Due to Covid-19 shutdowns this year, Zoom or Skype meetings are all the rage. Some businesses have even told their employees that after they lift pandemic restrictions, they won’t return to their employment place.
Companies have discovered that they can cut costs by not paying for brick and mortar establishments and parking.
The stay-at-home trend has also led to independent contractors and even employed individuals looking to start businesses from their homes. Although this explosion in stay-at-home companies won’t end any time soon, most entrepreneurs remain unaware of one of the most lucrative at-home opportunities, the online sportsbook.
Three ways to start a sports betting company
Most everyone has heard the term “bookie.” A bookie, or bookmaker, offers betting services.
No matter the term, bookmakers provide services where customers can make wagers on casino or sports events. Many sportsbooks also have a racebook. Horse racing books are where players, the name for bettors, can wager on horse races.
Technology has allowed anyone to run a sportsbook. Also, bookmaking has become mainstream—sports information companies like ESPN re even publishing betting lines.
Please keep reading to discover the three ways a person can create and run their sportsbook online.
1. Go “old school,” pen & paper, or excel
Long-time local bookies used rotary phones, pens or pencils, and paper. If you want to go way back, betting parlors had people at phones.
Most bookies are now attached to excel sheets. It’s an updated version of the pen and paper method. A player calls in the wager or texts the stake.
The bookmaker heads to his or her excel sheet, records the wager and then changes the odds if necessary, but beware, if you want to do this method you’ll need to have a very thorough understanding of the mathematics behind betting odds to make the money you should.
After the game ends, the excel bookie calls the players back to make settlement arrangements. Most settle arrangements happen in person.
2. Become an affiliate with a large sports book
One of the most significant drawbacks of running a bookmaking business on excel is knowing when to change, or even how to create, wagering odds.
There’s an art to oddsmaking. Bookmakers must read up on individual teams and players to get an idea of what might happen in upcoming seasons and games.
It’s always a good idea to let experts be experts, which is why many bookies become affiliates with established, online, sportsbook organizations. Affiliates use the betting company’s odds, banners, etc.
It sounds excellent and easy, but there can be significant drawbacks. The biggest drawback is that once a bookie becomes an affiliate, they have exposed their clients’ information to the larger company.
Affiliates also, like the McDonald’s franchise owner, adhere to the umbrella organization’s rules regarding image and name usage.
Affiliates say to bookies, “Yes, it’s your company, but it’s not your company.”
3. Sign-up with a bookie software company
Of the three ways to become an online bookie, the one that makes the most sense is for people to join forces with entrenched bookie software services organizations.
Companies that offer pay per head sportsbook software provide everything a person requires to create an online bookmaking sportsbook. The software includes a betting interface with up to date odds.
There is also a back-end interface. Sportsbook owners can manage their players, increase betting limits, decrease betting limits, and open up casino wagering and horse betting.
Some pay per head service providers such as Pay Per Head offer payment solutions that allow bookie agents to make online payouts and player deposits.
Bookies and players must never meet, which is a massive plus in the social distancing age.
The main drawback of signing-up with a bookie services organization? Nothing is free, and bookmakers must pay a monthly fee to use the software.
Companies that offer pph sportsbook software charge a fee for each of a bookmaker’s customers.
The best software costs at least $13 per head. A bookie that offers wagering services to ten players must pay $130 per month to the software company.
If the math works, it makes sense for bookies to use companies that offer top-notch software. Bookies can run into issues if they decide to go with a company that hasn’t established their software.
Choosing the right software, no matter what it’s for, requires due diligence. Fly by night software pay per head outfits exist in the sportsbook industry like they do in any industry.
Once a person discovers the sportsbook pph company they want to sign-up with, they’ll be on their way to creating their online sportsbook enterprise.