A bookmaker is a person or company who is working on betting books. They are working on precise odds and possibilities for the potential outcome of some sports match. Most of the bookmakers are agreeing on that, and if you visit different sports betting houses, you will see that the odds and quotes are very similar, but not completely the same.
Also, they don’t work only on sports. People love to bet on many different things, including Oscars, who will win Eurovision, the name of the next royal baby, and many other events that aren’t related to sports at all.
Surely, they can’t guess the result, but they can calculate the odds for every potential outcome, including the first team wins, they are tied, the second team wins, or even predict how many goals there will be throughout the whole match, or maybe the exact result at the end of the game. Usually, these people don’t try to make money on their bets, because they are already paid for that book.
But, they surely are dedicated to the people who want to risk, but they won’t ever give a 100% accurate guess, because there is no point in that. We can also say that they are creating the market and keeping it stable. Also, we can never hold on to their predictions, because we all know that there can be surprising outcomes, even when we think the result is too obvious.
In order to be as accurate as possible, they should review the club’s history, their performance this year, and many other factors that can affect the outcome. Also, can you imagine that there are differences between the betting markets all around the world, for example, the US and UK? So, when it comes to betting and bookmaking, there are a lot of differences, including:
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The rules and legal regulations
People in the UK, and in Europe in general, bet on sports for centuries. But, do you know that it was banned in the US until 2018? Also, it’s still not legal in every state. So, we can say that bookmaking isn’t something very profitable in the States.
Many citizens are betting online, but in general, there is no that big interest as in the UK or in Europe. That means betting and bookmaking are pretty mature in the UK. The Americans can hardly find reliable sportsbooks, which is not the case in the United Kingdom.
Different games of interest
Even though soccer (known as European football) is the most popular sport all around the world, people in the United States have different interests. They are more likely to bet on baseball, NFL, NHL Hockey, NBA, and other local championships that aren’t held in the rest of the world.
How the books look and which sports they include is the main difference between the books in these two big countries. In the United Kingdom, people want to bet on soccer, Premier League is their favorite, but they also love the World Cup, European Cup, and of course, tennis, horse races, Formula 1 predictions, handball, and basketball, or even dog races.
How odds are calculated
In the USA, the odds are based on the money system. They can be either positive or negative, which means those who are favorites have the odds on their side, but the quotes are not that big. Negative odds mean if you bet on, for example, $150, and the odds are -150, you will get $100.
On the other hand, if they are +150 and you bet on $100, you will get $150 – the initial wage of $100 plus $50 for the right result. But, the situation is much different in the UK. They are calculating the quotes in decimals, and they are multiplied between them. So, if you have three matches with 1.90, 2.05, and 1.25 quotes, when you multiply them, you are getting a nice quote equal to 4.87, so if you decide to invest 100 British pounds on it, you will get 487 British pounds if you guess all the results.
Betting preferences are different too
In the USA even betting has a competitive spirit, and the bookmakers know that. People there, where it’s legal and allowed, consider it as a competition, similar to gambling. But, the situation is pretty different in the United Kingdom, or the whole of Europe. Betting places are made to gather the enthusiasts together, and they feature live betting too, during the game. But, keep in mind that the odds are changing during the game.
In Europe, betting venues are held by big companies, and they have open job places for a lot of staff, but sadly, they are mostly underpaid. On the other hand, they hire thousands of people, and have a huge staff turnover, since a lot of them leave after a year or two. Even the bookmakers are always going for something better, and sometimes give up on the idea to make a lot of money on their lucky guesses.
Conclusion
We can be sure of one thing. People who are betting enthusiasts will always find a way to bet on their favorite teams, watch the matches live, and live bet on them. It’s a popular activity, and we can say that a large part of Europeans have at least tried to bet, especially when an attractive match happens. All these things are surrounded by myths and misconceptions, but a lot of people still manage to create nice tickets and win some money.
As with every gambling activity, you have to be responsible and very careful when it comes to the money you are planning to spend. Betting is interesting, but you really shouldn’t do it every day of your life. Just leave enough time for your luck to reset, because you can’t expect to win every time you bet on today’s matches. The most successful bettors are those who are tactical and plan every possible step they plan to take, no matter where you are based in the world.
