Bookie is the slang, not in an offensive way, term given to a bookmaker. A bookmaker is someone who accepts bets from the general public, based on that person’s prediction on the outcome of an event. In early times, these bets were generally restricted to events such as sports games, horse races and greyhound races.
As time progressed, however, bookmakers have begun accepting bets on an enormous variety of events, including financial indicators, video game contests, the level of success achieved by a movie, and much more. The duty of the bookmaker, therefore, is to decide on odds for an event, accept bets from bet makers, and pay out correct sums if a person wins their bet. It may sound like an easy job, and a very lucrative one, but a good bookmaker must have an incredibly good understanding of the events they accept bets on, as well as a solid grasp of mathematics, and a keen eye for subtle details that may sway an event one way or the other. One should always keep in mind that a bookie can easily be bankrupted by a single event, if they overlook something that forces them to payout at very high odds.
Deciding On Odds
Many people have wondered how odds are decided for a particular event. The truth is that odds are often a difficult thing to nail down, especially given the number of factors that can decide the outcome of an event. Will it be raining on that day? Will a star payer be injured the night before? For this reason a bookmaker will often change odds as an event draws near and new information comes to light. Likewise, however, a bookmaker must make odds that are tempting to gamblers. After all, if someone bets on an underdog, and that underdog pulls off a miracle and manages to win, there should certainly be a substantial payout that makes the risk worth the reward.
There is also a matter of bookmakers trying to outdo one another, which further complicates the situation. In order to draw business, a bookie may offer a huge payout for a particular event, stealing customers from a competitor. In response to this, the apposing bookmaker may then offer even better odds. This kind of situation can put a bookmaker at risk of doing major financial harm to themselves. Often, however, apposing cricket betting sites will cooperate, even if in competition, to avoid situations that spiral out of control.
Reliable bookmakers
It is not unheard of, and often portrayed in movies, that bookmakers behave in questionable and unscrupulous ways. For example, a bookie may offer good odds for an event, accept bets in record numbers, then disappear, taking the money with them and leaving winning bets unpaid. In past times, when the gambling industry was less well regulated, this was more prevalent. In modern times, however, the vast majority of bookmakers are completely reliable, given that they are a financial corporation that cannot afford to cut and run. In deciding if a particular bookmaker is reliable, a simple and obvious rule is to not deal with entities that are not well established. Better odds may be offered by a shady bookmaker who seems to have little reputation, but the risk is certainly not worth it in this case.
