Sportsbook A sportsbook – Also called a book or with the advent of the internet online sportsbook is a place for a sports bettor to place wagers on numerous outcomes atypically being a sports event but in recent years has stretched out to wagers on the Oscar winners, American Idle winners, and other various proposition bets such as when will Tiger Woods return to golf. Some of the sports that a sportsbook provides odds and the general public can wager on is but not limited to: Baseball, Basketball (college and professional), Boxing, Golf, Hockey, Horse Racing, Mixed Martial Arts, Soccer, Ultimate Fighting Championship and other smaller sports like Jai lai and grey hound racing. Every wager and line varies dependant upon the type of sport or event being wagered on. As of 2010 there are approximately 151 legally licensed sportsbooks in the United States with one location outside of Las Vegas, Nevada in Wilmington, Delaware at Delaware park. However, the sportsbook at Delaware park only allows bettors to place 3 team parlays and is restricted to Football season only. Outside of the United States there are many sportsbooks that are legal at casinos all over the world and most online sportsbooks are located and licensed in either Costa Rica, Antigua, Curacao, the United Kingdom, or Canada due to the illegal wire act of 2005 however they do still pay taxes and are regulated in the jurisdictions in which they conduct their business out of.. The most popular sport bet on at a sportsbook today is Football even though the commissioner of the National Football league is outspoken about allowing sportsbooks to let the public bet on the outcome and propositions of a game. With the UFC and Boxing events as well as the world cup and golf events such as the masters will see a spike in betting volume at a sportsbook. Otherwise the NFL season is the most popular seasonal sport to bet on for the sportsbooks followed by basketball, baseball, and hockey in terms of the four major sports. After the outcome of any particular event that has been wagered on the losing bets are kept by the house and the winning bets are paid off by the sportsbook once the ticket is cashed in. If an event does not finish due to numerous exogeneous factors such as weather than if the game is official the winning bet can be paid out by the sportsbook. If the event is not official and does not finish than the sportsbooks will return the monies initially wagered. Oddsmakers The oddsmakers are an essential element to the sportsbooks as they determine the overall payout and the juice or vigorish can be determined based upon the odds. Most
bookmakers get their odds from fellow linesmakers and Vegas Sports Consultants, statisticians, and econometricians. Prices, odds, and juice is adjusted accordingly based upon incoming wagers, fellow sportsbooks, how the public is betting and shifting the lines/odds in one direction or the other or other factors such as injuries, weather, home field advantage and such. Nevada Sportsbook History Back when the first legal Sportsbooks sprouted up in Nevada back in 1951 they were colloquially known as Turf Clubs. While separate from the casinos at the time these sportsbooks had an agreement with the casinos that they would not infringe upon the table game and slot business in exchange the sportsbook or Turf Club as they were known back than had to pay a 10% tax (juice) to gamblers. By 1974 this tax dropped from ten to eight percent and eventually even lower with the famous casino mogul Frank Rosenthal who was covered in the famous Hollywood film Casino starring Robert DeNiro as (Sam Rothstein) got the Nevada state legislators to let them into the casino business since he was already running the Stardust and shortly there after Turf Clubs all closed down because just about every casino had their own sportsbook. A typical Las Vegas sportsbook looks like the picture below and features numerous publications on sports and odds, digital betting systems, comfortable seats to watch games on the big screen with food and drinks obviously permitted, as well as the betting window with a helpful personnel ready to take your wager. Online Sportsbooks With the internet as an ever growing presence in the early 90’s it only made sense for casinos and sportsbooks to follow suit. The availability to create an automated sportsbook that would help to eliminate over head costs while being able to handle more transactions made online sportsbooks a profitable hit for both consumers and producers. Ref: http://www.cooperspick.com/fullarticle.asp?566Sportsbook