In the United States a
sportsbook (sometimes abbreviated as book) or a
race and sports book is a place where a
gamblerGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period....
can wager on various sports competitions, including
golfGolf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players , using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area...
,
footballFootball is the name of several similar team sports, all of which involve kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...
,
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
,
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
,
hockeyHockey is any of a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball, or a hard, round, rubber or heavy plastic disc called a puck, into the opponent's net or goal, using a hockey stick.-Field hockey:...
, soccer,
horse racingHorse racing is an equestrian sport that has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times are an early example, as is the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. It is inextricably associated with gambling...
,
boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
, and
mixed martial artsMixed martial arts is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques, from a mixture of martial arts traditions and non-traditions, to be used in competitions. The rules allow the use of striking and grappling techniques, both while standing and on the ground...
. The method of betting varies with the sport and the type of game. There are roughly 150 licensed sportsbooks in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, all located in
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
casinoA casino is a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions...
s, as such operations are illegal in the other 49 states.
In the United States a
sportsbook (sometimes abbreviated as book) or a
race and sports book is a place where a
gamblerGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period....
can wager on various sports competitions, including
golfGolf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players , using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area...
,
footballFootball is the name of several similar team sports, all of which involve kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...
,
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
,
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
,
hockeyHockey is any of a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball, or a hard, round, rubber or heavy plastic disc called a puck, into the opponent's net or goal, using a hockey stick.-Field hockey:...
, soccer,
horse racingHorse racing is an equestrian sport that has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times are an early example, as is the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. It is inextricably associated with gambling...
,
boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
, and
mixed martial artsMixed martial arts is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques, from a mixture of martial arts traditions and non-traditions, to be used in competitions. The rules allow the use of striking and grappling techniques, both while standing and on the ground...
. The method of betting varies with the sport and the type of game. There are roughly 150 licensed sportsbooks in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, all located in
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
casinoA casino is a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions...
s, as such operations are illegal in the other 49 states. Sports betting is fully legal in many countries: for general coverage of the topic see
sports bettingSports betting is the general activity of predicting sports results by making a wager on the outcome of a sporting event. Perhaps more so than other forms of gambling, the legality and general acceptance of sports betting varies from nation to nation...
. In English-speaking countries other than the United States terms such as betting shop or
bookmakerA bookmaker, or bookie, is an organization or a person that takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed upon odds.- Range of events :...
s are used rather than sportsbook. This article is restricted to sportsbooks in the United States and the impact of internet sports betting on the U.S. market.
Winning bets are paid when the event finishes, or if not finished, when played long enough to become official; otherwise all bets are returned. This policy can cause some confusion since there can be a difference between what the sportsbook considers official and what the sports league consider official. Customers should carefully read the sportsbook rules before placing their bets.
The betting volume at sportsbooks varies throughout the year. Bettors have more interest in certain types of sports and increase the money wagered when those sports are in season. Some major sporting events that don't follow a specific schedule, like boxing, can create peaks of activity for the sportsbooks.
Word origin
A sportsbook is a portmanteau, combining two words into one word with a new meaning: a
sports gamblingSports betting is the general activity of predicting sports results by making a wager on the outcome of a sporting event. Perhaps more so than other forms of gambling, the legality and general acceptance of sports betting varies from nation to nation...
operation. In this case "sports" and "book" which is short for bookmaking.
Odds
In the mid 1930s, Leo Hirschfield started a company in
MinneapolisMinneapolis is the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Hennepin County. The city lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, the state's capital. Known as the Twin Cities,...
,
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
called Athletic Publications, Inc., that published and distributed odds to bookies across the country by telephone and telegraph. He had a team of handicappers analyzing the matchups who also studied newspapers across the country. The company was a major provider of odds and prices until it finally disbanded, under fear of prosecution from the
Federal Wire ActThe Interstate Wire Act of 1961, often called the Federal Wire Act, is a United States federal law prohibiting the operation of certain types of betting businesses in the United States. It begins with the text:...
of 1961.
Today most sportsbooks get their opening prices from other sportsbooks as well as private companies like Las Vegas Sports Consultants. They adjust prices based on the bets coming in, news, injury, and weather information, and the price movement by other sportsbooks.
Nevada sportsbooks
Today there are roughly 150 licensed sportsbooks in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, all located in
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
casinoA casino is a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions...
s. Now that many casinos share the same parent company, they offer the exact same wagering choices and
oddsIn probability theory and statistics the odds in favor of an event or a proposition are the quantity , where p is the probability of the event or proposition. The odds against the same event are...
, which is a disadvantage to the astute gambler who in the past could do more shopping for better prices.
In the 1950s the first Nevada sportsbooks, called Turf Clubs, opened. They were independent from the casinos, and had an informal agreement with the hotels that they would stay out of the casino business as long as the hotels stayed out of the sportsbook business. The sportsbooks had to pay a 10 percent tax so they charged a high
vigorishVigorish, or simply the vig, also known as juice or the take, is the amount charged by a bookmaker, or bookie, for his services. In the United States it also means the interest on a shark's loan. The term is Yiddish slang originating from the Russian word for winnings, vyigrysh...
to gamblers, but they still brought in a lot of business.
In 1974 the tax was lowered to 2 percent, (it was lowered to 0.25 percent in 1983), and in 1975
Frank RosenthalFrank Lawrence "Lefty" Rosenthal was an American sports handicapper and a former Las Vegas casino executive. He also hosted a television talk show in Las Vegas during the late 1970s....
, who ran the
Stardust CasinoThe Stardust Resort & Casino was a casino resort located on along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada.Most of the casino complex was built in 1991, and its March 13, 2007 demolition marked the youngest undamaged high-rise building to ever be demolished. The Stardust officially closed at...
, convinced legislators to allow them in the casinos, and soon nearly all of the casinos added them. The turf clubs were no longer able to compete and eventually all closed.
At Nevada casino sportsbooks you will find:
- Betting windows
- Big screen television
Television is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
s
- Places to sit and watch games & races
- Interactive betting stations
- Odds boards, usually computerized
- Papers with different odds for the day
Sports betting on the internet
While internet sportsbooks lack face-to-face transactions, they can handle more customers than physical sportsbook shops and operate more cost effectively. They pass lower costs on to customers in the form of reduced
vigorishVigorish, or simply the vig, also known as juice or the take, is the amount charged by a bookmaker, or bookie, for his services. In the United States it also means the interest on a shark's loan. The term is Yiddish slang originating from the Russian word for winnings, vyigrysh...
(cheaper prices) or bonus incentives. They can also offer similar products, such as casino games, bingo, and poker to their existing clients.
While Internet sportsbooks take bets online, normally they are licensed in some jurisdiction. Taxation and regulation vary greatly by country.
Internet sportsbooks range from fraudulent operations with no intention of paying their customers to multi-billion dollar publicly traded companies. Furthermore, many internet sites have been reported for questionable customer service practices and withholding money from customers. Internet sportsbooks range in focus, as some primarily cater to American sports, while others focus on European soccer. Some sportsbooks handle large wagers while others have low wagering limits. Some offer many exotic proposition wagers, where others have limited choices. Payment methods are not universally accepted at all sportsbooks.
Costa RicaCosta Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", constitutionally...
is home to a large number of offshore sportsbooks, as it caters to many of the needs of the industry with an open regulatory environment and a large, capable workforce. A number of sportsbooks are also located in
Isle of ManThe Isle of Man , or Mann , is a self-governing British Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Britain and Ireland. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Crown is represented by a Lieutenant Governor...
,
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
,
GibraltarGibraltar is a self-governing British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula and Europe at the entrance of the Mediterranean overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. The territory covers and shares a land border with Spain to the north...
,
AntiguaAntigua is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after a church in Spain, Santa Maria La Antigua — St. Mary the Ancient...
,
CuraçaoCuraçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The island area of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is one of five island areas of the Netherlands...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
,
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
and many other countries around the world.
The United States Justice Department claims that wagering at offshore sportsbooks is a violation of the 1961 Federal Wire Act. Jeffrey Trauman of Harwood,
North DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America; on the Canadian border halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the U.S.; it is the 3
rd least populous, with just over 641,481 residents as...
, was the first player ever to be prosecuted for online sports betting in the United States. The former car salesman, who quit his job to become a professional gambler, was cited under a North Dakota state law.
In separate incidents in 2006, two executives of internet-based sportsbooks were arrested in the United States. On July 16, 2006
David CarruthersDavid Carruthers was the CEO and a board member of online gambling company BETonSPORTS plc. He served as CEO from July 2000 until July 24, 2006. He was arrested in the United States on July 16, 2006 on charges related to his role as CEO of that company and is currently under house arrest at a...
of
BetonSportsBetonSports plc is a British online gambling company founded by Gary Kaplan in 1995. The company was one of the biggest players in the United States online gaming market, drawing in several billion US dollars in wagers in the early 2000s...
was arrested at
Dallas-Fort Worth International AirportDallas/Fort Worth International Airport is located between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, and is the busiest airport in the U.S. state of Texas....
in
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
while changing planes. On September 7 of that same year,
Peter DicksPeter F. Dicks is a London-based investment manager and venture capitalist. He was the co-founder of Abingworth plc, one of the earlier venture capital funds in Europe. He is also the former chairman of Sportingbet PLC, one of the world's largest sportsbooks.Early in his career, Dicks was a...
of
Sportingbet PlcSportingbet plc is a British e-gaming operator traded on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market founded by Mark Blandford. As of late September 2006, Sportingbet had a market capitalization in excess of UK£ 750m...
was detained in similar fashion at
John F. Kennedy International AirportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in Queens County, New York in southeastern New York City about 12 miles from Lower Manhattan...
. Both men await separate charges on gambling-related offenses.
See also
- Sports betting
Sports betting is the general activity of predicting sports results by making a wager on the outcome of a sporting event. Perhaps more so than other forms of gambling, the legality and general acceptance of sports betting varies from nation to nation...
- Betting exchanges
- Bookmaker
A bookmaker, or bookie, is an organization or a person that takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed upon odds.- Range of events :...
- Point spread
- Point shaving
In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to prevent a team from covering a published point spread. Unlike other forms of match fixing, sports betting invariably motivates point shaving. A point shaving scheme generally involves a sports gambler and one...