When Wayne Allyn Root finished his pre-law degree at Columbia University in 1983, his ultimate goal was not to become the next Johnny Cochran. His burning ambition -- to become a top sports handicapper. Now 20 years later, Root is living out that dream.
In that span of time, Root has named himself "the next Jimmy the Greek." And one look at Root's magnificent home atop a hill in Henderson's Anthem Country Club gives you the sense that he is no ordinary professional. In fact, Root is becoming one of the Valley's top movers and shakers.
Root, 42, is the founder, chairman and CEO of GWIN, Inc. (OTC: GWNI.OB), the country's newest (and only) publicly-traded sports handicapping company. Root's company specializes in developing and marketing sports handicapping advice and information via television with The Winning EDGE on Fox Sports Net. Its new radio show reaches an estimated 60 million households in 10 major markets on ESPN Radio and the Internet.
In its three short years, GWIN has been much more than a success story. In fact, Root says his company has projected between $8M and $10M in revenues this year alone. Root says GWIN is becoming one of the fastest growing companies in the country. In its first year, the company grossed more than $!M in revenue. Last year, GWIN made more than $6M.
Root took top honors earlier this year by finishing with the highest winning percentage of any professional sports handicapper in America for the NBA Playoffs, according to Sports Monitor of Oklahoma. Root is a frequent guest on CNBC's Kudlow & Cramer, Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor and was a former frequent guest on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.
It seems like a far cry from Root's brief two-year stint as an anchorman on the old Financial News Network, which was folded into the CNBC cable network, he says, but there's a natural tie-in between Wall Street and sports.
"I had this idea to merge Wall Street and sports gambling, where I wanted to create a show similar to Wall Street Week or Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street, where five sports handicappers would come on a television show to talk sports, odds and strategies. That show is now a reality," Root says in the dining room of his sprawling home. He maintains the same gurus who talked about trading bulls and bears during the week, wanted to talk about the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bears on the weekends. "It was a natural progression," he says.
Progressed he did, as Root's sports show on Fox Sports Net reached more than 50 million households last year. Now available on Fox Sports World, its international sister network on satellite, the show has nearly doubled its audience this year, with major sponsors including Blueblocker Sunglasses, Blue Star Private Jet Leasing and Vegas.com. Root also mentioned that this year, the show is expanding to Pay-Per-View to coincide with the opening of the NFL season.
Wayne Allyn Root at home with his Hummer.
Root has strong opinions about sports gambling:
First, he says, gambling on sports is a male-dominated activity. "Betting on sports is a men's game. Women couldn't care less about betting on sports whereas men grow up loving sports," Root explained. Of the 600,000 client names in his company's database, almost all of them are men.
And secondly, sports gambling is growing more popular. According to a Congressional impact study on gambling, over $380B annually is spent on sports gambling, of which $2B is gambled legally in Nevada. And while politicians want to curb the spread of Internet gambling, Root cites recent statistics fromMerrill Lynch that predict online gambling will become a $180B a year business over the next few years.
"Politicians want to end Internet gambling, but they cannot stop what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom," Root says. He added that some lawmakers in Washington say that gambling fuels terrorism. Root was quick to downplay that argument.
"Our two biggest allies in the war on terror are Australia and the UK. In both countries, online gambling is both legal and flourishing, and is government-endorsed," he says.
Root is also quick to promote responsible gambling. After the launch of GWIN, one of Root's first projects was to make a sizable donation to a compulsive gambling foundation.
"We are very careful not to promote compulsive gambling. A lot of handicappers are irresponsible. I tend to go the opposite way," he explains.
Wayne Allyn Root has come a long way from his days as a young boy growing up in Mount Vernon, New York, just outside of New York City. After his short tenure at CNBC, Root made the beaches of Malibu his home until he moved to Henderson roughly a year ago. However, it was in California that he met his wife, Debra, in 1990. And Debra has her own success story.
A former Miss Oklahoma and the grand niece of Benjamin Franklin, Mrs. Root is what Wayne calls "the CEO of the household."
"We met at a party in Hollywood and it was love at first sight," Root says. The couple married 10 months later and relocated to the Valley only after the success of GWIN and Root's television shows increased the frequency of his commute to the Valley to four and five times a week. He hasn't looked back.
"Las Vegas will always be the base of my operations. My only regret is that I wasn't here sooner," he says. Describing himself as a workaholic, Root makes sure his children come first. When he works at home, Root will stop periodically to play ball with his kids.
When Root is not at his office on S. Jones Blvd. or in his home office, he enjoys skiing in Colorado or vacationing on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Root's respite from the workday includes his balcony off the master bedroom which oversees almost the entire valley, including the Strip. Root says he feels as though he owns this city when he looks out his balcony overlooking the city.
The home includes a monstrous family room with three television sets on simultaneously so that Root will not miss any of the action. Two additional sets are in the adjacent workout room and another one situated in the home office.
The entire house could only be described as one a viewer would see on MTV's Cribs or a reader would see in Martha Stewart's Living. Root's gated block within the confines of the country club is intimidating to the first-time visitor. But drive up the driveway, and one is greeted by a sea of southwestern architecture and tranquillity.
The front door opens to a display of cathedral-size windows in the dining room. The immense island kitchen with its see-through cabinets would make Emeril Lagasse blush. And the size of all of the bedrooms, including the master bedroom, is something out of a movie studio. Paintings of Root's family, including their children, adorn almost every wall in the house. And Root has no qualms about the safety, security and serenity of the neighborhood.
"There's no noise, and no traffic, and my kids can play in the middle of the street and I know they're safe," Root says.
Root has a number of prime goals for the future. With the economy starting to turn around for the better, he says GWIN Inc. has several projects in the planning stages.
"Gambling is popular, sports gambling is popular. The next step is to prove that it's popular," Root explained. The next goal for GWIN Inc. is to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. Eventually, Root would also like to expand his show overseas to cover soccer and cricket. He also would like to see the show and the website expanded to include several languages from other top gaming countries, including Russia, China, Japan, Germany, France and Spain.
The "home run," he says, is to create television's first gaming network. He estimates one has to raise over $100 million to start a television network. He's well on his way to reaching that goal. While the new network won't be created overnight, Root says there are signs that are pointing to the economy turning around and the recession coming to an end.
"I think we're [GWIN Inc.] in great shape for the first time in a long time," Root says. The rosy outlook contrasts sharply to the days immediately following 9/11, when the NFL canceled several games or, more recently, the beginning of the war in Iraq, when business for Root took a disastrous turn. At the beginning of the Iraqi conflict, college basketball's March Madness was in full swing.
"Immediately after 9/11, we lost all revenues for an entire week. But when football started back up, people began betting on sports again and they called us. We then had a record week. I believe the economy was hurt and we were hurt," Root says.
Root adds that when the war in Iraq began, games weren't canceled but people didn't watch them. As a result, revenues dipped, but the company still endured remarkable growth considering the forces against it.
Despite all of Root's successes, he has one simple philosophy: to believe in one's self and to believe in God. As a man who practices spirituality, Root says he begins every day with a prayer and says that anything is possible in America.
"I believe in this country, I believe in God, and the passions I have will work. Passions are very important to me," he says.
http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2003/09/05/news/news04root.txt
In that span of time, Root has named himself "the next Jimmy the Greek." And one look at Root's magnificent home atop a hill in Henderson's Anthem Country Club gives you the sense that he is no ordinary professional. In fact, Root is becoming one of the Valley's top movers and shakers.
Root, 42, is the founder, chairman and CEO of GWIN, Inc. (OTC: GWNI.OB), the country's newest (and only) publicly-traded sports handicapping company. Root's company specializes in developing and marketing sports handicapping advice and information via television with The Winning EDGE on Fox Sports Net. Its new radio show reaches an estimated 60 million households in 10 major markets on ESPN Radio and the Internet.
In its three short years, GWIN has been much more than a success story. In fact, Root says his company has projected between $8M and $10M in revenues this year alone. Root says GWIN is becoming one of the fastest growing companies in the country. In its first year, the company grossed more than $!M in revenue. Last year, GWIN made more than $6M.
Root took top honors earlier this year by finishing with the highest winning percentage of any professional sports handicapper in America for the NBA Playoffs, according to Sports Monitor of Oklahoma. Root is a frequent guest on CNBC's Kudlow & Cramer, Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor and was a former frequent guest on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.
It seems like a far cry from Root's brief two-year stint as an anchorman on the old Financial News Network, which was folded into the CNBC cable network, he says, but there's a natural tie-in between Wall Street and sports.
"I had this idea to merge Wall Street and sports gambling, where I wanted to create a show similar to Wall Street Week or Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street, where five sports handicappers would come on a television show to talk sports, odds and strategies. That show is now a reality," Root says in the dining room of his sprawling home. He maintains the same gurus who talked about trading bulls and bears during the week, wanted to talk about the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bears on the weekends. "It was a natural progression," he says.
Progressed he did, as Root's sports show on Fox Sports Net reached more than 50 million households last year. Now available on Fox Sports World, its international sister network on satellite, the show has nearly doubled its audience this year, with major sponsors including Blueblocker Sunglasses, Blue Star Private Jet Leasing and Vegas.com. Root also mentioned that this year, the show is expanding to Pay-Per-View to coincide with the opening of the NFL season.
Wayne Allyn Root at home with his Hummer.
Root has strong opinions about sports gambling:
First, he says, gambling on sports is a male-dominated activity. "Betting on sports is a men's game. Women couldn't care less about betting on sports whereas men grow up loving sports," Root explained. Of the 600,000 client names in his company's database, almost all of them are men.
And secondly, sports gambling is growing more popular. According to a Congressional impact study on gambling, over $380B annually is spent on sports gambling, of which $2B is gambled legally in Nevada. And while politicians want to curb the spread of Internet gambling, Root cites recent statistics fromMerrill Lynch that predict online gambling will become a $180B a year business over the next few years.
"Politicians want to end Internet gambling, but they cannot stop what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom," Root says. He added that some lawmakers in Washington say that gambling fuels terrorism. Root was quick to downplay that argument.
"Our two biggest allies in the war on terror are Australia and the UK. In both countries, online gambling is both legal and flourishing, and is government-endorsed," he says.
Root is also quick to promote responsible gambling. After the launch of GWIN, one of Root's first projects was to make a sizable donation to a compulsive gambling foundation.
"We are very careful not to promote compulsive gambling. A lot of handicappers are irresponsible. I tend to go the opposite way," he explains.
Wayne Allyn Root has come a long way from his days as a young boy growing up in Mount Vernon, New York, just outside of New York City. After his short tenure at CNBC, Root made the beaches of Malibu his home until he moved to Henderson roughly a year ago. However, it was in California that he met his wife, Debra, in 1990. And Debra has her own success story.
A former Miss Oklahoma and the grand niece of Benjamin Franklin, Mrs. Root is what Wayne calls "the CEO of the household."
"We met at a party in Hollywood and it was love at first sight," Root says. The couple married 10 months later and relocated to the Valley only after the success of GWIN and Root's television shows increased the frequency of his commute to the Valley to four and five times a week. He hasn't looked back.
"Las Vegas will always be the base of my operations. My only regret is that I wasn't here sooner," he says. Describing himself as a workaholic, Root makes sure his children come first. When he works at home, Root will stop periodically to play ball with his kids.
When Root is not at his office on S. Jones Blvd. or in his home office, he enjoys skiing in Colorado or vacationing on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Root's respite from the workday includes his balcony off the master bedroom which oversees almost the entire valley, including the Strip. Root says he feels as though he owns this city when he looks out his balcony overlooking the city.
The home includes a monstrous family room with three television sets on simultaneously so that Root will not miss any of the action. Two additional sets are in the adjacent workout room and another one situated in the home office.
The entire house could only be described as one a viewer would see on MTV's Cribs or a reader would see in Martha Stewart's Living. Root's gated block within the confines of the country club is intimidating to the first-time visitor. But drive up the driveway, and one is greeted by a sea of southwestern architecture and tranquillity.
The front door opens to a display of cathedral-size windows in the dining room. The immense island kitchen with its see-through cabinets would make Emeril Lagasse blush. And the size of all of the bedrooms, including the master bedroom, is something out of a movie studio. Paintings of Root's family, including their children, adorn almost every wall in the house. And Root has no qualms about the safety, security and serenity of the neighborhood.
"There's no noise, and no traffic, and my kids can play in the middle of the street and I know they're safe," Root says.
Root has a number of prime goals for the future. With the economy starting to turn around for the better, he says GWIN Inc. has several projects in the planning stages.
"Gambling is popular, sports gambling is popular. The next step is to prove that it's popular," Root explained. The next goal for GWIN Inc. is to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. Eventually, Root would also like to expand his show overseas to cover soccer and cricket. He also would like to see the show and the website expanded to include several languages from other top gaming countries, including Russia, China, Japan, Germany, France and Spain.
The "home run," he says, is to create television's first gaming network. He estimates one has to raise over $100 million to start a television network. He's well on his way to reaching that goal. While the new network won't be created overnight, Root says there are signs that are pointing to the economy turning around and the recession coming to an end.
"I think we're [GWIN Inc.] in great shape for the first time in a long time," Root says. The rosy outlook contrasts sharply to the days immediately following 9/11, when the NFL canceled several games or, more recently, the beginning of the war in Iraq, when business for Root took a disastrous turn. At the beginning of the Iraqi conflict, college basketball's March Madness was in full swing.
"Immediately after 9/11, we lost all revenues for an entire week. But when football started back up, people began betting on sports again and they called us. We then had a record week. I believe the economy was hurt and we were hurt," Root says.
Root adds that when the war in Iraq began, games weren't canceled but people didn't watch them. As a result, revenues dipped, but the company still endured remarkable growth considering the forces against it.
Despite all of Root's successes, he has one simple philosophy: to believe in one's self and to believe in God. As a man who practices spirituality, Root says he begins every day with a prayer and says that anything is possible in America.
"I believe in this country, I believe in God, and the passions I have will work. Passions are very important to me," he says.
http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2003/09/05/news/news04root.txt
