When promo clips first surfaced of Jake Paul’s contentious interview with Bomani Jones, the host of HBO’s Game Theory, the conversation appeared to go bad from a line of questioning around Paul’s unlikely success as a YouTube star turned boxer.
As it turns out, from watching the full episode released Friday, the interview was rocky from the start but took a real turn when Jones asked about Paul’s venture into the world of sports betting.
In August, Paul announced the launch of his sports betting and media platform Betr. With an emphasis on micro-betting, Paul described it as the TikTok-ification of sports betting. Jones asked Paul whether he was concerned about potentially pushing his young-leaning fanbase into what some experts have called one of the most addictive forms of gambling.
“My audience is older people,” Paul quipped. “And I get you’re trying to be like a hero here and save the day and paint me in a bad light. … Probably with a lot of your guests, you get one over on them and they’re not smart enough to keep track of what you’re doing…”
Jones interrupted, “nobody is trying to fool you Jake,” before repeating his question.
The below clip is a separate part of the interview closer to the end.
Warning: NSFW Language
“I don’t know who the f–k you are”
Jake Paul went off when @bomani_jones asked what happens if he loses 😳
New @GameTheoryHBO drops Friday at 11pm ET on @HBO pic.twitter.com/7mmDuaUODx
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 2, 2023
Jones’ question about Betr and micro-betting was a legitimate one in relation to Paul’s background as a social media star. During Jones’ monologue that proceeded the interview, clips were played of past interviews where Paul acknowledged how young many his fans are — not that anyone would think otherwise of the former Disney channel actor.
“TikTok-ifying gambling is downright frightening,” Jones said during the monologue. “Especially when you consider that TikTok and gambling are both hyperaddictive. It’s like crack-ifying candy.”
Ill-equipped to handle Jones’ question about his audience growing up and potentially following Paul into micro-betting, Paul reacted like a cornered wasp and went on attack. It was a bad look for the Betr boss.
Just last October, company co-founder Joey Levy announced that Betr will enforce deposit limits for users 21-25 years old and become the first U.S. sports betting operator to ban credit cards as a way to fund user accounts. It would have been the perfect script for Paul had it only come days earlier.
Sports betting should be about enhancing the way the mass market fan consumes & interacts with sports. The experience should be like going to the movies & paying $20 for 2 hours of entertainment. Watching a live game & spending $20 on Betr to make that game more entertaining. 2/3
— Joey Levy (@joeyslevy) October 10, 2022
Instead, Paul learned the hard lesson so many before him have learned, which is you can’t verbally out-spar Jones, and he defaulted to a responsible gaming script.
“That’s why it’s always gamble responsibly. Only bet with money you’re willing to lose. The house always wins. Download Betr, but gamble responsibly.”
Yikes. It doesn’t get more awkward than that.
