 Info
about gambling and online casinos in general
Topics:
Sportsbook
A sportsbook (sometimes abbreviated as
book) or a race and sports book is a place where a gambler can
wager on various sports competitions, including golf, football,
basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, horse racing and boxing.
The method of betting varies with the sport and the type of game.
The more prominent the event, the more wagering options that are
made available.
Winning bets are paid when the event finishes,
or if not finished, when played long enough to becomes official;
otherwise all bets are returned. This policy can cause some confusion
since there can be a difference between what the sportsbook considers
official and what the sports league consider official. Customers
should carefully read the sportsbook rules before placing their
bets.
The betting volume at sportsbooks varies
throughout the year. Bettors have more interest in certain types
of sports and increase the money wagered when those sports are
in season. Likewise the interest in sports varies by country since
the level of interest in the various sports is not constant the
world over. Some major sporting events that don't follow a specific
schedule, like boxing, can create peaks of activity for the sportsbooks.
Word origin
A sportsbook is a portmanteau
word (from the French for "jacket holder"). Sportsbook
combines two meanings into one word for a sports gambling operation,
in this case SPORTS and BOOK which is short for bookmaking.
Odds
In the mid 1930s, Leo Hirschfield
started a company in Minneapolis, Minnesota called Athletic Publications,
Inc., that published and distributed odds to bookies across the
country by telephone and telegraph. He had a team of handicappers
analyzing the matchups who also studied newspapers across the
country. The company was a major provider of odds and prices until
it finally disbanded, under fear of prosecution from the Federal
Wire Act of 1961.
Today most sportsbooks get their opening
prices from other sportsbooks as well as private companies like
Las Vegas Sports Consultants. They adjust prices based on the
bets coming in, news, injury, and weather information, and the
price movement by other sportsbooks.
Nevada
sportsbooks
Today there are roughly
150 licensed sportsbooks in the United States, all located in
Nevada casinos. Now that many casinos share the same parent company,
they offer the exact same wagering choices and odds, which is
a disadvantage to the astute gambler who in the past could do
more shopping for better prices.
In the 1950s the first Nevada sportsbooks,
called turf clubs, opened. They were independent from the casinos,
and had an informal agreement with the hotels that they would
stay out of the casino business as long as the hotels stayed out
of the sportsbook business. The sportsbooks had to pay a 10% tax
so they charged a high vigorish to gamblers, but they still brought
in a lot of business.
In 1974 the tax was lowered to 2%, (and
in 1983 lowered to 0.25%), and in 1975 Lefty Rosenthal, who ran
the Stardust Casino, convinced legislators to allow them in the
casinos, and soon nearly all of the casinos added them. The turf
clubs were no longer able to compete and eventually all closed.
In Nevada casino sportsbooks you will find:
Betting Windows
Numerous big screen televisions
Places to sit and watch
Interactive betting stations
Odds boards, usually computerized
UK sportsbooks
Betting shops are common
in the United Kingdom. Companies like Ladbrokes and William Hill
have offered walk-in betting shops for decades.
Internet
sportsbooks
While internet sportsbooks
lack face-to-face transactions, they can handle more customers
than land based sportsbooks and operate more cost effectively.
They pass lower costs on to customers in the form of reduced vigorish
(cheaper prices) or bonus incentives. They can also offer similar
products, such as casino games, bingo, and poker to their existing
clients.
While Internet sportsbooks take bets online,
normally they are licensed in some jurisdiction. Taxation and
regulation vary greatly by country.
Internet sportsbooks range from fraudulent
operations with no intention of paying their customers to multi-billion
dollar publicly traded companies. Internet sportsbooks range in
focus, as some primarily cater to American sports, while others
focus on European soccer. Some sportsbooks handle large wagers
while others have low wagering limits. Some offer many exotic
proposition wagers, where others have limited choices. Payment
methods are not universally accepted at all sportsbooks.
Costa Rica is home to a large number of
offshore sportsbooks, as it caters to many of the needs of the
industry with an open regulatory environment and a large, capable
workforce. A number of sportsbooks are also located in Jamaica,
Gibraltar, Antigua, Curaçao, Australia, and many other
countries around the world.
The United States Justice Department claims
that wagering at offshore sportsbooks is a violation of the 1961
Federal Wire Act. Jeffrey Trauman of Harwood, North Dakota, was
the first player ever to be prosecuted for online sports betting
in the United States. The former car salesman, who quit his job
to become a professional gambler, was cited under a North Dakota
state law.
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