New Campus Bet taker... Advice

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Why be a slave to a "professional" job at a large company. Book making is an honorable profession. You might want to look into parlay cards.

You need legal advice from a lawyer to make sure you don't wind up in prison by knowing the relevant laws.

1. This is a ridiculous amount of risk you are taking, breaking the law, for a paltry amount of money, and only for one month! One of the single dumbest ideas I have ever read. All risk, virtually no upside. i would advise you not do this.

2. I have never heard of a bookie "round up the vig" like you describe. If someone loses a $25 bet, the loss would be $27.50. If at the end of the week, all of those exact commissions produce a number with change, you can round. I've only ever heard of a bookie rounding down, but I guess it's possible some round up. Regardless, the rounding should never cost anyone more than a dollar per week.

3. If you're booking 40 separate bets per day, that's certainly enough for the vig to come into play. However, since you're only doing it for one month, there's no guarantee you'll be ahead.

4. Check out Barry Greenstein's book "Ace on the River" for what happens to amateur bookmakers who decide to book their friends' bets. The gist of it is that you'll pay out all your winners but you won't be able to collect from all your losers. If you don't know what you're doing, you won't come out ahead.

I don't recommend this because it is so easy for there to be some misunderstanding about a bet. I've seen friendships lost over such things. Also, while you say trust isn't an issue, it often becomes one when money is involved. Some people make good friends until they owe you money and suddenly they become a jerk.

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your #3 is kind of my point. You're booking $20 bets. Why even bother. You're taking a lot of (theoretical) legal risk to earn $1 per bet on the vig? If you book 40 twenty dollar bets per day, your expected earnings are forty bucks. Just not worth it. Especially since you're only doing it for a month. And then if you do book higher bets, you can get into even more trouble.

Quote: Wizard

I don't recommend this because it is so easy for there to be some misunderstanding about a bet. I've seen friendships lost over such things. Also, while you say trust isn't an issue, it often becomes one when money is involved. Some people make good friends until they owe you money and suddenly they become a jerk.

Appreciate the reply. And yes, I can say I've seen this to an extent even on the forum with Keyser.

I don't recommend your choice of entertainment/income, but you can lower your risk by using a website that takes the wagers for you. I think you are risking way too much (arrest, expulsion, friendships) for this small amount. If you are intent on doing this, look up "pay per head" on google.

ZCore13

Am I the only one who thinks that April may not have a happy ending for the OP?

Unless your going to continue to do this and make it into some long term thing. Why Risk it you may get kicked out of school and have a black mark that could affect your career. Your probably better off becoming an affiliate and referring all them players to Bovada.

I was a bookie for many years, now retired. A few comments:

1) Don't book Keyser's action. He will lose and not pay you.

2) You are booking a max bet of $30? Your expected profit is only $1 to $2. When I was active, I would make about 4%-8% of total action. If you want to make money, you need volume. $30 should be the min, not the max.

3) Force small bettors to play parlays or teasers only. Flat bet wagers should carry a min of $50, or $100 would be better.

4) Launch a pay-per-head site. Google it. Any other way is just plain nuts.

5) Collecting money is a pain in the ass. See "Keyser". Approx 10%-15% of net profit will be written off as bad debt.

6) Variance is a bitch. I had losing periods last as long as 3 months.

I wish you well, but you're doing it wrong. Your taking risk with little or no potential reward.

Quote: MakingBook

5) Collecting money is a pain in the ass. See "Keyser". Approx 10%-15% of net profit will be written off as bad debt.

I started my law school days by taking bets in order to help make ends meet. After a little while, things got too "public" and I thought better of the whole scheme. Honestly, while it may be a fun way to make extra money, I don't think it is a good idea. Things are taken much more seriously these days than they were 20 years ago. If you are graduating soon then why chance it? If you are going to continue, at least don't conduct the transactions on school property.

Read "Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie." People believe bookmakers live a fancy life but it can be a "clerk job" like any other when you get down to it.

I used to offer parlay cards for football when I was at the U. of Iowa in the 1980's. I believe I took as little as $3 and a max of $20 while giving incredibly horrible odds. Sadly, most of the people I knew were in Engineering and Comp Science and they weren't very big gamblers. I would only have out about 15 tickets per week.

I almost got in trouble when I left my parlay card in the copy machine at Kinko's.

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I LOVE when people admit to crimes publicly

like this cute chick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC_dxyYv0_s

Smart move to delete those posts.