The guy in this picture is Arnie Wexler, and he was featured on a recent episode of "Outside the Lines" on ESPN, dealing with, of all things, gambling. Wexler is an expert in helping people through gambling addiction, and the number for his firm, Arnie & Sheila Wexler Associates, was flashed on ESPN as a way for anyone watching who might have a gambling problem to seek help.
All fine and good, right? Well, according to The Sports Pulse, actually calling that particular number might not have been much help for anyone but the feds, as one (anonymous and possibly full of dung) caller found out.
Me: Well I have a problem with gambling
Operator: Ya, what is your problem?
Me: Well see I had the over in the cubbies tonight and those bastards did not make it
Operator: ya, and????
Me: Well I am sure there is a soccer game or something that I can bet on and try to get my money back on and I was wondering who you liked?
Operator: Listen asshole, I am calling the FBI and reporting you.
Me: For what?
Operator: Illegal betting
Me: So what this some sort of sting?
A: ya, and you are going to jail.
The caller, according to his post, says he called back "30" more times and received similar advice each time. Again, pretty impossible to verify if this is true — we called the number a few times ourselves and either got a busy signal or put on hold for longer than we wanted to wait — but the concept is an excellent one. We imagine Alcoholics Anonymous operators answering with, "Yeah, well, if you're drunk now, your kid hates you, asshole, and we're gonna come over there and beat your ass."
Don't Call This Guy For Gambling Advice [The Sports Pulse]