Pickle Fortune, The Canine NFL Handicapper with a 65% Win Rate, Makes his Super Bowl Pick

GLENDALE, ARIZONA – Handicappers - those whose job it is to try and pick winners for sports gamblers, often via a subscription-based website, come in all varieties and specialities.  Some specialize in football, others in baseball; some employ traditional approaches such as scouring injury reports, while a new generation is even employing artificial intelligence.  A sports handicapper or professional gambler is considered successful if they can maintain a 55% win rate over the long term.  More than that “is so rare, we might think you had inside information,” says Barry Barger, a senior betting analyst with BetUS Sportsbook.

But one sports handicapper has been consistently beating the odds for the last two NFL seasons and boasts a nearly unheard of 65% win rate this football season.

His name is Pickle Fortune and his claim to fame is an uncanny ability to pick the winner of Monday Night Football.  He also happens to be an adorable French Poodle. 

Pickles’ uncanny ability was first discovered by his owner, Esteban Navarro, in 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic.  “I was used to having my buddies over for Monday Night Football and making friendly wagers amongst ourselves.  But when COVID hit, it was just me and Pickles watching the game,” Estaban says. “Trying to make the best of a bad situation, I figured out a way to ‘bet’ Pickles for the winner, where he would make his pick by eating an identical treat from one of two different bowls representing the two teams placed in front of the TV.  Of course at first it was just to goof around, but he actually ‘won’ that first bet, so we did it again the following Monday.”

“To my surprise, he went on a four-week winning streak.  That’s something I’ve never seen even from the paid ‘picks’ services I’ve tried.  While I couldn’t explain it, I knew then that Pickles had a special ability,” Esteban continues.  

Estaban says he began placing bets at his favorite online sportsbook, BetUS.com based on Pickles’ picks.  “Together we made quite a bit of money, until they caught on,” Esteban says.

Estaban’s (or rather, Pickles’) unheard of win rate eventually caught the eye of BetUS’s risk management department, in charge of making sure that the betting action on games is balanced and fair.  “We wanted to know what was going on here.  Of course, our customer’s 10-year-old poodle couldn’t possibly be picking his winners, could he?”

Nonetheless, BetUS offered a lucrative offer to Pickles and Esteban, hiring Pickles to pick the winners each Monday on the company’s official YouTube channel.

Pickles continues to perform, with a win rate exceeding even the best of the human handicappers (he boasts a 65% win rate so far this NFL season).  

But if Pickles is so good at picking winners, why would a sportsbook hire him and share his picks with their customers? “Contrary to popular belief, we aren’t really rooting for you to lose your bets.  Our job is to get a roughly equal number of bets on both teams in a game, and we simply make a small margin by what is known as the ‘vig’, or vigorish.  That’s the price you pay to make the bet, which always comes with a slight markup,” Barger explains.  

This season, Pickles - whose record stands at 12 wins and 7 losses - has become an influencer in his own right amongst BetUS customers who eagerly await his picks each Monday on the company’s YouTube channel.  But the pick that everyone has been waiting for is Pickles’ pick for the Super Bowl.  

The odds to win this year’s Super Bowl currently stand as follows: Kansas City Chiefs +265, Cincinnati Bengals +265, Philadelphia Eagles +250 and the San Francisco 49ers +300.

Pickles will be making his Super Bowl pick on Thursday, February 2nd at 10am EST, this is an exclusive online press event and we would like to invite you to be part of it, please join us live at the following link Pickle Fortune Picks Super Bowl Winner - LIVE Press Only Event.