I would like to pose and try and answer the what, why and who questions about sports betting brokers. What are sports betting brokers, why do they exist and do we need them and finally who are the prominent brokers and who should be using them.
A sports betting broker is simply an intermediary between the sports bettor and the bookmaker. Normally they will either take a deposit from the client and hold it and allocate funds within their own large company accounts with one bookmaker or divided among several, or they will actually open one or multiple accounts at the bookmakers for you which you then deposit to and they then can bet on at your request. One provides you with the simplicity of one deposit and simplified banking in general and one allows you to make sure your funds are held with bookmakers you feel may have greater financial stability than your broker. Sports betting brokers are predominantly concerned with providing access to the large liquidity bookmakers in Asia (sometimes other places) and to a degree exchanges and tote pools where lower commission rates or indeed just legal entry can be provided for. The client will provide instructions invariably by phone or Skype (possibly other instant messaging services) or by submitting bets direct by third party online execution platform or API to the bookmakers. The broker will act as the execution bridge between the two parties.
This brings us to the question why do companies do this? What is in it for them and also why do bettors use them? Brokers always exist in areas where there are difficult to facilitate transactions without the necessary expertise. One such complex area is the Asian bookmaking scene. Asian bookmakers have become known for large limits and a willingness to take on smart bettors with a view to shaping their books using their bets as markers for where the market should be. There is a small group of absolute bookmaking powerhouses who will ultimately see a very large portion of Asia’s bets once they have filtered through to them. I say filtered because the man on the street across Asia is normally not betting direct with these bookmakers. Street corner bookies take bets from punters and then lay off their liabilities by betting with bigger bookies who in turn do the same and on and on until a large and well respected agent will pass the business on to the likes of SBO, IBC, Singbet and a whole host of others.
The bookmakers get to build profitable relationships with the top agents and often the big book as it is sometimes called which is largely made up of syndicate and top agent money is massively larger than the small book or online retail facing portion of the business. You will have seen Dafabet, 12Bet, 188 Bet and the like on odds comparison websites and these are the online retail branches of the massive Asian parent bookmakers. These allow these books access to some low limit mostly non smart money and also a recognisable brand for the purpose of lucrative football sponsorships and the like. The big book works on huge volume and tiny percentages and the small book works to bigger margins and smaller volume. Your experience of one of the smaller retail brands will not be the same as if you dealt with either a top agent or the big book direct. Brokers are often your only way in to the agent system and wherever there is a service to be provided there is money to be made.
The broker makes money via rebate on volume provided to the big books and not by charging the bettor and that is why this becomes so interesting to the aspiring pro punter. For the vast majority of successful bettors the biggest problem they face is getting their bets on and in the size they want. The Asian agent system accommodates smart bettors and in larger size providing you want to bet on the markets that the Asian books specialise in. In fact some brokers and Agents like to profile their customer base because the appetite for smart bets is so high as it allows you to move your odds faster and position your book before the others can move. Some agents and brokers do not even want to facilitate losing bettors as the market place is awash with dumb money but there is only so much smart money available and he who has the most smart money has the sharpest lines.
In a market where the lines are bet to such low margins even a small odds move can open up a sub 100% book on a given line. This in turn attracts passive smart money more commonly known as arbitrage money which means the book who is now best price on the opposite side to the smart money bet they just took will see bets from arbitrage that will once again balance the book. They capture a fraction of a percent, as they know the market will move their way and the slowest moving books are forced to lock in a fraction of a percent loss. The smarter you are the more they want you. So I am a smart bettor who can no longer bet with retail bookies and I want access to the agent system and the easiest way to do it is through a broker however the benefits do not or rather should not stop there.
While the ability to get large bets on at very low margins is of course its own reward a good broker can offer more than that. Firstly there is what is known in the financial industry as broker “colour”. This simply is a little chat about what is going on in the betting markets. Seen a lot of business in one market or another, have been seeing a lot of late money in Serie C recently, heard from a well connected guy that player x is not going to start etc. Now a lot of broker colour is just noise but a good broker can educate you about the market far beyond what your own research could achieve. They are also able to put you in contact with some very helpful people such as software developers, data providers, other pros, tax advisors and syndicates.
Brokers often are the centres of a spider web of well-informed smart people who bet on sports, this is the kind of yellow pages you have always wanted. Some brokers can offer you all this while others may just offer you a Skype address and some Skrill details, as the number of brokers grows it will pay more and more to shop around. One factor that is on the rise is the provision of an electronic platform to place bets with. To many the use of online chat feels at best antiquated and at worst highly unprofessional. Now we are seeing the rise of software that provides the odds comparison screens we love with direct bet placement. On top of that they will mostly show you the amount available to bet at that price which creates an exchange style order book.
It is worth noting though that often the screen does not show the volume that could be available if your broker made direct contact with an agent. The screen represents what is available on the bookmaker’s API stream and they are not willing to just let bots run complete riot all over their prices just yet hence the smaller limits often available. Exceptions to this are operators such as Pinnacle where what you see on the API is basically what you get. These pieces of software are improving all the time and I am sure increasingly complex order types and other features will be appearing.
This brings us to who are the prominent brokers and who should be using them and I will highlight a couple of important factors about brokers. There are often multiple brand names all leading to the same broker and if a name disappears there are no guarantees whether the broker closed or simply that rendition of it was closed. Regardless of which broker you use, you must do you due diligence and research the company. Ask other people, Google it, speak to someone on the phone at the broker, read reviews and above all be cautious. Please don’t just see a website and handover your Neteller/Skrill without a thorough investigation. I can happily say that www.Eastbridge-sb.com is part of the largest sports betting brokerage in the world with the best contacts and service but do not take it from me, contact them and ask the hard questions of them and find out for yourself. Finally who should be using them? Everyone should be using them who takes their betting seriously and bets on the markets they offer but unfortunately they are not viable for everyone. The bigger and smarter your bets the more you will get out of a broker and you must be prepared to be turned away by some if the total you bet per month does not meet their minimums.
You must have come to terms with the fact that you will no longer be betting with UK high street bookmakers and the fact that your first player yellow card system will not be facilitated. You will know that the future holds thousands of bets a year and all for 3% ROI but that should not be sniffed at as in real money terms that is quite nice thank very much. You will be recording every bet and checking the settlement of every bet. You will be ready to move on to the final stage of professional straight up betting. Low volume losers need not apply.
I am sure there are plenty of errors here and areas where I have misunderstood the finer detail and I hope that those more experienced pros will point them out so they can be corrected.
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