Depends on a lot of factors, experienced "real" linemakers make good money, some make excellent money. On the other hand screen watchers who just move numbers (cloning) are not so well paid. There is a group of top linemakers that are not part owners, who earn between $1200 and $2500 a week. Throw in XMas, and Super Bowl bonuses and the very top guys make a lot of money. The second level linemakers earn from a nickel to a dime a week with a decent bonus. Today there are also "locals" offshore who haved learned to move numbers, they are the lowest paid linemakers (if you want to call them that) $350 to $700 per week tops.
How many linesmakers are out there and how many are cloning??? Maybe this sounds a little too simple, but if everyone was making up thier own line you'd end up with huge variances on the posted lines from shop to shop....if they weren't copying each other you'd have the same game with 5 or more points different from book to book and middlers gobbling it all up....
I can understand local books making thier own lines to adjust for all the homers that like to bet thier state team......
Where to these lines get dispersed from that you see almost everyone within a point or two of each other?
I can understand local books making thier own lines to adjust for all the homers that like to bet thier state team......
Where to these lines get dispersed from that you see almost everyone within a point or two of each other?
Where to these lines get dispersed from that you see almost everyone within a point or two of each other?
I cannot judge the American sports very well, but on the European football I have a computer programme that produces my lines without having any look at the market prices that are up. Already if I use a simplified version of my programme (basically one that only looks at final results) and compare my initial lines with the initial lines of what the bookies put up, then at least 90% of them are the same, so I guess many are using 'my' programme.
I cannot judge the American sports very well, but on the European football I have a computer programme that produces my lines without having any look at the market prices that are up. Already if I use a simplified version of my programme (basically one that only looks at final results) and compare my initial lines with the initial lines of what the bookies put up, then at least 90% of them are the same, so I guess many are using 'my' programme.
I have seen some actual payroll numbers and can say 100k is way off except in the very best joints where the man is a part of the profit share. The guys at these levels are all gringos with past bookmaking experience in the US and in most cases wouldn't stay in CR if they had to "settle" for what the Ticos and the non-experienced gringos get out of it.
For a gringo learning the ropes the net pay is about what he could earn working in a basic office job in the US, but most seem to love the atmosphere and don't care that they work endless hours. For a Tico the wages put them in the top 5% of the population, so needless to say they are doing very well for themselves. And despite the belief that the cost of living is lower, the people that do these types of jobs usually live a lifestyle that costs as much or even more than the lifestyle a middle-class American lives so the cost differential doesn't hold out. You really have to lower your standards and lifestyle to get ahead on this, something these guys don't seem willing to do. That means things such as living in lesser neighborhoods, going without a car, and rarely eating out except in sodas. Good luck finding guys making a dime a week willing to take all these measures to get ahead.
For a gringo learning the ropes the net pay is about what he could earn working in a basic office job in the US, but most seem to love the atmosphere and don't care that they work endless hours. For a Tico the wages put them in the top 5% of the population, so needless to say they are doing very well for themselves. And despite the belief that the cost of living is lower, the people that do these types of jobs usually live a lifestyle that costs as much or even more than the lifestyle a middle-class American lives so the cost differential doesn't hold out. You really have to lower your standards and lifestyle to get ahead on this, something these guys don't seem willing to do. That means things such as living in lesser neighborhoods, going without a car, and rarely eating out except in sodas. Good luck finding guys making a dime a week willing to take all these measures to get ahead.
