My name is Tom Barton and this is my story of who I am today and why. The road that leads me to where I am is a unique tale of hard work, dedication and deceit. I have a true love for sports and gaming investing, and to be where I am at this point is a dream come true. They say you’re not really working if you do something you love everyday. Well I can attest to that. Sure they may be 20 hour days, but I am doing what I love. I have often been told I am the hardest worker in this business and that is out of passion not pressure. Unfortunately the things that I learned about the sports handicapping industry would change my life forever and force me to make decisions that have altered my path in life. I began my career working as a sports talk host. After starting as an update man on a new college sports show, eventually my drive and leadership helped bring the show from an hour a week to a daily 2 hour show. Soon after that I started interning for the top rated sports show in the country where I was discovered by another station and offered my own morning show. After hearing about my work, ABC Radio was so impressed that they hired me and I began a ten year career with them as a writer, host, producer and sports analyst. After being at ABC for so long I started yearning for more and as luck would have it, ESPN Radio in New York was in creation and I was called on to help build the station. I made a decision to take a new career step with ESPN, sure it was the same company but this was the dream. After my time there the TV side of the business called. I left and pursued a television career. It wasn’t long before I became the head sports writer for a prominent NY station as well as a sports host that soon transformed into my own cable show. I went on to establish a self run and produced Internet radio show that received tremendous praise, my hard work and persistence had finally paid off. I was able to talk about the games I liked, break down the teams, give my picks all while being my own boss.
Throughout this time I was always very profitable handicapping sporting events on my own. My many trips to Vegas and wins became the talk of my radio shows. After making a consistent profit for years and getting the word out on my shows I was contacted by a few high profile tout services to come on as a handicapping consultant. It didn’t take to long to realize that for them winning was secondary to selling. Every sports service I did business with had no interest in a long term relationship with their clients. There only interest was how much money they could convince their clients to pay them and they didn’t hold back on the stories they would tell to get their clients to open their wallets. Because I didn’t work physically at the company it took a while through the grapevine to find out the truth. I do not feel that it’s right to guarantee anyone that your game is going to win and then convince them to pay you thousands and thousands of dollars for information that at best was a crapshoot. I obviously could not last there, and my ability to pick games, compile information and entertain was overshadowed by my lack of the ability to upgrade and sell. I don’t regret my experience with those companies because if I never had made the decision to work with them I would have never learned the truth about an industry I love and I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be doing what i do today. I don’t say that all of these guys are bad men, but they are chasing that illusive big payday and quick dollar. Ironically much like the gambler they were giving games to.
I soon went into a partnership with a buisnessman I believed was a friend and created a now non-existing sports investment group. Having no knowledge of sports, and no talents to speak of he was a monatary partner only. I shared my long term, industry changing vision with him but the greed once again took over. True to the nature of the business my partner then lied, cheated me and my clients, and eventually stole from my company. After months of lawyers, and headaches I cleared myself of him and the company. With a single vision now ahead of me I was able to really take this company to the potential it always had.
Which brings us to where I am today. I opened the doors of Tom Barton Sports in the fall of 2010 with full and total control of day to day operations. In just the few years that have followed I have taken full control of the airwaves and sports handicapping world. I currently have my own radio shows in numerous cities including two in Las Vegas, I been asked to be a guest analyst (not a screaming tout) on more than 30 radio programs, including a national weekly show, have my own television show, been asked to do a show live from the floor of the LVH, received awards from reputable sources like Pro Football Weekly, and have been highlighted as “the honest handicapper” in Gaming Today but most of all I have changed the business one client at a time. This has been my dream and my vision alone for countless years and this company has come to fruition with hard work, discipline, and wins! I will continue on that recipe for success, and invite you to come along for the ride.
Thank You,
Tom Barton