Living The Stream: ‘Vegas Matt’ Stars In New FanDuel Docuseries

Midway through the first episode of the new six-part docuseries All In: Vegas Matt, the title character — civilian name: Matt Morrow — is filming in front of Ocean Casino Resort on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, when a passerby ruins the take by hollering while the camera rolls, eliciting an annoyed response from Vegas Matt. In return, the off-camera voice insists: “You’re getting paid to do it. Don’t bitch.”

With those eight words, the observer fairly well captures all the pros and cons of being a successful slots influencer.

It’s the kind of job that shouldn’t feel much like a job, since you’re earning a living gambling, albeit with a financial safety net, thanks to sponsors and advertisers. And you get to enjoy the perks of being treated as a celebrity in certain circles and certain environments. But you also have to deal with the reality that some people are hardwired to disrespect/envy/resent you and the way you earn your living.

The 62-year-old Vegas Matt is among the most popular figures in this rapidly growing field and certainly stands out as FanDuel Casino’s most heavily featured influencer ever since the online operator signed him as an ambassador in January 2024. FanDuel, naturally, is producing the docuseries, the first episode of which — titled “The Rise of Vegas Matt” — was released on YouTube last Thursday.

The first installment, as its title implies, provides some of the backstory. If you find yourself asking either “Who is Vegas Matt?” or “How did Vegas Matt become a slots influencer?” Episode 1 sets out to provide those answers.

Does doc deliver high return-to-viewer?

A few sentences of “plot spoilers,” to the extent those can exist in a documentary: The Vegas-based Morrow describes himself as “always very anti-job,” so he stitched together a living via one non-office-based temporary career after another. In his late 50s, he was out one night at a casino, playing a little video poker while waiting to sit down to dinner, when he hit a royal flush worth $78,000. His son EJ captured the moment on his phone as a crowd gathered around his dad. EJ uploaded the video to TikTok, and according to Vegas Matt, it had about 80,000 views by the time they finished eating dinner — and a slots influencer was born.

The docuseries takes us behind the scenes with Matt, EJ (essentially his dad’s producer, videographer, and right-hand man), fellow members of the on-air crew Robert “WBG” Goldfarb and John “W2 Jesus” Pollak, and Matt’s wife, KC, who is known to fans as “Vegas Mom.” (TBD whether FanDuel will spin her off into her own series, The Reel Housewives.)

With nearly 1.5 million YouTube subscribers, something Vegas Matt is doing as a slots influencer is working. But does it translate to an entertaining docuseries?

Well, the Morrow family and the Vegas Matt team are decidedly ordinary, low-key people, especially compared to much of what can be found on reality TV.

In this opening episode, nothing outrageous happened. Probably the most memorable moment was the guy on the Atlantic City Boardwalk getting under Matt’s skin and EJ telling his dad to ignore him and not make a scene.

Snooki engaging in violence at a Jersey Shore bar, it was not.

There are echoes on All In: Vegas Matt of MTV’s The Osbournes a quarter century ago, with the famous dad interacting with his also-kinda-famous family. But with the Morrows, it’s all on a much smaller scale; a slots star is not exactly a rock star.

Much of the Vegas Matt YouTube appeal stems from the games he plays and the money he wins or loses. Take those activities and those stakes away and I’m not convinced there’s much there.

Morrow has led an interesting life, and the experience of becoming famous in his 50s and 60s sets him apart, but his personality is relatively dry. EJ deserves credit for ambition and seizing an opportunity with his dad, but he isn’t an especially dynamic speaker either.

There’s ground for potential conflict in Morrow pushing back on commenters thinking his gambling is “fake” or that he “sold out” when he became a FanDuel ambassador. But those are only lightly touched on in the first episode, and now that we have Vegas Matt’s backstory, it’s hard to imagine what exactly will fill five additional episodes.

Perhaps there’s drama to come and bolder personalities will begin to emerge. Or maybe this could simply have been one 15-minute short telling the story of how a semi-retired middle-aged man started streaming slots play for a living.

That’s a fairly intriguing log-line. Trying to stretch the concept across six weeks of storytelling feels like a gamble.