My pal insists on being a sports bookie!?

Question

should he do it? id like bookies or ex bookies opinions,thanks!

Answer 1

Probably not.

I bet on sports for a living and I'm very good friends with a bookie. It isn't hard work although it is illegal. He makes about $120-140k/year tax free. That being said he is smart about it. He has ties to organized crime which allows him to operate without getting in trouble, those also ensure he gets paid and most importantly he lays off all uneven action so to a bigger bookie so he has no actual financial risk.

That being said your buddy probably does not have any of these options. When he starts out he'll have a lot of uneven action as he'll have a small client base but he probably does not have the contacts to lay off. Likewise he probably won't have the ability to enforce payment from the deadbeats. There is also the issue that he will get in trouble for running a book not only from the police but also from organized crime. It is fine to do it on a small scale (and thus not make any real money) but as soon as he gets a good client base he'll get in trouble.

Being a bookie is fine if your friend is already going to be involved with organized crime but stand alone bookies rarely last long and it never ends well. I've broken two of these smaller bookies already. One still owes me $12k the other $59K and that was after they had to sell everything they own. If you can't lay off uneven action it is only a matter of time before someone takes out the bookie.

Answer 2

I am not a bookie, but I do get involved with football betting, since I run a site offering free football picks.

I have know a few bookies in the past, and a few of them did very well at it, and a few of them got busted and went to jail.

In the US, sports bookies in Las Vagas are legal, although there are some license requirements. If this is the type of sports bookie he wants to be, then it is highly competitive, he will need an edge or a gimmick.

Good luck to him