Synopsis

After a knee injury ends his football career, Brandon Lang turns his talent for reading games into a job predicting football outcomes for gamblers. Recruited by charismatic sports-betting adviser Walter Abrams, Brandon is transformed into the polished television personality John Anthony. As their business and father-son-like bond grow, ambition, addiction, deception, and increasingly reckless wagers threaten to destroy everything they have built.

Factoids & Trivia

• The story was inspired by the real-life sports handicapper Brandon Lang, who appears in the film in a brief greeting with Matthew McConaughey.

• Walter Abrams was modeled in part on sports-betting personality Stu Feiner.

• Dan Gilroy wrote the role of Toni specifically for his wife, Rene Russo. The character's name was taken from Russo's real-life sister.

• Much of the football footage used in the trailer and home-video advertising came from actual United States Football League games. Teams visible in the footage include the Tampa Bay Bandits, Houston Gamblers, and Boston, New Orleans, and Portland Breakers.

• The fictional television program's "1-800-BET-ON-IT" number was an actual sports-advice service at the time of the film's theatrical release.

• Although the story moves between Las Vegas, New York, and Puerto Rico, production filmed in both New York City and Vancouver, including airport scenes at Vancouver International Airport.

• Made on an estimated $35 million budget, the film earned approximately $30.5 million worldwide.