Is It Worth Being A Bookie
Shanken, editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado, recently sat down with a highly regarded bookie to learn the inside story about bookmaking. We have chosen the name 'Pete' to protect his true identity. Pete has been handling sports wagers for 25 years. By examening at past cases in which college bookmakers received little more than a slap on the wrist from the courts, many college students might answer “yes.” “Yeah, it’s worth the risk,” said Greg, a 24-year-old physical therapy major who bets about $50 a week. “The odds of getting caught taking bets is phenomenally low. When you start taking bets as a professional bookie, you’ll quickly see how fast you can make money on the action that you take every week. If you’re running a standard operation, you’ll end up getting between 5% and 10% of the actual amount of the bets that you’re taking. This is known as the Vig (or Vigorish).
The movies always depict the bookies as dangerous mobsters that you should avoid at all costs. The movies only show the most desperate of gamblers and degenerates using the bookies. For once, Hollywood got it right. To be fair, most bookies I’ve met or have ever known weren’t actually in the mob, but they were still people you’d have big issues with if you pissed them off.
If bookies have such a bad rap, why do people use them? And more importantly, should you or should you not use them? I’d like to tackle both of these questions today with some insider knowledge and experience from someone who has been in the gambling industry for just under 15 years. I have a lot of personal firsthand knowledge that puts me in a good position to answer both of these questions. Too often, the only resources you have to answer these types of questions are the movies or Google, either of which may or may not give you correct information.
Why Do People Use Bookies?
Before I can answer whether or not you should use a bookie, I need to talk about why people use bookies in the first place. There are two answers – one that I understand and one that is no longer valid. Don’t worry; I’ll explain what I mean. The two answers I always hear are convenience and credit.
In the old days (and by that I mean before the internet), the only way that people could bet legitimately was at a casino. This required that you be in close proximity to a casino or willing to make however long the trek was to get there. For most people, this wasn’t an option, so they were left with three choices. One, they could move closer to a casino if they really wanted to bet that badly. Two, they could just not bet. And three, they could bet through a bookie.
A bookie was someone that you could place your bets with, and they would operate much like the casino sportsbook. When you won, they would pay you out, and when you lost, they would keep your money. In theory, this sounds like a great idea although it creates issues that we’re going to cover in a minute. For now, just be aware that this is one of the reasons people give (still to this day) for using a bookie.
The second and scarier reason that people use bookies to place their sports bets is credit. Bookies will allow people to make bets with money they don’t have. The original idea of this was out of convenience that you could call your bookie and place a bet, and they would honor it without making you run over and give them the money right away. This is all well and good except that it transformed into more.
Bookies were allowing people to bet on credit for much larger amounts than they knew the person had. If the person lost, they would then owe the money back with interest. As you can probably imagine already, this creates some issues. If you’re already saying this wouldn’t be you, you may be correct, but there are some sides of it I want to cover in the next section that may change your mind about that. Again, for now, just know this is the other reason that people choose to bet with a bookie.
How To Be A Bookie
Should YOU Bet with a Bookie or Not?
The best way to address this question is to talk about the two reasons people give for using a bookie. If those reasons are valid with no other better options, then the answer will be yes. If those reasons are not valid and there are better options, then the answer will be no, you shouldn’t bet with a bookie.
Regarding convenience, this made a lot more sense years ago. In the days before the internet, you had to be close to a sportsbook or willing to travel a long way just to make a bet. This was of course not ideal and really not feasible for most people. The key part of that phrase though is “before the internet.” In the past 20 years, online gaming and sports betting have taken to new heights. Instead of having to be close to a casino or sportsbook to place a bet, all you need to have is an internet connection and a device to access the internet, and you’re able to place bets from anywhere.
How is this different than using a bookie? A LOT of ways. First, casinos and sportsbooks are regulated by gaming commissions and licensing boards. What does this mean? This means that they are required to pay you and can face penalties or the loss of their licensing if they don’t. Not only that, if an online sportsbook does not pay out customers, it gets spread around the internet like wildfire and their business crashes. This means you can count on them paying you.
Bookies, on the other hand, answer to no one. Yes, if they screw you, none of your friends will probably ever bet with them, but they can just move on to a new town or a new group to take bets from. You have no recourse either if they screw you. Why? Because being a bookie is illegal. This would be like going to the cops and telling them that your roommate stole your drugs. You can’t intelligently do that without opening yourself up to criminal charges.
This continues if there is ever a dispute with a bet. If you have a dispute with an online site, there are groups that you can go to for help to have the situation mediated. It’s also in the best interest of the site to deal with the issue fairly and in good faith. Bookies, on the other hand, are probably ALWAYS going to rule in their favor. You will never win a dispute with a bookie unless you have insane influence over some of their other customers.
The second and scarier reason that we mentioned people use bookies is the ability to use credit. Originally, the idea of credit was developed for sheer convenience. You wanted to make a bet but didn’t want to have to run to the bank and then run to meet your bookie all before the game started. I get it and understand why that would be nice.
The problem is the credit system developed into something way worse than that. Bookies started letting players bet bigger on games for more money than the person should have been betting. This made it easy for people to quickly spiral into debt and then they were left owing the bookie money with interest. This wouldn’t be like your standard bank loan kind of interest. The “juice” was high and basically ended up putting people into holes they could never get out of, and they end up forced to sell possessions or do things they never dreamed of just to avoid the consequences.
These consequences are sadly a lot like the movie depicts. The mildest form is public shaming and letting friends, family, and coworkers know that you’re someone who doesn’t pay your debts. They could single handily ruin your life if they wanted to and make everyone in your life think you’re a scum bag. The consequences for non-payment move up from there and have frequently involved violence, intimidation, and sometimes worse. The point here is that you do not want to end up owing money to a bookie.
The sad part is a lot of times bookies will allow this to happen on purpose. They take advantage of people with gambling problems and allow them to dig their own grave. This allows the bookie to basically own the person and make a ton more money off of them. It’s important to point out that my knowledge on this is not coming from the movies. This is coming from real world observations and things I have personally seen happen.
You may be thinking that you can use a bookie and never let yourself fall into this trap. The problem is that most everyone says that and has full intentions not to. The issues arise, though, when they start losing. If you have $100 in your betting bankroll and you take it to an online sportsbook and lose, you aren’t tempted to do something crazy to win your money back. Why? Because you don’t have the money to make another bet and that is your safeguard. If you take that same $100 to a bookie and lose, you may be tempted to place another $100 bet to win your money back because the bookie allows you to do so without putting up any money.
If you lose that bet, you now owe the bookie $200 and have to figure out some way to pay them back. This is usually when someone thinks they find a game that is a lock and they bet $200 to try and win that money back ($200 that they don’t have). Lose that bet, and you’re now down $400, $300 of which you do not have. The bookie now comes to you to collect, and you can’t pay. He informs you that you have X amount of time and starts charging you interest on the money. Hopefully, in this simple example, you can see how easily you can spiral into one of these situations.
The Bottom Line
Is It Worth Being A Bookie Game
The answer to the question here is that you should never bet with a bookie. There are too many convenient and trustworthy options available thanks to the internet that there is no excuse ever to need to use a bookie. Internet sportsbooks have come a long way and in my personal opinion surpass the brick and mortar (and bookie) alternatives. You can shop lines easily, always count on being paid, and never have to leave the comfort of your own home.
A bookie might seem like a convenient option, and the idea of betting on credit might sound appealing. I can guarantee as well that a bookie is going to come across as your buddy and the best friend you’ve ever had when they want to get your action. The problem comes into play when they’re ready to collect, and you can’t pay. I know you don’t think you’d ever fall into that trap but I can guarantee you it’s a lot easier than you think.
Look at credit cards for example. Almost everyone that uses a credit card says they will never let them get out of hand and will never let themselves get into massive credit card debt. If they were all correct, then why does the average American household have over $16k in credit card debt.
The reason is that it’s easy when things are going well, but everything changes when times get tougher. You can say you aren’t going to use that credit card if you don’t have the money but what happens when your car needs to be fixed, and you don’t have the cash? Or you want to go on that once in a lifetime vacation that all your friends are going on?
It’s the same with sports betting on credit. Everything is great until you start losing and need to win back your money. I’m not going to continue to hammer this, but just promise me you realize that no matter how protected you think you are, you are susceptible to falling into this trap. Why not just choose the option that has protections in place to keep you from doing that?
Is Being A Bookie Illegal
Again, the answer to the question is NO, you should not ever be betting with a bookie especially in today’s world.
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