Secrets of the work of bookmakers. The principle of operation of the bookmaker's office Attracting "profitable customers"

The work of a bookmaker's office is most similar to the work of an exchange, and you certainly know what an exchange is.

The stock exchange business is one of the most stable and profitable in the world, especially for the owner. We offer you to become the owner of an exchange, but not a commodity or stock exchange, but an exchange of sporting events, which in terms of stability can be equated to the most stable securities circulating in the financial world, and in terms of profitability not inferior to the most highly profitable enterprises. A more common name for such an exchange is a bookmaker's office. This is not our invention. There are several thousand bookmakers in the world, the largest of which have a turnover comparable to that of large banks and investment companies, but a higher profitability.

So, what exactly is the work of a bookmaker's office and where does such high profitability and stability come from? Consider an abstract example: in the near future a football match between, say, the “blue” team and the “green” team should take place, and our office offers to guess which of these teams will win this match, and as a payoff for the guessed outcome of this event, it offers to multiply the amount of money you bet on a coefficient of 1.8. Suppose that for this match they expressed a desire to bet, say, Petya and Vasya ten rubles each, while Petya bet on the "green" team, and Vasya on the "blue" team, while our office received twenty rubles, of which, for any At the end of this event, the office will pay only eighteen rubles, and the remaining two rubles, i.e. 10% and will be the profit of our office. The question arises that if both Petya and Vasya put money on the same outcome of this match, as a result of which there is a risk that the bookmaker will have to pay thirty-eight rubles for the received twenty rubles, so in order to avoid this risk, the bookmaker has mechanisms , regulating the process of receiving bets so that approximately the same amounts are accepted for both outcomes of this event, and if we take into account that several hundred sports events take place in the world every day, and the number of players on average is 4-6% of the total population of a given city, then the law of normal distribution and the theory of probability 10% of the profit of our office is almost guaranteed. But unlike 10% of the profits of the most stable securities in the world, we receive our 10% not in a year, but daily. To all of the above, I would like to add that the number and amount of accepted bets can be limited only by the office itself.

The materials are taken from the site www.geleks.kharkiv.com - the site of a company that trains professional bookmakers and advises many offices from all over the CIS.

Principles of work of bookmakers - *Eagles against Hares*

Let's look at the work of a Western bookmaker's office from the inside based on an example.

So the bookmaker - whether he wants to or does not want to, but is OBLIGED to give his lines every single day. To begin with, he has to find out the balance of power for a particular match - to determine the probabilities of the outcome of this match. He uses his statistical and analytical information and on the basis of it displays the so-called "fair odds" - "honest chances". Naturally, different offices may have their own vision of the outcome and the chances of a particular team. This is about the same as the differences in sociological survey services - who will win the elections? One service will give 25.4% to Ivanov, 17.3% to Petrov, 10.8% to Sidorov. The other is 26.8%, 19% and 7.98% respectively. They have their own methods with their own errors and so on. And elections are true - they will show who wins.

Very well developed social the service will take into account a bunch of factors, up to the admin. resource and add 2-3% to falsification, segment the electorate better, poll more people, and so on - I think you understand what I'm talking about.

The situation is approximately the same with bookmaking in general.

For example, in the match Eagles - Hares, the bookmaker believes that the chances in percentage terms are 50% -30% -20%. That is, 50% that the Eagles will win, 30% that there will be a draw and 20% that the Hares will win.

According to the European odds system, the line for this event will form as 2 - 3.33 - 5. This is done by simply dividing one by the percentage of the team's chances.

But then the bookmaker will not get anything if he allows the player to play along such lines. Therefore, he introduces a margin - profitmargin. For example, we will have a margin of 15%.

That is, the player will have to be 10% smarter (minimum) than the bookmaker in order to win. The alignment of forces with profit margin as a percentage will be 57.5% - 34.5% - 23%=115%. Or in the European format - this: 1.74 - 2.90 - 4.35.

He will give such a line to the player. Betting starts. Let's say people put down the sum like this: $6,000 - $3,000 - $1,000. This is because of the "love" of the people for the favorites. In other words - the people decide that the probabilities in the match are 60% - 30% - 10%. This is public opinion backed by cash.

What will the bookmaker say? What risks does it carry?

If the Eagles win, then the bookmaker will have to pay the players 6000$*0.74=4440$ and he will receive from the players 3000$+1000$ =4000$ and the total loss will be -440$.

If there is a draw, then the bookmaker will have to fork out 1.90*3000$ =5700$, and he will receive 6000$+1000$=7000$ from the players and the total loss will be -1300$.

If the Hares win, the bookmaker will pay $1000*3.35=$3350 and receive $9000 from the players. Thus, the profit that he will receive will be $5650.

Now you understand why when "incredible" events happen (events with a probability of 20% :-) or less), the bookmakers have a holiday. Yes, in fact, they have a holiday every day because of the popularity among the players of dogon, express trains and so on.

But the bookmaker is a pragmatic, commercial office. Of course, with a long game, the bookmaker will bounce back on such matches, but if we talk about this match, he definitely won’t take such risks: Risking 1300 + 440 = 1740 dollars to get 5650 dollars is normal for a bookmaker. He knows Fair Odds - real chances for a match, but for the sake of them he is unlikely to take such risks. THE MAIN THING IS PROFIT!

What would you do if you were a bookie?

Naturally - would change the coefficients. You would take into account such a factor as public opinion and the expected distribution of money. The line above would be much closer to the line of public opinion.

That is, we will calculate according to the new one: 60% - 30% - 10% or $6,000 - $3,000 - $1,000 - so voted by the people with money.
If the bookmaker knew (well, he knows :-)) that there would be such a distribution, then he would put profitmargin=15% on these percentages. That is, in percentage terms - the "fair ratio :-)" line would be 69% - 34.5% - 11.5%, or in the European format 1.45 - 2.90 - 8.70.

If the Eagles win, then the bookmaker's profit will be 4000$-2700$=1300$
If there is a draw, then the bookmaker's profit will be 7000$-5700$=1300$
If Hares win, then the bookmaker's profit will be $10,000-$8,700=$1,300 Usual intra-bookmaker arbitration.

If I were a bookmer, I would choose this tactic. It's better to 100% get $1,300 than to risk $1,740 to get $5,650. Mat. Of course, the expectation will be in both cases - a profit of $ 1,300 with an endless game - but of course the second option is better. Now look how far in this exaggerated example the coefficients have gone from the real balance of forces. The real balance of power
2 - 3.33 - 5
The bookmaker will offer an option
1.45 - 2.90 - 8.70

What do you think, if you play for a VERY long time, where should you bet (if all events are similar as in the Eagle-Hares match)? Naturally - for the victory of Zaitsev. Since in an endless game this will give you 8.70/5=74% of the turnover!!! It would be great - made $ 1,000,000 from a turnover in a year (TURNOVER! MONEY IS NEEDED MUCH LESS!) - received $ 740,000 profit. Paradise!

In reality, the indicators and rates of return are different. For example, Miller (www.professionalgambler.com) does year after year according to the same scheme - he catches bookmakers on overstatements, 5% - 15% of turnover. We made 14% of the turnover IN OUR OFFICES - although the sample is still small - 345 events. (www.sportpro.adamant.net) I think it's normal to make 5% of turnover - it's GREAT!

Rules for accepting bets on the example of the bookmaker's office "MARATHON".

General provisions

1. Line- a list of events and their outcomes with winning odds offered by the office for betting.
   Bet- a condition concluded between the two parties, according to which the loser must fulfill the obligation taken (to pay a certain amount). Bets are made in the form of accepting bets from customers (players) on the terms offered by the office.
   Bid- the amount of money that the player invests in the game (bet) and loses when losing, as well as the totality of the choices that the player has combined by betting a certain amount on them.
   Exodus- the result of a sporting event, to which the office has assigned a winning coefficient.
2. All bets are made in accordance with these rules, effective from April 10, 2001. The rules that were in force before are considered invalid.
3. Bets are accepted from persons over 18 years old who agree with the conditions offered by the office for accepting bets. The client is responsible for violation of this clause.
4. The conditions for accepting bets (handicap, odds, totals, limits on express bets, etc.) can be changed after any bet, while the conditions of previously made bets remain unchanged.
5. The bookmaker reserves the right to refuse to accept a bet to any person without explanation.
6. Repeated bets on the same combination of outcomes (including one outcome) from one player are not accepted.
7. In case of errors of the office staff when accepting bets (obvious typos in the proposed list of events, discrepancy between the odds for the bet and the odds in the line, etc.), if there is evidence of unfair sportsmanship, when deviating from these rules when accepting bets and other arguments confirming incorrect bets, the office reserves the right to declare bets (or part of them) invalid under such conditions (payment is made with a coefficient of "1"), or to suspend payment until the completion of the proceedings (including litigation).
8. In team competitions, the concepts of "hosts" (host teams) and "guests" (guest teams) are used, except for the following cases:
   a) Tours are held in one city (in international competitions - a country);
   b) the event is the final of any cup competition and consists of one match (meeting).
   In the betting line, the host teams are in 1st place (indicated by "1"), and the visiting teams are in 2nd place (indicated by "2"). In all other cases, the numbering of the participants in the competition line is conditional, and the data on the venue are informative.
9. When determining the results of competitions, only sports factors are taken into account for calculating bets.
10. These rules may be changed at the initiative of the office. Players are notified about this by appropriate announcements. Changes, additions to the rules are valid from the date specified in such an announcement. Bets accepted from this date are subject to the amended rules. The conditions of previously placed bets remain unchanged.
11. The Client is responsible for the secrecy of his password and account number received during registration. All bets registered on the server of the office are valid. Cancellation of bets is possible only on the basis of these rules. If the password and (or) account number are known to third parties, you must immediately contact the administration of the bookmaker's office with a statement. You can change your password on the "Your account"–>"Your details" page.
12. A communication failure when a customer receives a bet confirmation is not grounds for bet cancellation.
13. Commission expenses (banking, postage, etc.) for settlements between the office and the client are borne by the client.
14. Any bet is a confirmation that the client knows these rules and agrees with them.

The number of bookmakers' clients is increasing exponentially, bookmakers have long become synonymous with the word "sport". Millions of people place bets, but most of them lose, one of the reasons for which is the reluctance to learn and understand how bookmakers work, why they are always in the black and due to which they gain an advantage over the player.

If you want to fill this gap in your knowledge, check out the material below, which, of course, does not guarantee a stable income from bets, but the knowledge gained will significantly increase your chances of success in confronting bookmakers.

What are the bookmakers?

You should start by getting acquainted with the types of bookmakers that exist today. You can use many criteria for classification, and the main one is the place of work - offline or online.

Offline bookmakers are companies that accept bets at land-based betting shops. They appeared even before the era of the Internet, however, with the development of information networks, they did not cease to exist and their services are in demand, since for many conservative players it is more convenient to bet offline.

Online bookmakers- operators operating on the Internet and accepting sports bets from players on their website (or through applications for computers and mobiles). They have many more advantages compared to their land-based predecessors, the main ones being security, comfort, convenience, privacy, bonuses, a large selection of payment systems, etc.

It is worth knowing that at the present time, most betting companies operate both online and offline. That is, the main direction for them is reception, but at the same time they have an offline network of betting shops in different cities.

In order to fully reveal the question “what are the bookmakers?”, it should also be noted that there are bookmakers with sweepstakes, bonuses, etc. Tote is a kind of sports lottery where you can win a large amount with a small bet by correctly predicting the results of several matches. Many Russian bookmakers offer to play sweepstakes on their websites.

It is also possible to place bets on betting exchanges, which can be called a separate type of bookmaker or even an advanced version of bookmakers. Their main difference is that the players on the betting exchanges do not play against the bookmaker, but make bets with each other. And the exchange charges only a percentage for providing its platform for betting.

How the bookmaker works

The key point in the work of bookmakers is the formation of coefficients. Before outcomes with odds appear on the site - the so-called list, the analytical department of the bookmaker determines the chances of participants in a sporting event and the likelihood of a particular outcome.

The easiest way to consider the principles of formation of betting odds is with a coin as an example. The situation is classic - we toss a coin, the chances of getting heads or tails are 50 to 50. If we translate the probability of getting heads and tails into odds, we get 2.00 and 2.00.

Take a coin and flip it 10 times. Most likely, the result will be as follows: heads will fall out 6 times, and tails - 4, or vice versa. If you do this trick 10 more times, it is unlikely to be a tie, and in most cases we get something around 11 versus 9. But if you flip a coin 1000 times, there will be a tie or so, for example, 502 versus 498. This is a probability theory that and laid the foundation for the work of bookmakers.

Let's forget about the coin and return to the real example from bookmakers. The following odds are set for the match Bayern - Hamburg: 1.15 - 9.30 - 20.00, respectively, for the victory of Bavaria, a draw and the victory of Hamburg. In order to translate quotes into probability, you need to divide 100% by the value of the coefficient. And we get the following: 86.96% - the probability of winning Bayern, 10.75% - the probability of a draw, 5% - the probability of Hamburg winning.

You will say that Hamburg can win in a single match and the odds of 20.00 will play, and you will be right. But if the teams play a hundred matches, Hamburg will be able to win about five of them - just that 5% chance of them winning.

You should also know that determining the probability of outcomes as accurately as possible is not a priority task for bookmakers, it is more important to predict what bettors will bet on. Actually, for this reason, the odds for the favorites are greatly underestimated. If in our example Bayern should be somewhere around 1.20, but the bookmakers reduce the odds to 1.15, knowing that most of the players will bet on Munich.

It is important to understand what a ratio is and what probability it reflects, but it is equally important to know about margin. You will learn about what it is and how to calculate the bookmaker's margin from the next paragraph of the article.

How do bookmakers make money?

Bookmakers, accepting bets from players, adjust the odds. If a lot of money is bet on the victory of the first team, then this leads to a decrease in the odds for its victory and, accordingly, an increase in quotes for a draw and the victory of the second team.

But this tool only evenly distributes funds in accordance with the coefficients and minimizes risks, and guaranteed profit is provided by margin - the percentage of probability included in the coefficients.

Let's turn to our example with the Bayern-Hamburg match. When we converted the coefficients to probability, the following data was obtained: 86.96% - 10.75% - 5%. The sum of all probabilities in the theory must be exactly 100%. But if we add up our probabilities, we get 102.71%. This means that the bookmaker's margin is 2.71 because 102.71 – 100 = 2.71 . If you remove the margin, the odds for this event will be as follows: 1.18 – 9.55 – 20.54 . And the bookmaker gives 1.15 – 9.30 – 20.00 . Feel the difference? But a margin of 2.71% is very small, many companies inflate it to 15% in order to earn more.

Perhaps this example did not answer your questions, but only confused. Let's go back to coins. The probability of getting heads is 50%, that is, the odds are 2.00, and the probability of tails is 50%, and the odds are also 2.00. But if bookies had accepted bets on this event, they would never have given odds of 2.00 - 2.00 in their lives. At best, 1.97 - 1.97 after the margin has been laid.

Let's imagine that the opinions of the players were divided equally - ten people bet on heads for $10, and another ten on heads for $10. On the left shoulder (tails), bets were made in the amount of $ 100 and a similar amount on the right shoulder (eagle). Flip a coin and it comes up heads. The bookmaker pays out the winnings to the players who guessed the outcome - each of them won a net 9.7 dollars, and the bookmaker paid out a total of 97 dollars. Only $100 lost by players who bet on tails. Of this money, the bookmaker paid out 97 to the winners, and kept $3 for himself, his profit thanks to the margin.

How to calculate bookmaker margin? To do this, use the following formula: (K1/100 + K2/100) - 100. If there is a three-output event, then the formula "(K1/100 + K2/100 + K3/100) - 100" is applied and so on for four, five and more outcomes.

Why bookmakers give bonuses?

Bonuses and promotions are a common practice of modern bookmakers. This tool is used to attract new players and retain existing customers. A variety of bonus and promotional offers allow you to diversify your game, and participate in the drawing of valuable prizes, and earn extra money. But not all, there are cunning bookmakers that provide bonuses with unrealistic wagering conditions.

It is necessary to understand how bookmakers earn through generous bonus offers. At first glance, such bonuses are an excellent opportunity for a player to make a profit, but it is almost impossible to fulfill the conditions, so instead of the expected income, the player only loses his deposit, and the bookmaker earns.

There is nothing complicated in understanding the work of bookmakers, as you could see after studying the material presented here. After spending just a few minutes, your knowledge has been replenished with important information that will definitely come in handy in betting. It is much more difficult to choose a suitable bookmaker, but this problem can also be solved with the help of

The goal of every bookmaker is to make a profit. Contrary to popular belief, the income of such a company depends not only on the number of won and lost bets, but also on correctly placed odds, margins, and additional features. To understand how bookmakers work, you should familiarize yourself with the basic principles of the gambling business.

What are bookmakers

A bookmaker is a gambling establishment whose function is to accept bets. The bookmaker evaluates the probability of the outcome, calculates and sets the odds. The player places a bet at a predetermined coefficient. If the bet has played, the bookmaker pays the player the amount of the bet multiplied by the odds.

Before you start working with specific sports, you should familiarize yourself with what bookmakers are. All offices can be divided into two groups: online and offline. Each type has its pros and cons.

It goes without saying that for a profitable activity, the bookmaker must offer the “correct” odds for itself. But they should also satisfy gamblers who come to place bets at the bookmaker. The key to the bookmaker's success is hidden in the ability to correctly determine the odds of any sports match. Of course, this is not a task for one person, but for a whole team of professional sports analysts, working in a variety of sports. The most crucial moment is the determination of the initial odds for a sporting event, which will be followed by a further line. The whole further course of events depends on this decision of experts. In good sweepstakes, experts' forecasts are usually correct in about 70% of cases (weak analysts are not hired).

What is margin

First, the analyst calculates the initial "net" ratio.

Here's an example:

Let's say there is a game on neutral territory for the teams Barcelona and Real Madrid. The analyst calculated that the probability of any outcome of the upcoming match is 33.33 percent and gave the coefficients for each outcome: P1- 3.0 Draw - 3.0 P2 - 3.0

But gamblers, unfortunately, will not see such attractive odds, because the bookmaker's analyst will put a margin in them, which is the source of income for all bookmakers.

Margin is the bookmaker's bread and butter. Let's see what she is. Everything is very simple, the bookmaker will simply issue a lower odds, instead of: P1- 3.0 Draw - 3.0 P2 - 3.0, he will most likely issue: P1- 2.4 Draw - 3.0 P2 - 2.4.

Thus, no matter what outcome you guess, you will receive less money than it should be according to the theory of probability, because the bookmaker's margin is taken into account in the coefficient - that is, the commission.

Margin size

The size of the margin laid down by the bookmaker in the odds is approximately 8-9 percent.

Example:

We have two events with the probability of the outcome of each event equal to 50 percent.

Logically, the odds of each event should be equal to 2. But the bookmaker offers us the following: Event 1 odds 1.91 / Event 2 odds 1.91

Here the margin is 9% Since 2-1.91=0.9.

Now, if you bet $100 on event 1 and $100 bet on event 2, then in any outcome, the bookmaker remains in the black by $9! He will take the losing side's $100 and give the winners $91. 100-91=9. The bookmaker works according to this principle - that is, it has a profit from the margin that it included in the odds.

Convenient types of bets for a bookmaker

As it is not surprising, but express bets are very profitable for the bookmaker. Although accumulator bets look extremely attractive to beginners and avid amateurs, they are difficult to predict correctly and therefore win less than regular ordinary bets. Accumulators, especially from a large number of events, attract beginners and those who like to tickle their nerves with allegedly high odds. But if you observe that, the probability of winning an express bet is always less than the probability of winning an ordinary bet with a comparable odds. Professional gamblers always say that if you make an accumulative bet, then there should not be more than two events in it. If you are very fond of betting on accumulators, then we recommend that you familiarize yourself with betting strategies using accumulators.

How the bookmaker works

The very principle of building a betting business is very similar to a casino in which everything is mathematically done in favor of the casino. But do not forget that the bookmaker can make mistakes and fall into the “minus” and experience “drawdowns” of their financial reserves. This can happen due to an incorrectly offered coefficient to the players or a particularly large win by a player who bet a large amount on a huge coefficient. But as a rule, large offices have a huge supply of money to cover losses and get out of such situations.

How the bookmaker changes the odds

Of course, everyone knows that during the match, the odds move in one direction or the other.

How it works?

It is not difficult to understand this - the more bets are made by bettors on Outcome 1, the lower the odds for this outcome will become and the higher the odds for the opposite Outcome 2 will become in order to attract even more money into the game. It's like scales.

Let's say Real Madrid fans start betting on their favorite team to win.

Experts working in the totalizator will immediately take this into account and begin to lower the odds for this outcome. This will be done in proportion and in a balanced way, so that the odds for a draw or the victory of the opposite team, Barcelona, ​​will begin to increase. This is how bookmaker works. In other words, we can say that the bookmaker, through the offered odds, expresses the public opinion of betters, which is not necessarily true.