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Ah yes, Super Bowl week… my favorite time of the year to be involved in the sports betting industry, but it wasn’t always that way.
Back when I was a local bookie in Philadelphia a couple decades ago, I used to absolutely loathe this week. Sure the action was good but every Tom, Dick and Harry would come out of the woodwork looking to place a wager on Super Bowl Sunday.
All of my clients had numerous friends that wanted to come in for this one game and make a bet. Now don’t get me wrong, referrals are always wonderful. But taking one bet from one guy you’ve never met wasn’t always worth the risk.
Also, considering I myself am a football junkie, I hated the fact that I couldn’t just sit there and watch the pregame hype and game itself in semi-peace. Yea I know this is the profession I chose; I should have expected to be answering my phone non-stop throughout the weekend leading up to the game.
“Hey Mikey, my roommate’s- cousin’s-uncle’s-pizza delivery guy wants to place a bet on the Super Bowl. Will you take his action?”
Non-stop, all week. Then came the game itself. Phone ringing off the hook with my players wanting to know if the line changed, over and over again.
Booking the action wasn’t much fun either. Considering that the action was rarely 50-50, I just about always had a huge decision come game day. This of course made it stressful not only taking the sports bets but changing the betting odds themselves. Too late on a line move because I’m taking a $25 bet from some college kid and suddenly I get pounced on by a wise-guy.
But how the times have changed, thanks to Al Gore and his invention of the internet.
When I first discovered bookmaking outsourcing years back, I cried tears of joy. What an ingenious product – I direct my players to an offshore bookmaking joint where they sit and take my players bets, move the lines, and deal with the non-stop “what’s the spread” questions. I can finally watch the Super Bowl and every other sporting event in peace!
Of course, I still had plenty of potential players hitting me up all week, but now I had the time to properly screen these guys to see if they were worth my time. I also had time to go out and recruit since I wasn’t sitting next to the phone all day.
Fast-forward a few years and now I’m the man in charge at payperhead.com. Now I’m dealing with the very pay per head agents on a daily basis. I know exactly what they are going through, especially this time of year.
I explain to them what a ‘no brainer’ it is to use a outsource bookmaking joint like mine. Thanks to the thousands of bets we see, we’ll move the lines and make them the sharpest, thus limiting the bookies exposure and increasing the profits for all involved. Win-win for everyone.
