Owning Your Own Sportsbook vs. Using a Pay Per Head

Submitted by Aaron Goldstein on

Written by :

Aaron Goldstein

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The obvious difference between owning your own sportsbook and using a Pay Per Head is price.

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The amount of upfront capital and headaches involved to start a sportsbook is extraordinary....and forget once you are in actual operation.

The Pay Per Head model works like this: You get everything from software to server hosting to a customized website for your players and the all-important oddsmakers.  Imagine having all of this and not having to pay people?  That's exactly what the PPH business affords.

Okay, so it's not free.....but there are absolutely no upfront costs involved.  PricePerPlayer.com offers its services for as low as $5 per player (customer) per week.  It's even less contingent on how many players you have under your wing.

The Pay Per Head is also akin to acting as a gambling affiliate in a sense.  The key differences are:

  • You know who your clientele are
  • You have full control of your clientele
  • You get to keep all the revenues coming in (minus the weekly player fees) as opposed to a typical affiliate who receives 25 to 35% of player losses.

Features

Once Up and Running

  •     Live betting on major sports
  •     Thousands of line to choose daily
  •     European sports betting
  •     Tons of Soccer Leagues
  •     Wager online or over the phone
  •     Online player management
  •     Agent Reports
  •     Racebook with all major horse racing venues
  •     Virtual Casino
  •     Live Dealer Casino
  •     Mobile betting
  •     And much more…

Expertise

Contrary to popular belief, having a large number of players does not necessarily mean a more sizable betting handle. In fact, some bookies do quite well with just 10-30 players. In the end, it is all about how much each player wagers every week and how much of that money you get to keep.

PricePerPlayer offers the tools for you to help improve your betting handle.

A good pay per head will have a wide array of betting odds and management options, including a live dealer casino and live in-play betting. 

It's also critical to understand that each of your players is unique.

Players bet differently and have varying preferences and quirks. Once a bookie familiarizes him or herself with each player's likes, enticing them to bet more is easy. This can be achieved with customized promotions and specific bet options.  Perhaps you have a player that loves NHL over all other sports.  Make sure they have every possible prop under the sun to be on pertaining to hockey.

Another example, if a player likes to bet on NBA underdogs at +6 or over on the spread, the Pay Per Head software is equipped at grouping these players and showing highlight NBA underdog matches that fit these criteria.

It wouldn't surprise us in the least to see the folks at PricePerPlayer, and other PPH companies for that matter, begin to dabble in AI and algorithms in the coming year or two.  You are probably already familiar with how algorithms work just by using a social media app like Facebook.  Ever notice how when you are planning a vacation, ads start popping up for travel sites?

You Still Gotta Work a Little Bit

The PPH is similar to what most of the large companies use in terms of contracting out.  In that sense the Pay Per Head is akin to a call center but one that encompasses varying expertise such as lines making and a hosting service.  Trust us when we say the dedicated hosting alone makes up one of the biggest costs of running a website like the one you are reading now, Gambling911.com.  It's what's kept us chugging along for the last 25 years.  We can only guess how much a skilled oddsmaker will cost you without the services of a Pay Per Head.  Everything is included in the $5 per player per week price.  If you have 100 players at $5 per week, the year total comes out to around what we pay just for hosting services.

A good lines makers would typically cost you in the neighborhood of $100,000 a year perhaps.  Do the math to understand the savings involved in using a PPH. Don't get us started on the other overhead costs.

Your job will be to enjoy life, make sure your customers are happy, pop open a beer on the beach, focus in on marketing to reel in more customers, and, sleep in a little longer each morning.

Remember, too, your customers will do some of the work by spreading the good word about your business.

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com

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