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Survey Says Cleveland and Cincinnati Dominate Biggest NFL Busts List

Published

2 years ago

February 15, 2023

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — They don’t have a Super Bowl win among them, but it appears that Ohio’s pro football teams are good at something. Drafting busts.

The sports betting website “The Game Day” conducted a nationwide survey of pro sports fans, who agreed that JaMarcus Russell is not only the biggest bust in NFL history, but fans voted him the biggest bust in professional sports history overall.

The data is based on responses given by sports fans across 48 states plus Washington, D.C., who voted on the biggest busts in the NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and the biggest ever busts in all sports combined.

“What was jarring was seeing so many athletes with Ohio ties on the list, particularly given the broad group of respondents. It shows Ohioans’ loyalty given their feverish fandom even while enduring a substandard product through the years.” – Pat Pickens, Writer at The Game Day and author of “The Whalers: The Rise, Fall, and Enduring Mystique of New England’s (Second) Greatest NHL Franchise”

Let’s start in the NFL, where you’ll find the Browns and the Bengals dominating the list of teams fans believe have drafted the most busts.

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Biggest Busts in NFL History

1. JaMarcus Russell – Oakland Raiders (23.8%)
2. Johnny Manziel – Cleveland Browns (23.5%)
3. Ryan Leaf – San Diego Chargers (16.1%)
4. David Carr – New York Giants (6.6.%)
5. Tony Mandarich – Green Bay Packers (5.5%)
6. Charles Rogers – Detroit Lions (5%)
7. Akili Smith – Cincinnati Bengals (4.9%)
8. Tim Couch – Cleveland Browns (4.5%)
9. Dion Jordan – Miami Dolphins (4.3%)
10. Ki-Jana Carter – Cincinnati Bengals (3.6%)

Johnny Manziel (Cleveland), Akili Smith (Cincinnati), Tim Couch (Cleveland) and Ki-Jana Carter (Cincinnati) are all in the top 10. Manziel was drafted 22nd overall in 2014, and played in only 14 games over two seasons in Cleveland before moving north to the Canadian Football League.

Smith was taken third overall by the Bengals in the 1999 NFL Draft and won only three games in his brief career.

Couch was selected first overall by the Browns in the 1999 NFL Draft, He was Cleveland’s first draft pick when the club re-joined the NFL as an expansion team.

Carter was selected first overall in the 1995 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals, but after suffering a ligament tear in his knee during his first preseason game, he was never the same.

Biggest Busts in Sports History (All Sports)

JaMarcus Russell – Oakland Raiders (23.64%)
Johnny Manziel – Cleveland Browns (23.34%)
Greg Oden – Portland Trail Blazers (18.87%)
Ryan Leaf – San Diego Chargers (15.99%)
Brien Taylor – New York Yankees (14.10%)
Anthony Bennett – Cleveland Cavaliers (12.81%)
Kwame Brown – Washington Wizards (12.41%)
Rick DiPietro – New York Islanders (12.31%)
Brian Lawton – Minnesota North Stars (12.31%)
Donavan Tate – San Diego Padres (11.92%)

And when you check the list of overall busts, it doesn’t get any better for Ohio. Johnny Manziel is number two on the list, Greg Oden is third, and Anthony Bennett is sixth. In fact, Oden and Bennett were voted the two biggest busts in NBA history (below).

Oden, although drafted by Portland as the number one overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft, has Ohio ties as a member of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Anthony Bennett was the number one overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers out of UNLV. He lasted one season in Cleveland and was out of the league within three years.

Russell received votes from fans in 40 states plus Washington, D.C. and, perhaps unsurprisingly, his biggest vote share came from California.

Biggest Busts in NBA History

1. Greg Oden – Portland Trail Blazers (19.1%)
2. Anthony Bennett – Cleveland Cavaliers (12.9%)
3. Kwame Brown – Washington Wizards (12.5%)
4. Jay Williams – Chicago Bulls (10.3%)
5. Darko Miličić – Detroit Pistons (9.5%)
6. Sam Bowie – Portland Trail Blazers (9.5%)
7. Chris Washburn – Golden State Warriors (7.8%)
8. Michael Olowokandi – Los Angeles Clippers (6%)
9. (Tie) Adam Morrison – Charlotte Hornets (5%)
(Tie) Hasheem Thabeet – Memphis Grizzlies (5%)

Oden and Bennett top the list of the biggest busts in the NBA (according to the survey). Oden grabbed more than 19% of the vote and Bennett nearly 13%.

Biggest Busts in MLB History

1. Brien Taylor – New York Yankees (14.2%)
2. Donavan Tate – San Diego Padres (12%)
3. Matt Bush – San Diego Padres (11.1%)
4. Todd Van Poppel – Oakland Athletics (10.6%)
5. Mark Appel – Detroit Tigers (10%)

Taylor was thought to be a can’t-miss fireballer of a pitcher taken number one overall in the 1992 draft by the New York Yankees. But after hurting his shoulder in a fight, he never got out of the minor leagues.

Biggest Busts in NHL History

1. (Tie) Rick DiPietro – New York Islanders (12.5%)
(Tie) Brian Lawton – Minnesota North Stars (12.5%)
3. Claude Gauthier – Detroit Red Wings (11%)
4. Nail Yakupov – Edmonton Oilers (10.7%)
5. Patrik Štefan – Atlanta Thrashers (9.4%)

DiPietro had his one impressive season (2006-07), but injuries cut his career short.

“The survey clearly shows that the perception of athletes is directly tied to a person’s fandom and familiarity of a player within their state. And as a New Yorker who is a Knicks fan, I can relate to sticking with a team despite all the letdowns.” – Rich Migliorisi, VP of Web Operations at The Game Day

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Contact:Lauren Polkey: [email protected]

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TESTA debuts TESTA Score, allowing operators to benchmark UX

Published

48 minutes ago

June 19, 2025

Adrienn Sarkany

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TESTA, the crowd testing platform for the iGaming industry, has launched its innovative TESTA Score with CasinoCompare.ph, a Philippine-focused online casino affiliate—and the only platform exclusively listing PAGCOR-licensed online casinos.

TESTA Score is a new UX quality benchmark developed by TESTA that shines a light on online casino brands in markets with new regulatory compliance standards.

Using real testers with local devices, IDs and bank accounts, TESTA evaluates each operator’s performance across four key processes – registration, deposit, withdrawal and KYC.

Each process is scored against strict usability parameters such as the number of required input fields, page clicks, lead times for verification and fund arrival, as well as the number of KYC attempts required.

The total possible score is 100, divided across:

The TESTA Score provides objective, player-centric transparency in any market.

With local connectivity, device preferences and regulatory friction in mind, the scoring system reflects the real-world user journey and highlights where improvements are most needed.

This then provides a chance for operators to improve their key flows, especially KYC, and then apply for a re-test to update their published score.

CasinoCompare.ph becomes the first online casino affiliate to deploy TESTA Score, with six Philippine-licensed online casinos now ranked. The site is operated by AFFILI.ph whose aim is to set a new industry standards for transparency, trust, and player confidence.

The six sites include Casino Plus, Desk Game, FBM E.Motion, Bet88, PlayTime and Crazy Win.

While most operators performed well on the core user flows, the KYC process emerged as the main differentiator.

Operators that lacked a working KYC step at withdrawal automatically received a zero in that category, pulling down their overall TESTA Score significantly.

This is how they fared:

Casino Plus led the pack with a total score of 97/100, earning perfect marks in registration, withdrawal, and KYC, and only dropping points on deposit due to a single extra page click.

As well as accessing TESTA Score through their affiliate partners, operators can work directly with TESTA to determine their TESTA Score.

Chris Johnson, TESTA CMO, said: “Born out of frequent client requests for key processes testing, and competitor benchmarking, the TESTA Score measures the parts of the customer journey, outside of game play, that make or break player acquisition and retention.

“Operators can use their TESTA Score to understand where they stand out over their rivals and where there is a gap they need to close.

“It’s great to see that six Philippine-licensed casinos have already used TESTA Score to benchmark their UX and acquisition flows, and we look forward to working with more moving forward, both in the Philippines and other markets around the world.”

The post TESTA debuts TESTA Score, allowing operators to benchmark UX appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Yolo Investments completes raise for €100m Fund II

Published

2 hours ago

June 19, 2025

Adrienn Sarkany

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Yolo Investments has closed fundraising for its flagship Fund II after hitting its €100 million target.

The fund comprises €50 million in external capital, as well as a €50 million commitment from Yolo Group.

It brings together a network of 23 investors, including founders and industry thought leaders, further strengthening the Yolo Investments ecosystem and enhancing the strategic value it can offer portfolio companies.

Fund II has already backed 12 companies across igaming, blockchain and fintech, with notable investments including Dabble, Kraken and Syfe. It expects to make a further 10 investments over the next 12 months.

Tim Heath, GP at Yolo Investments, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be closing our raise for Fund II having hit our target. This took place during challenging market conditions, with global VC fundraising facing significantly more headwinds compared with previous vintages. But investors have looked at our previous funds’ track record and the strength of our ecosystem, and have strongly backed us.

“We are humbled by that response as a real vote of confidence, not just in what we’ve built so far, but in where we’re heading next. We will continue to back more brilliant founders and help them scale faster, smarter and with the full power of the Yolo ecosystem behind them.”

Yolo Investments’ Fund II is structured as a Guernsey-registered limited partnership, and is licensed by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC).

The post Yolo Investments completes raise for €100m Fund II appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Party Like It’s 3000 BC in Shake Your Mummymaker! at SlotsCapital.lv – Plus a 175% Bonus Up to $1,750

Published

3 hours ago

June 19, 2025

Adrienn Sarkany

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