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> This has pretty much always been standard As someone who has worked in the industry, I agree with one caveat: > The basic idea with bookmaking without risk
by repsilat 8y ago
> This has pretty much always been standard
As someone who has worked in the industry, I agree with one caveat:
> The basic idea with bookmaking without risk is that you want your books balanced
This is not the business model of every bookie. In the UK the standard retail bookies will set wide spreads and aggressively ban accounts that appear savvy (or appear to be automated.)
The big betting venue in Europe (at least back when I knew things) is an exchange, though. They take no outcome risk and make money either way, though typically more if the underdog wins.
In Asia some of the top bookies have yet another business model: they are really just institutional gamblers whose business is to know the outcome statistics better than anyone else. They employ shitloads of data scientists and they will take large bets from smart punters. They run gambling websites because it's better to gamble "on their own terms". When they want to bet against another large gambling shop, they move the odds so the spreads overlap the right way and wait for arbitrageurs to match-make.
- ars 8y ago> and aggressively ban accounts that appear savvy (or appear to be automated.) Isn't this literally saying "We cheat, if you bet with us you are guaranteed to lose money?" Why would anyone bet with a firm like that? By the very fact that they took your bet you know that your bet was a losing one. It's something I've never understood - how they can publicly say that, and yet still have customers.
- Buge 8y agoI wouldn't consider it cheating. It's refusing to play against good players. It doesn't sound like they'll cancel a bet that you make because it's good. It sounds like they'll see you make a good bet, then ban you any future bets, while still fulfilling that good bet.
- tpm 8y ago> Why would anyone bet with a firm like that? Most customers are in the long run in the red (they are not in it for the money, just want to have fun), so this is not something they care about or will encounter.
- pakitan 8y ago> The big betting venue in Europe (at least back when I knew things) is an exchange, though. They take no outcome risk and make money either way, though typically more if the underdog wins. Yes, they can't lose, but they still penalize big winners by taking a larger cut of their profit, compared to regular bettors.
- splonk 8y agoInteresting. I admit that my knowledge comes more from the advantage player side in the US (and by proxy, some of the offshore shops in the Caribbean and such), so it's good to hear from someone who knows about how it works in other places. I'm definitely don't know the Asian side of it well at all.