Why do bookies open up offshore when they can just bet?

5teamparlay · Nov 13, 2003

THIS WAS SICK'S ARGUEMENT:
Bookies are sharp, and seeing they are sharp, why not just gamble from your own house in the U.S., instead of going offshore? A bookie makes 4.5% booking, and if he was to bet, he can also make 4.5%

#1 He says that bookies are sharp. If they are sharp they will have plenty of players and run the business right, BOOKING will make them plenty.

#2 that 4.5 % is on every game all the time, not just that they make a plain 4.5% (cut and dry). Bookies make 100% off some players (max loss) just like vegas makes 100% all the money you came with while paying out 99.999% . ITS LIKE A SLOT MACHINE paying back 96%. If you continuously run that money through eventually the casino or BOOK in this case will have it all.

sickgambler · Nov 13, 2003

Let me make something clear here. This whole thing here has nothing to do with me. I am basically talking about bookies offshore, betting instead.

I will say this.. A lot of you will disagree with me, but I will stand by my statement here. Despite how much Spiro makes a year with Olympic, whether it be 500k, 1 million or even 2 million, he would make more if he focused his whole time on ONLY betting.

IOW, sign up with 20 books, get bonuses from each book, reduced juice and all, have his high limits he usually gets.. He would make double that if he dedicated all his time to only gambling, mark my words. And I am sure he would even admit to this. He wouldn't even need the bonuses, and maybe still do better than the whole Olympic sportsbook.

Now if you gave the choice to the Kosher Boys, the computer group, Billy Walters and asked them all 6 years ago if they would rather own a book like Olympic, or have 40 outs to bet with and bang out games for as much as they want at a great price and have Denver ov 191 when the game would close at 198, what do you think they would rather do?

Bottom line boys, if you are a very sharp bookmaker, you can make triple your profit by betting offshore, along with their 40 books and bonuses and reduced juice.

Why even go offshore for and waste their lives down there paying heavy duty expenses and depend on people to call you up when you can do the calling yourself and not depend on no one.

DarrylParsons · Nov 13, 2003

Sick,

It simply isn't true. You can't get juicy numbers AND high limits AND safe payouts with any degree of consistency these days. My bankroll is way below guys like Spiro's but I know that if I suddenly want to start doubling my bets I will have to give up either line quality or safety of capital.

The crazy middling situations you are talking about in which you can get a 2 point middle at the same point in time (different points in time doesn't count because some risk was taken to get there) involve either 2 rogue shops, or a Pinnacle and a rogue shop. In the latter case you will win at the rogue shop more often and you will have to pull teeth to get your money.

Just think of who you are taking money from. If you take too much they will either stiff you or take other countermeasures. The fact is that to make really big bucks you have to take a little from a huge number of people and not a lot from a few people. This is because the huge numbers of people will always have that little to give you but the few you take a lot from will eventually go bankrupt.

Nick Douglas said it already and he is exactly right. It is nothing less than a simple fact of life.

You can listen and learn or you can continue to live in the land of make believe. It's your call.

PatrickMcIrish · Nov 13, 2003

My great great Grandfather was a fisherman up in Alaska, what he said about that pertained exactly to why I wanted to be a bookie....

ONCE YOU CATCH YOUR FIRST WHALE YOU NEVER LOOK BACK.

Fishhead · Nov 13, 2003

McIrish- Sick is not refering to street bookies. He is talking about setting up shop offshore and all the expenses that go with that.

castaway · Nov 13, 2003

I disagree with you Sick and the reason is; the betting bookmakers offshore are not handicapping and are only betting out after the real wiseguy takes a crack at the line the book hung from LVSC or Ken White. I read in these forums about so and so's numbers. They aren't their numbers they subscribe to a line service.

Pinnacle and OLY are succesfull betting and booking but they are in a class by themselves. As mentioned earlier, CRIS, Grande, Jazz, and a few others never bet out and do quite well. It's very, very hard to sucessfully book and bet. It's real easy to earn by booking and real tough to earn by betting.

Until the bonus game got so crazy how many bookmakers does anyone know or have known that was not rich?