Is it really possible to understand the sportsbook phenomenon....

without coming down, visiting places like Jamaica, Costa Rica, sitting down and talking to owners, clerks, spending a weekend at a sportsbook during football season, looking over govenrment laws, etc etc etc.

Nowadays there just seem to be so many experts about how to run everything, it leaves me wondering.

And no, I dont mean to piss anyone off with this question.

What do you mean by understand?, its not rocket science!

Well some writers do stories on it and spend a day in town (or no time at all). Going down is important to do business with the people there, but to understand it I think you won't come back with too much extra knowledge. The pictures that you see in occasional ads or on some books websites pretty much show you what you will see. Its a nice excuse though to get a vacation

I have a desire to see first hand & hopefully I'm afforded the chance someday.

I would like to spend a week and work diff things each day for a sportbook.

General, I hope you do come down someday, it would be nice to meet you as well as some of the other guys around here.

Eric, I dont think many people understand 'sportsbooks'. Many people think that reading an article somewhere about what we do here or don't do makes them experts in this field. I don't claim to be an expert, I'm just starting in this business but I think that coming down, visiting books, talking to clerks, owners etc gives people a much better understanding of the phenomenon.

Slim, some books are fun to work for, others are a nightmare, I hope you are at book that is fun. All in all its a great industry to be in, especially if you love sports. I feel that the most interesting segment of the book business is running the lines albeit most of the books just play follow the leaders. The props dept. would also be a lot of fun especially for the Superbowl. Marketing is a lot of fun as well, because you get to interact with the customers.

Best part of a book is being the owner and kicking out all the sharps and getting away with it!!!

Seriously, if you do go to CR these are the things I think you will see:

1. How many hours people that make a decent wage down there work. I mean you can love the business and the pace of the job, but 12-14 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week? Unless you are Donald Trump and making millions a week its hard to believe people stick at it for so long without major burnout.
2. How they are like another class of people there, just like the NYT article mentioned. Stunning when you meet a guy that has been there 6 years and has gone through 4 live-in Ticas and still can't speak more than about 20 words of Spanish, half of them he uses to pick up women with and the other half he uses to speak to his maid.
3. How the most talented guys and insightful people you will meet down there are often about 2 levels below where you would think they should be. The top levels are often filled with morons that succeed in spite of themselves. I can't count how many times in the short amount of time I have spent down there a guy was talking down (well yelling) at someone who was clearly right to anyone who knows the business. The reason the guy was yelling? He is the brother/uncle/cousin of the owner and the 2 days a month he spends onsite makes him right. Ridiculous.
4. Just how much the gringo guys working there are gamblers. Being a Nevada resident I know my share of friends and coworkers that bet over their head, but those guys down there top anything you see around here. Guys making less than $10/hour and betting $300 4-teamers as an afterthought. Incredible. One guy I met hit a 6 teamer and just modestly off-hand said "well that pays about half what I was thinking I would make working here all year"! His boss said "yeah but it will be gone in a week". Say what you want about the Tico clerks spending money on frivolous things, many gringos spend it all on gambling and what little is left goes to booze and ladies, or so it seems. How do some of these guys pay rent?

Well there you go, just some of the little things I picked up only because I had to go for short business trips. Only can imagine what I would see if I stayed on for say a football season...

Slim, no one has all the answers, and when things get shitty, EVERYone will get lied to (especially forum owners\mods).

Stick with the big boys & diversify.

That extra 1/2 point here & there isn't worth it...even if you only get stiffed once.

Between the Rx, Mw and Sbr, you should be just fine with your consensus (but you should add 5Dimes). They apparently advertise nowhere, but they have the best "alt line" options I've ever seen.

That article by NYT was an interesting read. The picture seems clearer.

Wild Bill,

that second post of yours has to be one of the most accurate posts i have ever read. on all 4 points !!

Well lets just call it the stuff the NYT won't tell you. I don't know if anyone would figure that all out without being close to the people working down there, but just call it the darker side of life in CR as I see it. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty good down there, but you better love the business and the job a lot to want to make the jump. You don't have to be a boozer, all your relationships don't have to be with hookers or girls half your age, but that is what you see a lot of. Whether that is caused by the crowd that is drawn to that or just the environment I am not sure.

I see people on here occasionally say "should I do it" and most times its not answered in very revealing terms. So I thought I would write what few others seem willing to acknowledge...

Wildbill, thanks for chipping in, as I see, you know the Cr scenario pretty well, I think once someone has been down here, or Jamaica, or wherever, they get a better feeling for what the sportsbook business is really like.

I think Costa Ricans take alot of heat here on the Rx and most of it if not all is completely unjustified. In fact, I know I may be exaggerating a little here but I have said many times and strongly believe that the only good of the sportsbook comes out of what us, Ticos put into a book. Ive seen cases as you say where the second to main guy is the main guys relative so he gets to decide what is done and what isnt and many times its just embarrasing... Unfortunately, most of what is wrong in this business has absolutely nothing to do with us Ticos but instead has to do directly with the owners and managers, all of whom come down from the US.

Dont get me wrong, not everyone is like this, I know this, there are good guys, guys like Judge whom I consider a friend, a very kind man and and overall great guy. This business needs more men like him but unfortunately there just arent that many.

Yes, I know some ticos have stiffed companies, I cant deny that but a huge percentage, a huge huge percentage are honest hard working that are trying to make a living.

Im sorry if I got a bit off topic but I understand what Wildbill says and have dealt with stuff like that for some time now and I like to set the record straight whenever I can.

TTinCo, I think you are right but only to a certain extent when you refer to sites such as this one, MW, SBR, etc etc.

Not one single book in this whole wide world is 100% safe. Not Olympic, not Pinnacle, not Canbet, etc etc etc all the way down to www.whosyodaddybets.com.....
There are way too many external factors for a company to be 100% safe and as you wisely mention, no one has all the answers. There are in fact very very few people that know enough to be labeled experts and even they cannot be 100% trusted for no one knows what ulterior motives may lie behind their words.

I think sometimes we think we know more than we really do but I think the picture gets much much clearer once you go down, visit the countries, the books, chat with owners, clerks....

Doing this is obviously out of the reach of many many gamblers, almost all but it may be the only way to be a little more certain about where youre putting your money.