This means that the former Arsenal man gets paid money (probably quite a lot of it) to share his expert opinions on the beautiful game.
Ahead of the bulk of this weekend's FA Cup third round ties, Merse was asked by Sky Sports colleague Jeff Stelling to select three teams he'd back to make it through to round four.
Opting for a treble of Premier League teams - Everton, Stoke and Bournemouth - things didn't quite go to plan for those that followed Merse's betting tip, as illustrated by the video below, which swept Twitter in the hours after the full-time whistles.
https://twitter.com/SFC_Kristian/status/817787974993715200
Everton took the lead in their game at home to Premier League champions Leicester, only to lose the match 2-1.
Stoke, hosting Championship Wolverhampton, crashed out of the competition with a disappointing 2-0 loss.
His last pick, Bournemouth, were humbled 3-0 at League One Millwall.
