coming off a huge financial bonanza in the Westgate NFL SuperContest, where I collected $190,000 in combined winnings. I also finished the 2023 NFL regular season with my 9th winning year in 12 seasons on publicly posted picks (always free, all the time – I’ve never sold a pick). I document everything.


But wait, there’s more!


This weekend, I’m also attending the 2024 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo at Resorts World in Las Vegas, which is basically the world’s largest annual porn convention. See how I worked that in?


I know, it’s “mic drop” time. You forgot all about football, didn’t you? Let’s just get straight to the porn, shall we? I’m game.


You can be sure I’ll write about the AVN show and share it right here with readers at Betcoin.ag. This is an exclusive! Indeed, sometimes, one must make sacrifices in journalism to get a good story. Okay, twist my arm – I’ll do it. Wait, that’s not my arm.


After all, my editor told me, “just be yourself.”


*To make my friend feel much poorer now, assuming that pot in the 2012 poker game was $1,300 (to round things off and keep it simple) and were invested in Bitcoin per the advice, that would have equaled 1,000 x 69,000 = $69 million at the height of its price.






Follow me on Facebook here, where I post daily, unless I’m having a really bad day in sports betting and then check out the neighborhood bar:
https://www.facebook.com/nolan.dalla.7


Follow me on Twitter / X here, where I often post even though I’m helping Elon Musk get richer and feel like I need a shower every time I sign on there:
@DallaWriter


Visit my personal webpage with lots of fascinating stuff that usually pisses people off:
www.nolandalla.com