Hey guys, I am looking for some advice on becoming a successful, real-life (meaning not based on the internet) bookie/sportsbook operator. Basically me and a few friends are considering creating a "sportsbook" (basically we would just be a few guys who take bets from people, so I guess it would be more like a firm of bookies... or something like that) and even though we have a solid understanding of what is needed to be on the gambling side of the business, we feel we might be missing a few things about being on the other side.
We aren't expecting to make wads of cash doing this, especially at first, but we also don't want to waste our time, miss out on potential earnings or even lose money so we are getting at this in the most cautious manner possible, while trying to learn as much as we can about the business of accepting sports wagers. Our simplified business strategy at this point is something like this:
1. We realize we are going to have an extremely small clientele, especially at first, so we plan on having a really low maximum sized bets policy in place to reduce our risk of losing more than we can afford to.
2. We also plan on offering very pricey lines in order to maximize our vigorish as well as offering relatively inflated parlay odds (and a maximum parlay payoff amount we think would be reasonable).
3. Never accept wagers that could push us over the edge of being able to immediately pay the bettors out. Wagers may have to be declined or lowered in size somewhat frequently at first.
4. Never accept bets without having the money in hand first. No credit wagering allowed. I guess we would allow people to set up an "account" with us where we have their money (but is still theirs to get back whenever of course) for further convenience but I doubt very many people would be willing to do that.
5. For line making, we simply would use what appears to be the most accepted line at the popular sportsbooks for the opening line and adjust accordingly.
Now some questions
Line changing: With not a lot of people placing wagers, I worry that numerous games will have extremely lopsided amounts of wagers on one side or the other (as in 100% to 0%) which worries me. What would you recommend as the most effective way to obtain relatively equal amounts of action on each side of most games to ensure we can profit from the vigorish (rather than simply profiting from losing wagers which is not what we are ultimately after)? I feel massive spread and line adjustments are going to create arbitrage opportunities and may not be in our best interest... Declining a LOT of bets? Refund wagers made (before the game of course) on games with tremendously lopsided amounts of action?
Also, we are aware that sportsbooks hedge their own potential losses by betting on certain games where they could stand to lose a significant amount of money on a certain outcome at other sportsbooks. I am just wondering how prevalent this practice is and possibly some tips on utilizing this risk reduction strategy effectively.
If you know (or are) a bookie any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.