Here’s the question – what is a sports betting bookie? This is asked regularly by those who are relatively new to the world of sports betting. And while there is a simple answer to the question, there are various elements that must be highlighted to give a more comprehensive answer. Of course, it’s the latter that I hope to give you today.
But before I get to that, let me give the simple answer to ‘what is a sports betting bookie’? In short, a sports betting bookie is a company that offers betting markets for a range of sporting events. Naturally, by offering betting markets, this means that they subsequently accept real money wagers from punters who wish to bet on the possible outcomes.
In a nutshell, this is exactly what a sports betting bookie is, while also showing what they do from an operational perspective. Yet as stated above, there is a more comprehensive answer to this question that I would like to give today.
What is a sports betting bookie? The finer details
Before I get into the finer details here, I should provide clarity on what the term ‘bookie’ actually means. This is a slang term used in the sports betting industry to reference a ‘bookmaker’. They mean the exact same thing, however, so there is no need to get confused if people throw both terms around in conversation.
As you’ve already seen, the terms simply detail a person or company who accepts wagers on a range of sports markets and pays out on winning bets at the odds supplied. So, now that I’ve clarified what the term ‘bookie’ actually means, let me get into the finer details regarding who can call themselves a sports betting bookie and what they need to be able to do this.
In the UK, and in other parts of the world, an individual or company can only call themselves a bookie if they have a license to offer gambling services. This is the key distinction between legal sports betting and illegal sports betting, and the respective authorities who issue these licenses are different throughout the world. Regardless, a bookie who accepts bets, whether online or offline, must have a license – there is no way around it.
As for the activities and intentions of sports betting bookies, this is where the answer starts to really take shape. And it’s also where a few eyebrows will be raised, as there are many elements behind what a sports betting bookie does that might shock you.
Sports betting bookies – an intricate look at what they actually do
Up to this point, answering ‘what is a sports betting bookie’ may seem like it’s a rather simple task. However, we haven’t yet delved into the ‘behind the scenes’ operations of sports betting bookmakers, so to speak. This is where things really get interesting, and it’s where the answer becomes a little more complex.
Market makers
I’ve stressed above that a sports betting bookie accepts wagers on various markets and pays out for bets that have won. This is true, but it masks the actual role that a bookie plays. As you can see, the true description of a bookie is an organization, whether a company or individual, that ‘makes markets’. After all, the markets you can bet on, and the odds, have to come from somewhere, right?
So if you look beneath the surface, it’s clear that sports betting bookies actually create the markets in addition to taking in bets.
Balancing the books
Can you see the connection between this and the term used to describe organizations that accept sports wagers? That’s right – the very term ‘bookmaker’ comes from the underlying goals of such organizations, which is to ‘balance the books’ in order to profit from their services. This is also referred to as ‘adjusting the odds’ to generate a scenario where the bookie will profit from that event, no matter what happens.
You can see this in real life by monitoring the odds for an upcoming event at an online sports betting site. If you track the markets over a period of a few hours or even a few days, you’ll see that the odds chop and change quite drastically in some cases. And this shows the action of ‘balancing the books’ before your very eyes – not that many punters give this a second thought.
Turning a profit
The last part of this answer is the ‘secret sauce’, if you will. In short, many people think that sports betting bookies make money by taking in wagers and profiting from losing bets. Strictly speaking, this isn’t the only thing going on that allows sports betting bookies to consistently generate a profit. Behind the scenes, they are utilizing complex mathematical models that pump out odds that are below the true possibility of that outcome coming true, first and foremost.
And secondly, these models are designed to stimulate betting activity on all markets in a balanced fashion – therefore allowing the bookie to finish ‘in the green’ no matter what happens.
