A bookie is someone who accepts wagers on various sporting events, where a player bets on a specific team to win, or for a specific team to win against the spread. An example of a wager against the spread is if a player picks the Dallas Cowboys at -6.5 against the New York Giants, this means that if a player bets the Cowboys -6.5, then the Cowboys need to win the game by 7 or more points for the player to win the wager, if not then the bookie is the one that earns the money for booking this wager.
On each wager made there is also a vigorish, vig, or juice that is charged for each wager. Generally, the vig is 10% or for example, a player making a bet to win $100, will cost him $110 to make that wager. The juice does change, along with the betting line on the game, so depending on how much is actually bet and what the vig is for that specific line, will determine the full amount of money that is risked and then won on that line.
The amount of money that a bookie makes per bet, is definitely going to vary because it will depend on what the vig is for that wager, which is often -110 or 10% plus the amount that is risked for that specific wager. Some players bet $50 on a game, and others may bet $2,000 on a game, so the amount that a bookie makes per bet will be determined by vig, and the total amount risked on that bet, which will vary per player and per bet.
For example, though, a player that makes a $50 bet at -110 will end up risking $55 to make that wager, and if that wagers loses then the bookie will make the full $55 on that wager. If another player bets $2,000 on a game at -110, then he will risk a total of $2,200 to make that wager, and if it loses then the bookie will collect the full $2,200.
Sometimes players win wagers, and when that happens the bookie does not make money but instead has to pay out the winning amount to the player. So for a player that risks $55 to win $50 on a wager that wins, the bookie will need to pay the player just the winning amount which is $50.
Over the long term all players lose, and because of the vig, each time a player loses they will lose more than if they would have won the wager. So this 10% vig helps the bookie earn even more money as the overall volume of bets increases. The more bets players end up making, then the more money the bookie will end up earning in the long term.
So the simple and basic way to earn more money as a bookie is to just have more players that bet more frequently each week, which will lead to even more overall profits. The best way to be a successful local bookie is to get set up with one of the top-rated pay-per-head companies, which will provide you with an all-inclusive sportsbook website with thousands of betting options, that have odds updated up to the second for your players to make their bets.
So if you want to start making money as a bookie for taking bets, get set up with a pay per head provider today.
