About GAMBLING STATE UNIVERSITY - The true crime story of "Shinehead," the king of college gambling
WELCOME TO GAMBLING STATE UNIVERSITY, The hilariously dark, true-crime story of "Shinehead," the college student who inadvertently became a sports bookie who franchised his business model to numerous major universities and made millions before graduating, all while staying one step ahead of the university and the police… but not the mob.
It was the late 1980s when Shinehead was a freshman at a major state university in the south. He was a clean-cut kid from a straight-laced family who was dropped into the heart of SEC country, where sports are king and nothing else matters. His background in sports and his scholarship in applied mathematics and statistics were quickly put to work by his fraternity brothers running the house's sports book. And that's when things got out of control....
If GOODFELLAS, CASINO and ROUNDERS had a baby with THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, and that baby joined the Delta Chi fraternity in ANIMAL HOUSE, you would have COLLEGE GAMBLING DAY. Created by comedy writer Kevin Schini, this podcast is a fascinating and hilarious look into this true-life cautionary tale about how Shinehead went from taking a few bets with friends around campus to building an empire of gambling winnings from multiple colleges, to his eventual and unfortunate demise.
GAMBLING STATE UNIVERSITY is created by Kevin Schini and produced by Kevin Schini & Shinehead. Editor for all episodes is Joe Pennington. Co-Producer: Chris Grimaldi. Special thanks to Howie Mandel, Rich Thurber, and Alex Mandel.
Shinehead has been called the Over-Undertaker, and rightfully so, since he wasn’t just a bookie. He was an entrepreneur, an undertaker, in every sense of the word. He saw patterns in the way his piers bet, but he also paid attention to how to keep his clientele betting. He used VIP parties with entertainment and drinks as incentives to keep his clientele betting. But those parties also are a great way to lure back the bettors who owe Shinehead money. And it saves lots of money having to pay someone to collect for you when the guy who owes money wants to come to an unbelievably fun party. With Shinehead, there was no linear thinking. He was growing and protecting his business on multiple layers. But expanding his business meant he was exposing himself to trouble. And no matter how careful he was, Shinehead was faced with a dilemma. Either end his business, or someone else is going to end it, and him.
30 Jan 2026
UNLIKE THE PROFESSOR, THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS
With operations as large as they were at this point, it was becoming almost impossible for Shinehead to stay out of the spotlight. Wall to wall cash was constantly collecting in Shinehead’s fraternity house room. And when an all-out brawl between other fraternity houses trying to get in to one of Shinehead's VIP parties lead to a call into the office of the dean of Greek life, Shinehead knew that something had to be done. So he hid his empire in the basement of a apartment next to campus. Quiet, dark, no windows. It seemed the perfect place to keep a low profile. So low, in fact, that Shinehead’s new partner decided to lead them into the next phase of their operation: an all-out Vegas-style casino, they simply called, “The House." Shinehead went to school on a math scholarship. He graduated with a master’s degree in casino management.
We also speak with “The Professor,” a life-long friend of Shinehead’s whose attempt to become a bookie on his own university’s campus, went horribly wrong. We take a look into the darker side of the booking business, as well as the main reason how Shinehead was able to take over the gambling on so many other universities.
22 Jan 2026
COLLECTIONS, RISKY BUSINESS PARTNERS
At this part in our story, the number of gamblers betting with Shinehead is growing week by week. It’s far more than Shinehead can handle himself. So in order to handle the other sides of the business, Shinehead had to find partners. One would be the face of the operation, responsible for recruiting new bettors, or finding bookies to turn into runners. The other would be the muscle- usually guys who wanted to work off a betting loss who’d go and collect for Shinehead from any deadbeats refusing to pay. But how does a straight-laced kid on a math scholarship even make it this far, to have to hire partners and contracted collectors, as a bookie? For Shinehead, it was all a calculated risk. And sometimes if you’re lucky, risk is rewarded.
14 Jan 2026
EXPANSION TO TAKING BETS AROUND CAMPUS & TOWN, BAPTISM UNDER FIRE OF THE BOOKIE BIZ
We get into Shinehead’s expansion from betting internally with frat brothers to his lightbulb moment of discovering betting patterns with college kids, learning how to exploit them to make as much money as possible.
8 Jan 2026
FRESHMAN YEAR, JOINING A FRATERNITY, INTRO TO BEING THE HOUSE BOOKIE
We discuss Shinehead’s start in the book making business including his initiation into his fraternity, meeting the two frat brothers who were taking bets for the house, and their discovery that Shinehead was the perfect candidate to run the house books due to his love and knowledge of sports and his savant-like math skills. Shinehead speaks to being put to work collecting from brothers who were late, to eventually inheriting the biz from his graduating frat brothers.
8 Jan 2026
INTRO, BACKSTORY, WHO IS “SHINEHEAD”
We learn who math and athletic phenom “Shinehead” is, including his background and upbringing in south Florida, his love of sports, card games, gambling, and making money, all which unknowingly shaped him into the perfect candidate to become his fraternity house’s bookie and eventual kingpin who controlled sports betting on multiple college campuses in the southeast in the early 1990s.
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