HOW THE SPORTSBOOK AND THE

HOW THE SPORTSBOOK AND THE "LOCAL GUY" ARE DIFFERENT - AND HOW YOU CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT
By CHARLES JAY

Theoretically, a sports book would love to have equal action on both sides. That would mean that the operation is at no risk and could collect their 10% vigorish on all losers. If they could do that, they would do it forever.

Online sportsbooks are growing in size and popularity, but the "local" bookmaker (mostly illicit), is still the outlet used by the vast majority of people in this country. And unfortunately, that guy doesn't have it so good. There is one very major difference between a sports book and what we'll call a "bookmaker" -

The sports book does business on a "cash and carry" basis, meaning they have your money BEFORE the event, while a bookmaker, for the most part, deals with people on credit and settles up with individual customers AFTER the event.

That's a huge difference. Why? Well, on that basis, the sports book knows it will always be working on a solid percentage. The bookmaker - who is not operating with as much in the way of resources as an online or Nevada sportsbook to begin with - winds up invariably working on a smaller percentage due to many factors. They include:

* The inability to collect all of some of his debts from some customers -- Let's face it - if you go into business as a bookmaker, you're not going to attract many customers if you require them too deposit a large amount of money with you up front. That means they'll be playing on credit. Sports bettors sometimes get in a little over their head, and bookmakers don't normally like to turn away business if there's a shot they can beat someone, and when people play on credit there are going to be times when they can't pay everything they owe. The concept of hiring a "leg-breaker" - something you see in a lot of movies - is a bit overrated, so sometimes there is no choice but to write off a bad debt, except there's nowhere to really write it off, is there?

* Lack of unlimited bankroll -- Yes, bookmakers lose sometimes, and it is not impossible to get behind. When they experience a couple of bad weeks in a row, there might be the need to borrow funds. Since there are no banks to go to for that kind of loan, the bookmaker may from time to time have to borrow money "on the shy" to pay off his own losses to customers when he's hit with an especially bad run of luck.

* Expenses -- The bookmaker, unlike a sportsbook in Nevada, cannot include his expenses (employees, office, etc.) in an overall "casino" budget. This is admittedly a small factor, since most sportsbooks are expected to operate in the black independently of the casino operation. But there is only one source of revenue the bookmaker can cover his expenses against, and that is the money won from players. There are no legitimate tax writeoffs for expenses, as there may be in licensed sportsbook operations.

* Slow Payers -- Even if the bookmaker beats someone out of $10,000, for example, there might be enough of an inability on the part of the customer to pay that the bookmaker is willing to take, say, $500 a week for twenty weeks or even that same amount for ten weeks, making a settlement of fifty cents on the dollar for the sake of getting something out of a loser. As for "juice," forget it. Most of the time, the bookmaker is happy enough to get something that he doesn't want to make it impossible (of course, the player's punishment is that he can't bet until he gets caught up).

* Legal Costs -- Bookmakers sometimes get "pinched" (arrested). And unless they're in a state where it is a misdemeanor, he is going to run into costs associated with fighting that case. Anyone familiar with attorneys knows how much this can eat up a budget.

When all is said and done, the bookmaker might be working on a percentage which is anywhere from 4%-6%, which might be okay if he were taking in the kind of volume a sports book had. But most do not, and therefore can not live on the small percentage.

Therefore, a bookmaker, in order to make a living from it, must, for the most part, WIN DECISIONS from his clients. And to do that, sometimes he may have to inject his own opinion into the mix and take a shot at varying his line from what may be supplied by central linemaking sources.

What he may do, if he thinks, for example, that Texas A&M is much better than the three-point line that is posted on the Vegas board, is put the Aggies up at 3-1/2 or 4, trying to draw an excessive amount of interest on Texas Tech. The bookmaker can force a decision in different ways, either by moving the line according to his own opinion, like in the above example, or by adding a HOOK (a half-point) into the line, insuring that there isn't going to be a tie, or maybe refusing to move it despite disproportionate action on one side of a pairing. Either way, it's sometimes going to be feast or famine; the bookmaker quite obviously is banking on the fact that the public is usually wrong in their sports betting decisions.

Knowing the bookmaker's situation would be very useful information for the player who wants to win. If you know his motivation behind the posting of particular lines, you may be able to get yourself the better of the deal in the long run.

Copyright 2006 Total Action Inc.