Online Gambling End of an Era: BetCRIS.com, BetGrande Coming Off Don Best

BetCRIS.com and BetGrande.com were going off the Don Best line screen effective just past 4 pm Monday, ending an era where Don Best had monopolized the online sports betting realm.

Both BetCRIS and BetGrande had begun discussing the departure from Don Best last year.  Both will be moving to LineTracker, a publicly traded lines feed that was once owned by sports handicapper, Jim Feist.

"We are simply making a change.  Old loyalties have gone by the wayside," Mickey Richardson, CEO of BetCRIS.com, told Gambling911.com exclusively. 

Most of the online sports betting businesses operating offshore follow the BetCRIS.com and BetGrande lines.  The two are the oldest established North American-facing bookmakers operating online today.

At one time Don Best dominated the lines feed market.  Every bookmaker tracked the Don Best lines, which often helped to highlight "sharp" action. 

"LineTracker has the same if not more number of (sports) books as Don Best," said Richardson.  "They don't have the Vegas books though but in another month or so LineTracker will surpass Don Best by a mile."

Richardson could not predict how many other companies would follow his and BetGrande's move, though he suggested others might in the not-so-distant future. 

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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com

Originally published July 30, 2007 4:05 pm ET