New books and big bonuses.....

PatrickMcIrish · Jul 27, 2003

... are not a good combination. I know some will scream we are just trying to get established but there is other ways to do so. Hard for me to believe a brand new book wants to give away 30/35/40% bonuses to play there. If you have decent money behind you no one wants to give away so much of the store. If you are primarily relying on the post up money than you need to come up with something to catch a players eye. A 40% bonus will do just that. Instead of seeing $$$ signs as a customer you need to think outside the box. Why would a book be so generous to get my cash?

Fact is some books starting up are severely underfunded. They think with football we can get some post up money and win for several weeks and should be fine. The bad thing is there no guarantees, books get beat up on a a weekly basis all the time. When that happens and there is not adequate funding in place you are out of your money. Some shops may have the best intentions when they open and think they will be okay but it makes little difference to the player left holding the bag.

If something looks to good to be true it usually is. Don't get greedy, stick with established books. Hard enough to win as it is without taking a few lay downs from the books you are playing at. Good luck this year and let's make them work to get our money the old fashion way, make them earn it. 'Nuff said.

Dante · Jul 27, 2003

I agree 100%.

I think it takes a book a few seasons to determine what bonus they can give out to entice new clientle and not have issues paying people who happen to cash in on them

HateTheRiverCard · Jul 27, 2003

Lurker for a while and registered today before heading to Tampa Downs for some simulcast action. Mr. McIrish I could not agree with you more on this topic. Over the next few weeks new books will probably pop up all over with offers of large bonuses to entice bettors, in fact I read a posting about one here a few days ago with good and bad comments about the individuals involved, unfortunately there was no mention of the financial backing or bankroll of that book. I believe that any new book coming into the market must be viewed as a risking investment when deciding where to send your hard earned money, even if the guys running it are great it still doesn't guarantee a payout if the book is strapped for cash. Personally If given the choice I would choose a book with poor customer service that pays everytime then one that has excellent CS but may end up slow or no paying you.

There will always be individuals that are attracted to books offering big bonuses, and if they feel comfortable enough to send there cash then so be it and Good Luck, but something tells me that 4 or 5 weeks into the season if Favorites and the Overs are hitting in the NFL (which I believe a big percentage of the public tend to gravitate towards) then some books are going to start running into cash problems and we will become inendated with threads like...

I AM GETTING STIFFED BY ^$%&$&* SPORTSBOOK

It is bound to happen with at least one of these new guys, I remember a time when your only concern was if you local was going to answer the phone when it was time to collect, bonuses were never an issue, but now they have the ability to cloud an intelligent persons perception.

Protect your money and play with an established book.

The Guesser · Jul 27, 2003

Couldn't agree more. The 0nly way a larger than average % Bonus is OK for a new Book and wouldn't scare me off, is it is limited to a low $$$ amount. If you see a new Book offerring a large, uncapped $$$ amount, % bonus, best thing is keep on walkin.

Dante · Jul 27, 2003

welcome to the RX hatetherivercard good luck to you

BigRagu · Jul 27, 2003

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Patrick McIrish:
I know some will scream we are just trying to get established but there is other ways to do so.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Rome wasn't built in a day, build a customer base gradually with fast payouts and excellent customer service being your selling points. If you do so, word will get around just as fast as it would if the opposite happens.

Ragu

seawave · Jul 27, 2003

I would say that whether a new book is well funded and whether they offer a big initial bonus may not be correlated.
Lets imagine a new book is starting up.

Case 1. Suppose the book is well funded and would like to get enough wager volume fast. The manager may think "lets give a larger % bonus to show that we have enough capital".

Case 2. Suppose the book is under funded or an outright fraud. The crook may think "lets hang out a big % bonus to get enough post up money fast and then....."

One of the benefit of this forum is to share information so that we can guess which case it is.

PatrickMcIrish · Jul 28, 2003

Sea - I agree for the most part but why not spend some money advertising at places if you have deep pockets. I believe the return is much better than giving away a big chunk of money to each poster you get. I just don't think books with deep pockets throw out huge bonuses like that unless they need a bankroll infussion. There are probably some cases where they have plenty of capital but unfortunately these days you are better off assuming the worst and working backwards.

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

Amitightornot · Jul 28, 2003

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Fact is some books starting up are severely underfunded. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
What are you talking about?
They should not be in this business!