How to Choose An Online Sportbook

The number of Internet sportbooks continues to grow at a hard-to-believe rate and not all of them are trustworthy. There is evidence that some were never meant to be legitimate in the first place. Nothing could be more depressing than beating the bookmaker only to get stiffed, unable to collect your winnings, or to even get back your original investment. Until our United States Government allows our own American casino companies to do business on the internet, the watchword is 'caution.'

Of course, there are plenty of internet sportbooks properly licensed and legitimate with no need to be otherwise. After all, they are in a very lucrative business. But even if you're considering doing business with a solid company, they may be overcharging on their commissions or fees. Here are a few simple guidelines to help you find reputable on-line sportbooks, along with a list of sportbooks in which we have confidence.

First of all, be wary of believing what you read on internet message boards and/or forums. Most of those websites are supported by advertising from sportbooks. The forum owner's revenue usually comes from sharing gamblers' losses. That's how the sportbook pays for advertising on the website. Here's how it works: When a gambler clicks through to a sportbook from a forum website, the owner of the forum receives a percentage of that gamblers' losses; - sometimes as much as 30 percent. It is most often in the forum owner's best interest for you to lose.

Furthermore, contributors to message boards and forums are not always what they seem. The forum owner himself can often 'contribute' to discussions under assumed names, pretending to be a legitimate contributor, wanting to cause controversy in order to increase his 'hits.' In other cases, sportbook managers sometimes contribute while masquerading as expert sports bettors. By doing so, they can promote their own book while at the same time doling out erroneous advice, such as advising people to use progressive betting schemes. In any case, if the website is supported by advertisements from sportbooks, do not trust the website to perform in your best interest.

Before I wised up to forums, I once spent considerable time on one trying to explain why winners actually pay vigorish, - not losers. It was only after several give-and-take messages that I realized I was not arguing with 'real' gamblers at all. I was arguing with at least three shills employed by sportbooks, if not the sportbook managers themselves. (In all casino games, including sports betting, vigorish is collected by shorting the winnings paid to winning bettors. Consider this: If you and I bet $100 with each other on opposite sides of a bet, and we did not use a bookmaker, the winner would walk away with $200. The loser would, of course, lose whatever he risked; - after all, he lost the bet. If we used a bookmaker, however, the winner would walk away with less than $200...The winner paid the vigorish. See our article, A Crash Course In Vigorish.)

Most importantly, be very sure a sportbook is licensed and tightly regulated by a trustworthy government, such as Australia, England, the Netherlands, or any European entity. Also check to see if it has a 'Seal of Approval' from the Interactive Gaming Council. Many Internet sportbooks are popping up in assorted Caribbean countries, but not all those countries have adequate oversight or regulation. We understand that Antiqua's rules have recently been dramatically tightened, and that's good, whereas Costa Rica has virtually no laws concerning the regulation of Internet gaming. At the time of this writing we recommend staying away from Costa Rican sportbooks, but we tend to trust Antiguan sportbooks.

Find out who owns the company. Is it a public company, such as Canbet in Australia, or is it privately owned by some fellow you've never heard of who's been known to have problems with the law, such as English Sports Betting?

It is obvious you should forget sending money to a sportbook that does not have a telephone number clearly displayed on their website. Make sure you can talk to 'live' human beings if you have questions. Eric Morris, publisher of Gambling Online Magazine, recommends staying away from sites that do not advertise in several different publications and newspapers. Don't rely solely on those 'click-through' banners that you'll find throughout the Internet. Those banner ads are most often posted at no cost to the sportbook, along with the promise to pay the website host a percentage of your losses. We at ProfessionalGambler.com have had offers as high as 30% of your losses to post a sportbook's banner. We consider such arrangements a clear conflict of interest on our part, and you will find no such ads here. In fact, we accept NO revenues from any sportbooks. We recommend being suspicious of any website with click-through banners, especially those websites selling picks, claiming to help you win, but at the same time getting paid by the sportbook if you lose.

One of the best on-line sportbooks is World Sports Exchange. It is based in Antigua and has been in operation since 1996. The head man is Steve Schillinger. The limit on football bets is $20,000 per bet, and some high rollers bet as many as 5 times on a single game.

"Business for us is very good," Schillinger is quoted as saying. "We increase about 50 percent in volume every year."

Gaming companies based in the United States obviously want part of the action. Internet gaming is quickly dwarfing the total handle in places like Las Vegas. Companies such as MGM Mirage and Park Place Entertainment are chomping at the bit to 're-educate' our legislators and wake them up to the lost tax revenues currently going to foreign countries. It is ironic that the United States is the only Western country where gambling has been prohibited. In the old Soviet Union, even during the darkest days of communism, there were casinos in all the major cities. Gambling has always been legal in England, Germany, France, and more or less throughout Europe and the Far East.

We trust these online sportbooks:

www.planetpinnacle.com (Pinnacle Sports)

www.canbet.com (Canbet Sports)

www.wsex.com (World Sports Exchange)

http://www.bowmans.com (Bowman's International)

Of course, those are not the only trustworthy sportbooks on the Internet, and because we trust the above sportbooks does not mean they always offer the best prices. Be sure to shop for the best lines. In 2001, Bowman's and Wagerstreet (above) used 20-cent baseball lines. That is unacceptable. Twenty-cent baseball lines are strictly for suckers and beginners. Ten-cent baseball lines have been a fact of life in Las Vegas for many years, and sportbooks with dime lines are doing just fine, thank you, even though they have much higher overhead expenses in Las Vegas than sportbooks on the Internet. Do not play baseball into 20-cent lines; - if you're doing so, you are being over-charged (and probably laughed at). Of those 5 sportbooks listed above, we have found Pinnacle consistently charges less vigorish than all the rest. Canbet is also cheaper than most in some cases, but beware of Canbet's over-priced money lines.

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