‘It’s cringe saying it’: Full-time gamblers reveal source of wealth
One is fresh out of uni and the other is over $140,000 in the red betting on horses. Now, these two Aussie gamblers have spilled on the source of their wealth.
Luca Kante’s parents are “if anything, against gambling 100 per cent”.
“That’s the funny thing,” said Kante, the 23-year-old who has shot to viral fame as one of the country’s biggest and most controversial social media gambling influencers.
“Obviously it took a while to convince them. They always thought, ‘Oh, it’s a nice little side hobby doing your social media’, but they’re very on board now. They understand the numbers.”
In just over one year, Kante has amassed nearly 230,000 followers on Instagram who eagerly watch him win thousands — and sometimes lose thousands — playing the pokies at pubs and clubs.
Despite concerns raised by gambling experts and warnings from regulators about the impact he and others are having, particularly on young people, Kante is unrepentant.
“If you’re an adult you can make your own decisions,” he said.
“It’s your choice, just because you have a problem doesn’t mean you have to ban gambling for the whole world. With age, [though], I’m very big on that. If you’re underage that is just absolutely a no-no.”
For all the latest science and technology news — download the news.com.au app direct to your phone.
MORE: Australia’s fastest growing salaries
Kante started his gambling Instagram exploits while still a student at Griffith University, where he studied a Bachelor of Business with a major in entrepreneurship.
“It was just a clip of me and my mates doing a gamble,” he said.
“It was $700 into $1400. It was a big win for me at the time and we had a funny reaction.”
Kante’s video struck a chord — so he made more.
“I started talking on my videos and bringing personality to it, that’s when it really took off,” he said.
“It’s almost cringe saying it but I feel like I’m a business guy and I feel like there was a gap in the market. There was nothing really like it content-wise and there was definitely a demand — I could see people wanted to watch this.”
He adds it was “definitely not overnight” success.
“I remember celebrating small wins like 10,000 views on a video, I was over the moon,” he said.
Today Kante’s videos easily generate hundreds of thousands, even upwards of one million views. His amusing antics and “come on cuz!” catchphrase have earned him a dedicated fan base — and plenty of imitators.
“Now I feel like every single day there’s a new page popping up copying what I’m doing,” he said.
“Imitation is the best form of flattery, so you’re doing something right if people need to copy it. But at the end of the day, I’m getting copied to the exact idea. If I’m the one innovating, they’re copying.”
MORE: Future jobs: Emerging industries and jobs of the future
Kante has “gambled since the day I turned 18” but insists “I’m not the biggest gambler in the world”.
“I think that’s why people relate to me — young, private school looking kid, no tattoos, he’s doing realistic bets,” he said.
“It’s funny because when you say gambling people don’t think it’s hard work, but 99 per cent of what I do is social media marketing, 1 per cent is gambling.”
Kante does most of his gambling across the border in NSW, where state law permits bets of up to $10 per spin as opposed to $5 in Queensland.
He often has followers asking him “what do you look for in a machine” but tries to explain the reality of the pokies.
“If you’re in luck you’re in luck, there’s no telltale sign,” he said.
“I love to say to people to live through my videos, take my videos as an example of how the pokies actually work. People think I’ve got some special machine, people come up and go, ‘How do you win all the time?’ [when I just] lost six times in a row. I try to keep it pretty transparent.”
Kante concedes he “gets concerned when I see these young kids, they’ve just not got a reality on gambling and how it actually works”.
Even after winning a $7000 jackpot in a recent video, he knows it will likely soon be gone again.
“The house always wins,” he said.
“I like to say to people, I’ve been gambling since I was 18, I’m now 23, there’s no way on planet earth I would be in the green. If you’re looking to make money from gambling you’re thinking the wrong way.”
Even so, Kante has managed to turn his gambling content into a full-time gig through “streaming and brand deals”.
“You definitely do not get paid off Instagram, but in this day and age followers is a currency,” he said.
He won’t disclose how much he earns but says it’s a decent income for “first year out of uni”.
“It’s definitely just like a business,” he said. “At the end of the day I’m being an entrepreneur. On paper it’s an easy job but I’m thinking about it every day.”
In addition to his pokies content on Instagram, Kante also streams on Kick — a Twitch-style platform mainly used by gamers — where he bets thousands on virtual slot machines, blackjack and roulette with online casino Razed.
Kante told Nine’s A Current Affair earlier this year he was aware online casinos were banned in Australia but promotes them anyway.
Asked if he was concerned about the communications regulator coming after him, Kante was reluctant to discuss his streaming content.
“I feel like I’ve taken the right steps and directions, not only for myself, just in general,” he said, without elaborating. “If anything that’s probably 1 per cent of my brand. It’s nothing to do with my Instagram, [which is just] real-life pokies.”
And it’s not just pokies churning out new online celebrities.
Prominent tipster Benny Scarf, 24, has emerged from nowhere to become arguably the most influential personality in Australian racing, courtesy of his 220,000-strong Instagram following.
Dubbing himself “God of Punt”, Scarf shot to fame last year by placing ever-larger bets as his follower count grew — now in excess of $11,000, or 5c per follower — a gimmick popularised by Kiwi blackjack sensation Tim Myers, aka Tim Naki.
“To give people a journey to follow is quite engaging,” Scarf said, explaining the huge viral interest in their style of content.
“We have made gambling interesting and an opportunity for people to live through our gambling journeys. It is the theatre of the whole thing — from the hook, visuals and the personality we have also.”
The son of a former professional punter, Scarf “didn’t learn much off him in terms of racing, but I certainly got my passion for gambling off him”.
“It’s funny how some families grow up thinking gambling is the devil, but our house is built upon so it is just a different upbringing to most,” he said.
“I went to the races when I was 18 and fell in love with the theatre ever since.”
Scarf, who keeps a running tally of his wins versus losses on his Instagram bio, is currently down $141,160 as he nears day 150 of his challenge.
His plan going forward is simple. “I will win,” he said. “I will win it back and more.”
That’s certainly possible.
“New Kingdom back in February I won $50,000 off one race which was wild — we celebrated big,” he said, recounting his most memorable moments so far.
“I just filmed my favourite ever video. It is probably my best produced video where I had $1000 on a greyhound and filmed the reaction on a boat in Greece. I knew it was awesome when I posted it and the metrics of it agreed.”
Waving away questions about how he is able to place such large bets and his relationship with online bookmaker Dabble, Scarf has previously insisted “100 per cent it is my money”.
Scarf, who also runs a subscription tipping service, includes an affiliate link to Dabble on his bio, which means he receives a percentage of the punter’s earnings after they sign up. The exclusive partnership accounts for the “overwhelming majority” of his earnings.
“It’s been a really successful partnership for both of us, so I’m gonna ride that wave as long as possible,” he said.
“We’re both very happy as far as I’m concerned. Business is good for both the affiliate part of it and the tipping service. I am launching flavoured vodka still water in the coming months which will be exciting too.”
In May, Scarf was given the green light by NSW’s gambling regulator following an investigation into his social media activity, which also delved into his relationship with bookmakers.
Scarf is blunt when asked about criticisms from anti-gambling experts that social media influencers are exposing younger people to gambling, or glamorising risky behaviour.
“I don’t care,” he said.
“They can say what they want. There is talk that I am exposing young people to gambling. I have never explicitly targeted my videos towards young people, apart from merely being young myself. What do they want me to do? Get older?”
He adds, “I love all the criticism — it’s just a reminder that I’m relevant. Bring it on.”
Scarf, however, is scathing of pokies influencers — with the exception of Kante, who he praises as an “excellent creator” with a “remarkable content brain”.
“I don’t like pokie content — never have,” he said.
“For the majority, I think people use it as a cop-out for the fact they are not interesting characters. Luca Kante being an exception … I simply find most others boring.”
Scarf argues in terms of the “responsible gambling aspect to it, this is 10 times worse than my horse racing content will ever be”.
“All I have ever done is prove to the Australian public that you cannot win gambling, plus I have to have responsible gambling disclaimers all over my videos,” he said.
“This pokie content is 100 per cent unregulated and operates under the Wild West — also giving people the perception that pokies is nothing but hitting features. It’s rubbish and needs to be investigated if you ask me.”
According to Kante, he’s often asked “do you reckon they’ll ban pokies on Instagram”.
“I think the government’s cracking down on online casinos because they don’t make a penny,” he said.
“But the real-life pokies — the government absolutely loves them. It’s such a big money-maker.”
Originally published as ‘It’s cringe saying it’: Full-time gamblers reveal source of wealth
