With gambling becoming legalized throughout the nation, my bookie friends are worried that their business is in trouble. I don’t think that could be any further from the truth. The bookie has a business model that works, because the bookie works on credit. Unless you are an ultra-high roller, the casinos are not likely to grant you credit.
Most gamblers that I know, love the action, but simply betting on one game per Saturday or Sunday isn’t enough. If you are a degenerate gambler like me, you want action on a lot of games and that means a lot of credit.
On a typical college football Saturday, for example, if I bet between $50 and $100 per game, and I make three to five bets on the noon games, I won’t have results of my games before I want to bet the 3:30 games. If I bet three to five of those, I now have roughly $1000 in unsettled bets. Most of us don’t have that kind of cash laying around and (ahem) typically don’t want other people in the house to know exactly how much we bet!
Most bookies settle once a week, when the gambler has won, or more than likely, lost a set amount. Some of us can play the whole season and never get to the payout amount. So, I say to the bookie, “Don’t Go Anywhere! We need you!”
