Sports Betting
Online Sports Betting in the US: A general Overview
With the recent explosion of the home computer industry and the subsequent
exponential growth of the internet it was inevitable that these two events would give birth to the growth of online
sports betting in the United States. Prior to the introduction of betting on sporting events via online, the only
state where the activity was legal was Nevada.
If a patron wanted to bet on the outcome of a sporting event then they were forced to
seek an illegal (and often unreliable) avenue and find a ‘bookie’. A bookie is an individual that would ‘make
book’, that is take a bet, on a sporting event at various odds. Since making book is considered illegal the bookie
is free to set odds and collect payments in any manner that they wish. This led to the criminalization of the
profession.
While it is still illegal to place bets on sporting events in 49 states, the
advent of internet gambling uses a technical loophole to skirt the law. All such sites are based out of the
contiguous United States (and their territories), thus placing them out of the country’s jurisdiction. Online
betting has widened the scope both in the type of bettors and the number of events available to bet on.
With online betting a person has a wide variety of events on which to wager.
Everything from horseracing to pro and amateur sports betting can be
found somewhere on the internet. Every type of bettor is catered to from ‘squares’ to ‘sharps’. A square refers to
an amateur or casual bettor. Someone who is simply dabbling in betting and usually has set small limits on their
betting. ‘Sharps’ is a term that refers to professional gamblers who will often wager large amounts of money on one
or more sporting events (often simultaneously).
There are online betting sites that will cater more towards sharps. These sites offer
higher (or sometimes no) betting limits, higher moneylines (odds) and a lower vigorish or simply known as the ‘vig’
(the fee charged by the person taking the bet). These sites make their money on losing bets and sometimes charge
fees for withdrawing a bet or making a minimum bet.
Sites that cater to ‘squares’ will generally set lower limits and even offer signup
bonuses to their patrons. The also tend to charge a higher ‘vig’ (11-10) and will set lower moneylines.
Squares tend to bet on only the major professional sporting events: football,
basketball, hockey and baseball, while sharps will place wagers on more ‘exotic’ events such as college basketball
and football.
Sports books in Nevada conducted over 6 billion dollars worth of wagers in 2006.
Online bets for the same period were 27 billion, almost 5 times that of traditional wagers. It is estimated that by
2015 the figure will be almost 127 billion online bets placed on various sporting events in the United States.
Even with the recent scandals involving sporting figures and referees (e.g. the
latest in professional basketball) there seems to be no damping of the desire of individuals to wager on the
outcome of sporting events. The ability to do so online has only increase the opportunity to do so.
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