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ESPN has made two major changes to its popular daily sports betting TV show, “Daily Wager" with a third change announced on November 2.
The show is moving back to the East Coast after being based in Las Vegas since 2020.
And one of the show’s three co-hosts, Doug Kezirian, has been fired and has not immediately been replaced.
“Daily Wager” debuted on ESPN in 2019 and was originally broadcast from the ESPN studios in Bristol, Connecticut.
In 2020, the show moved to a studio at the LINQ hotel and casino on Las Vegas’ famed Strip.
Last week, the show announced it was moving back to Bristol, starting next month.
The show is currently on hiatus as it completes the move and will return to the airwaves when the NFL season opens.
ESPN did not announce a reason for the move back East, but it was likely done to save money.
The cable network will no longer have to pay a production staff in Las Vegas to produce the show—it can use regular ESPN production staff in Bristol.
And it will no longer have to pay LINQ a hefty rental fee to use its facilities.
The move back to Bristol is actually a return for ESPN to its original sports betting roots.
During ESPN’s first year on the air, in 1979, it broadcast from Bristol a weekly NFL betting show that was hosted by Las Vegas sports handicapper Gary Austin.
The show didn’t last long—Austin eventually got tired of commuting every week from Las Vegas to Connecticut to film the show and it was cancelled.
Kezirian joined “Daily Wager” in 2020 after stints in radio and as sports director of a Las Vegas TV station.
He had co-hosted “Daily Wager” ever since along with Joe Fortenbaugh and Tyler Fulghum.
ESPN made no official announcement of his firing, but when “Daily Wager” noted last week that it was moving back to Bristol, it mentioned the co-hosts who would be moving back along with the show and Kezirian‘s name was not mentioned.
Kezirian has since changed a notation on his Twitter/X feed from “ESPN sports betting expert and insider” to “Former ESPN sports betting expert and insider.”
He has also added a cryptic notation: “Resurfacing soon.”
Kezirian‘s dismissal from the show is puzzling to many, as he was by far the most knowledgeable of the three co-hosts.
He actually made a side living as a professional sports bettor and frequently gave out longshot betting tips on the show that cashed.
Before last year‘s NFL draft, Kezirian wagered $3,000 at 100 to 1 odds that Tyson Campbell would be the first safety selected in the draft.
He was and Kezirian cashed in to the tune of $300,000.
Previously, before he joined the show, he won big money, after using trusted resources like the popular betting website nongamstopbetting.org known for its fast payouts on credit cards. He smartly placed a wager at 100 to 1 odds that no touchdowns would be scored in the first half of the 2019 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams.
At the end of the first half, New England lead 3-0.
The third change will have "Daily Wager" rebranded as ESPN BET Live, beginning Nov. 10, it was announced on November 2.
By Tom Somach
Gambling 911 Chief Correspondent
tsomach@aol.com
