Like a lot of devs, sometimes I get an idea that won’t leave my head until I build it. That’s exactly what happened when I created The Bookie — a Discord bot that turns sports picks with friends into a proper competition.
How It Started
We were talking trash in a group chat about our sports picks, arguing about who actually had the better record. A few hours later, I was already building a bot. No real money, no serious analytics — just bragging rights.
What The Bookie Does
Built with TypeScript and Discord.js v14, The Bookie is a slash-command bot backed by a PostgreSQL database via Prisma ORM. It pulls live odds and scores from The Odds API (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL), handles bet creation and settlement automatically via node-cron jobs, and tracks each user’s virtual unit balance with full win rate, ROI, and streak stats. An Express API layer powers a web dashboard for read-only stats. The whole thing deploys to Railway with a single push.
- Track Picks: Log bets with sport, matchup, pick, odds, and stake
- Rankings: Auto-updating leaderboard ranked by profit and ROI
- Trash Talk: The bot has personality. Competition needs attitude.
The Bookie in Action
Check It Out
Live at thebookie.bot. Invite it, run /bet, and find out who in your crew actually knows their stuff. Source on GitHub.