Ed Scimia

Betting Analyst Years of Experience Icon

16+ years experience

Betting Analyst

16+ years experience

Ed Scimia has been writing about the gaming industry for over 15 years. He graduated from Syracuse University with degrees in Magazine Journalism and Political Science in 2003, and has covered major gambling events like the World Series of Poker in his career. Since joining Covers in 2022, Ed has offered his sports betting analysis primarily on MLB, NFL, college football, and college basketball games, but is willing to take on any sport.

His betting strategy focuses more on finding line value based on deviations from the market rather than traditional handicapping, primarily shopping between DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics in his home state of Connecticut, though he’s not afraid to do deep game analysis to find profitable bets at any book.

Outside of gambling, Ed is an avid curler who competes in mixed doubles on the World Curling Tour and runs a popular curling YouTube channel, Chess on Ice. That experience has come in handy during the Olympics, when he has proven to be a successful curling bettor as well.

Ed's advice to new bettors is to always open multiple sportsbook accounts and check the odds at each before placing any bet. Successful sports betting is about consistently beating the closing line value, which requires finding spots where one book is offering odds far better than the rest of the market and jumping on those opportunities.

Favorites

Team: New York Mets
Sport to bet on: MLB
Sports movie: White Men Can't Jump
Sports snack: Mozzarella sticks
Covers feature: Line movement history

Winning a March Madness parlay contest on DraftKings earned me a trip for four to a 2022 Final Four watch party at Foxwoods, along with free rooms and free bets for everyone. It was a great way to share the joy of sports betting with friends and loved ones, even if none of us managed to cash in on a Kansas/UNC parlay that night.

Best Betting Memory

While the rest of the fandom was in the midst of "Panic City" in July 2015, I placed several bets on the New York Mets to win the World Series at odds of +1500 or more. The Mets would trade for Yoenis Cespedes, win the NL East, and ride a red-hot Daniel Murphy to the World Series. Unfortunately, the magic ended there, when the Kansas City Royals soundly beat the Mets in five games.

Worst Beat