Puppet Master Lock on Industry Monopoly Seems to be Fading: Sports Line Services
Christopher Costigan, Sports911.com
Offshore gambling has always had its share of mini monopolies. NETeller comes to mind as the premiere alternative payment solutions company now that PayPal has bailed from the industry. But NETeller's reign has more to do with the incompetence of its competition than anything else.
When it comes to sports line services, nobody can deny the monopolistic stranglehold that Las Vegas based Don Best has on both players and sportsbooks. The winds of change are blowing now and 2004 looks like an opportune year for many to wise up, question is will they?
Dana Carbo, owner of Don Best Line Feed, has always demanded that the bookmakers who appear on his service do so exclusively, meaning he will remove them from the feed and deprive the book of a professional player base willing to pay $500 a month monitoring valuable line moves. Dana, a lawyer by trade, sits on his throne in a million dollar glass palace overseeing an empire. All the betting syndicates play at books listed on the Don Best Feed and none of these gamblers are supposed to be denied action.
Carbo's power over the industry came into light when he arranged a gathering of member books in Costa Rica during the summer of 1999. It was there that he laid down the law and ordered all of his books to feature a 20 cent baseball line. Skybook, then located in Margarita Island and owned by the same folks who later brought us "stiff" book New Age Bets, refused to go along with the new ruling. Carbo eventually cut this pivotal book off the screen just as he would snip the string from a Muppet and only after players complained was he forced to bring them back on.
But Skybook still admitted they suffered over the few weeks away from Don Best.
Other Don Best Sports Line Service books realize the ramifications of disobeying Dana Carbo. Pinnacle Sports and Hollywood were recently ordered to come down off the up and coming G&J Update Sports Line Service feed.
Ironically, it is Skybook, now under new and improved management since 2000, that has decided to lead the way and join G&J. Over the past several months, Skybook has actively sought new marketing venues that target a recreational player base. G&J are an obvious choice and other Don Best books are expected to follow suit.
"G&J offers the best product we've seen outside of Don Best," said one bookmaker who wished to remain anonymous. "They've made some great improvements and all we can do is wish them the best but all the books (stages) have the Don Best screen up and these are the only moves that matter to us and these players help balance out our book. They won't play with us if we come off the screen."
Don Best usually offers real time line movements as opposed to the delayed feeds that appear over the internet, deemed useless by most professional bettors. Make no mistake about it, this is still a superior product but other companies like G&J Update are certainly making gradual inroads.
"He (Dana) has us by the balls and knows there is nothing we can do. If Dana says 'Jump' we will all jump. That's just the way it is."
It is truly sad to see that good companies continue to work under an oppressive communist system. The time has come to take a stand and that time is now.
http://www.gambling911.com/Sports-Line-Services.html
Christopher Costigan, Sports911.com
Offshore gambling has always had its share of mini monopolies. NETeller comes to mind as the premiere alternative payment solutions company now that PayPal has bailed from the industry. But NETeller's reign has more to do with the incompetence of its competition than anything else.
When it comes to sports line services, nobody can deny the monopolistic stranglehold that Las Vegas based Don Best has on both players and sportsbooks. The winds of change are blowing now and 2004 looks like an opportune year for many to wise up, question is will they?
Dana Carbo, owner of Don Best Line Feed, has always demanded that the bookmakers who appear on his service do so exclusively, meaning he will remove them from the feed and deprive the book of a professional player base willing to pay $500 a month monitoring valuable line moves. Dana, a lawyer by trade, sits on his throne in a million dollar glass palace overseeing an empire. All the betting syndicates play at books listed on the Don Best Feed and none of these gamblers are supposed to be denied action.
Carbo's power over the industry came into light when he arranged a gathering of member books in Costa Rica during the summer of 1999. It was there that he laid down the law and ordered all of his books to feature a 20 cent baseball line. Skybook, then located in Margarita Island and owned by the same folks who later brought us "stiff" book New Age Bets, refused to go along with the new ruling. Carbo eventually cut this pivotal book off the screen just as he would snip the string from a Muppet and only after players complained was he forced to bring them back on.
But Skybook still admitted they suffered over the few weeks away from Don Best.
Other Don Best Sports Line Service books realize the ramifications of disobeying Dana Carbo. Pinnacle Sports and Hollywood were recently ordered to come down off the up and coming G&J Update Sports Line Service feed.
Ironically, it is Skybook, now under new and improved management since 2000, that has decided to lead the way and join G&J. Over the past several months, Skybook has actively sought new marketing venues that target a recreational player base. G&J are an obvious choice and other Don Best books are expected to follow suit.
"G&J offers the best product we've seen outside of Don Best," said one bookmaker who wished to remain anonymous. "They've made some great improvements and all we can do is wish them the best but all the books (stages) have the Don Best screen up and these are the only moves that matter to us and these players help balance out our book. They won't play with us if we come off the screen."
Don Best usually offers real time line movements as opposed to the delayed feeds that appear over the internet, deemed useless by most professional bettors. Make no mistake about it, this is still a superior product but other companies like G&J Update are certainly making gradual inroads.
"He (Dana) has us by the balls and knows there is nothing we can do. If Dana says 'Jump' we will all jump. That's just the way it is."
It is truly sad to see that good companies continue to work under an oppressive communist system. The time has come to take a stand and that time is now.
http://www.gambling911.com/Sports-Line-Services.html
