Despite its rocky legal status, the sports betting industry sees more than a billion dollars a year in profit. Bookie agents fill the urge people have to have some skin in the game during a sporting event. As long as competitions exist, people will want to put a little money on them.
Want a piece of the pie? Interested in how a bookie makes money? Keep reading and we’ll teach you everything you need to know.
Bookie Agents: The Basics
Bookies, whether they work with the biggest Las Vegas sports betting companies or operate on their own, take bets from people watching sporting events. A bookie agent calculates the chance a team or player will win an event. The bookie sets odds that entice the gambler without putting the bookie’s bank account at risk.
Bookies need to love their chosen markets to set those odds effectively. Every factor that could influence a game’s outcome needs to go into each calculation. A bookie agent will need an open mind about what could affect outcomes, with things like weather reports and news about players having as much of a role as more conventional statistics.
How to Become a Bookie Agent
To become a bookie agent you need a diverse array of skills. A passion for the sports you want to follow helps, but you can’t stop there. You will need a keen mind and a strong aptitude for business.
A bookie agent has to have a good head for numbers. Not only do you need an understanding of probability, you need enough raw calculation ability to perform your own accounting. Bookie software can help with these things, but you still need a baseline level of comfort with numbers.
It also helps if you know both sports and gambling already. You will need to promote yourself to gamblers, and gamblers can smell a phony. You don’t need to be a gambler yourself, but bookie agents need to know how sports fans and gamblers think and what they enjoy.
For an even more practical concern: you’ll need money. You can know everything about how to become a bookie agent and it won’t matter if you have no startup funds. You need to be able to cover lost bets and still have money in the bank.
Bookie Technology
The online era has made bookie work easier. Bookie agent sites help bookies deal with every element of the process.
Moving bookie work online also helps a bookie agent offer clients unique services. The easier betting becomes, the more business a bookie will do, and online betting allows clients to bet from anywhere in the world.
Some bookie technology also helps you track players’ skill levels. This can help you decide which markets will be more profitable given your existing client base.
Make Your Next Bet
If this sounds like a tantalizing prospect, you might be one of the next great bookie agents. Don’t jump in without thinking, but give the job some consideration.
Looking to shore up your business knowledge before getting into bookie work? Try reading some of the other articles from our business section.