BONUS BEWARE

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Offers made by sportsbboks that are to good to be true should be avoided at all costs!Reputable sportsbooks are multi-million dollar business concerns with only one objective,to make a profit!Sportsbooks on the average have a "hold" of 5%. Bonusesare true expensesbecause it is money put directly into a customers account!Win, lose or draw this money belongs to the customer.The math is simple if a sportsbook signs up 500 clients with accounts of 2,000$ each, and gave each a bonus of 30%, or 600$, their client account balance would be 1.3 milliondollars! If EVERY client risked his entire balance, the resulting hold would be 65,000$.They really only won 50,000$ of customer money and are still in debt for a quarter of a million dollars!They would have to work half a season without paying ANY expenses to break even!Is this SOUND BUSINESS! ABSOLUTELY NOT! If this sportsbook is unlucky it probably wouldn't hod up for half a football season! Responsible bonus offers are a sign of a solid sportsbook.Bottom line is STAY AWAY from large bonuses, the sportsbook desperatly needs customers if their bonuses are inflated .
 

SportsOptions/Line up with the pros
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Good advice. If something sounds too good to be true it usually is.
 

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Amen jls, i agree 100% that's why i only play at Cris,Grande,WWTS, because when you win you grt PAID.
 

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good post Jls...it is being nominated for POST of the week
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Gambler1,
Those are good reputable solid shops! Also a sportsbook in business 5 years+ is a good sign too! There are hundreds of small shops with inflated bonuses, we just have to stay with the big boys and everything will be OK!
 

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jls, remember most small books use the players $ to run their shop, a big bonus is tempting but if you can't get paid after following the rules it's as useful as toilet paper. The big 4 or 5 books may only give you a 10% bonus but when you want your $ it's there.good luck
 

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thanks G money, beantown didn't have a chance to beat you, there's a bad karma in that town, something to do with the "curse".
 

Another Day, Another Dollar
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10% with a secure and confident feeling is better than 20% with concerns
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STILL THIS IS ALSO A FACT 90% OF GAMBLERS SO NOT WIN. ITS KIND OF LIKE THE SLOT MACHINE PHILOSOPHY 98.5 % payback. Real Casino's give out free cash, gifts etc. THESE BOOKS WILL STILL WIN WHEN THAT MONEY IS PLAYED OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
 

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Wrong!

How often does a GOOD sportsbook like laspalmas,BHB,BLUEGRASS and more..FAIL! The juice overcomes any bonus! if you got the shaft at 5 out of 100 sportsbooks who offered bonus..YOU would still be ahead of the game!
 

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oldbonus, your bonus wisdom once again is amazing. Why ever get stiffed if you don't have to?
 

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OLDFRIEND,
I know You love to get bonuses for the players and thats cool, but I'd feel safer with a smaller bonus giver than a larger one. Obviously I'm not a bonus whore! Hell try to get a bonus from your local guy,lol! I'm not saying all shops that give large bonuses are scams, there are a lot of honest ones who give big bonuses I'm sure. Just saying you are safer at a larger shop with smaller bonuses than a smaller shop with large bonuses!
 

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Gambler1,
You hit the nail on the head, small books rely on customers money to survive, well how can they offer large bonuses to customers then?
 

+GL+ to all on the other side
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Hello there oldfriend,

Tell me, out of interest, how many books have you signed up with? And of those, how many stiffed players, being you or someone else?
 

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OldFriend,
I know just signed up last week, They have a great deal of website problems though! I won't keep to much there though! Curteous staff just wondering why such large bonuses! Hey Oldfriend how many clients to Carib have do you think??
 

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jls, they can offer a larger bonus because they know the smaller player who let's say posts up $400. he thinks the $80. (20%)bonus is giving him a better chance to win. In reality most small guys play parlays,teasers, the books know these small fish will bust out sooner than later. Remember they didn't build all those casino's in Las Vegas because the percentage of the people (regular joe) wins. These small books give away these big bonuses usually in football season because they know more people play in football and LOSE in football season giving them a chance to get a bankroll to survive thru baseball season until the next football season arrives. It's hard enough to win so why take a chance on a unknown book.
 

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Reasonable bonuses will not bankrupt an even marginally competent book. Couple points about this:

1. Bankroll. In theory, the book's bankroll should be much, much larger than any players. A large bankroll with even a slight edge will take out a small bankroll quite easily. Yes, many books are undercapitalized, but that is another problem entirely.

2.Money management is basically absent for many players. For instance, Joe Citizen deposits $1000 and gets a 20% bonus, leaving his account at $1200. Do you think he is betting $10-25 per game as his bankroll dictates (1-2% of BR)? Hell no. Joe Citizen is betting $100+ per game, because he has no idea of money management. This greatly increases his chances of losing it all on a bad streak.

3. Gambler psychology. Players push when they are up. Players chase when they are down. Players bet shit games just for the action. They play parlays, teasers, etc without an edge. They play more on Moday night Football, championship games, and TV games. Just the fact that they have money in an account and have lines in front of them, they are going to bet. Again, a winning proposition for the book. Joe Citizen isn't going to go through the hassle of withdrawing from one book, depositing at another book, withdrawing to his bank account, posting up again, etc. He's going to just leave it in there, and now has to face the temptation to bet every game. Average players have no discipline, and just getting their money into the book almost guarantees they will lose it. If Joe Citizen deposited $1000 and now is down to $500, will he withdraw? Hell no, he's going to play until he gets back to even or loses it all. When he gets back to even, he's going to gain confidence and keep pressing until he loses it anyway. This facet of the psychology of gambling is well known. I've seen this send my friends into debt countless times. So, most players are never going to withdraw dollar one, meaning the bonus is negligible to the bottom line.

4. Bonuses are a form of advertising, a natural cost of running a business. Instead of running ads, sending flyers, etc, their advertising budget is spent on bonuses. Same basic cost of any business, just a different method.

Bonuses are just the hook and bait to attract "square action". Obviously these points don't apply to the rare "sharp" players out there.
 

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This is an interesting debate. On one hand some books have been known to offer "too good" bonuses right before going bust as a desperation move to try to continue to stay afloat on new post-up. But on the other many of the most solid outs have offered bonuses at various times and some even pretty generous ones. Obviously extending out the example jls gave by the time the players reached 6X rollover they'd have lost their 300K in bonuses at $50K a rollover. If the rollover is 10X then the book would be $200K ahead before a payout could be requested. But I have a feeling they do better than that most of the time ( see below ).

So this may be a bad sign or a sign of desperation but it also could be just a "break-even" leader to attract new customers, particularly for a new out. I say break even because a 50% player would effectively be getting juice Bonus Bets for 1 rollover per 5% bonus. If the rollover is more then it means the book gets a little and if less then bonus whores are smiling. Anyway, it is often just a way to get new customers, they hope will stay and rollover much more and long after the minimum requirement is up. Sort of a "try us vig free and we think you'll like us enuff to keep us in your "stable of outs".

But I agree with drunkguy that they also know that most players are losers and have such poor money managament that they will never touch any of the bonus anyway, nor any of their post-up either. So it is a calculated risk that they are just giving a "loser" another 2-3 bets until they tap out. I agree with his assessment in the following ( I call this "phenomenon" negative money management and IMO it boosts the book's actual edge far more than most know or give credit for):

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by drunkguy:
2.Money management is basically absent for many players. For instance, Joe Citizen deposits $1000 and gets a 20% bonus, leaving his account at $1200. Do you think he is betting $10-25 per game as his bankroll dictates (1-2% of BR)? Hell no. Joe Citizen is betting $100+ per game, because he has no idea of money management. This greatly increases his chances of losing it all on a bad streak.

3. Gambler psychology. Players push when they are up. Players chase when they are down. Players bet shit games just for the action. They play parlays, teasers, etc without an edge. They play more on Moday night Football, championship games, and TV games. Just the fact that they have money in an account and have lines in front of them, they are going to bet. Again, a winning proposition for the book. Joe Citizen isn't going to go through the hassle of withdrawing from one book, depositing at another book, withdrawing to his bank account, posting up again, etc. He's going to just leave it in there, and now has to face the temptation to bet every game. Average players have no discipline, and just getting their money into the book almost guarantees they will lose it. If Joe Citizen deposited $1000 and now is down to $500, will he withdraw? Hell no, he's going to play until he gets back to even or loses it all. When he gets back to even, he's going to gain confidence and keep pressing until he loses it anyway. This facet of the psychology of gambling is well known. I've seen this send my friends into debt countless times. So, most players are never going to withdraw dollar one, meaning the bonus is negligible to the bottom line.

Bonuses are just the hook and bait to attract "square action". Obviously these points don't apply to the rare "sharp" players out there.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
 

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