Not a day goes by where at least a couple prospective pay per head agents call my outsource bookmaking joint and ask what separates us from the competition. My answer is always, “How much time do you have.”

But, 100 times out of 100, I always start with talking about our stage – the line movers, odd-makers, whatever you want to call them. This group we have recruited here at PayPerHead.com is the best in the offshore bookmaking industry.

While some price per head companies also have a stage, others do not; they simply follow Don Best. None of the competitors that have their own stage have the years of experience our team has.

Take our head horse lines maker for instance. He has almost a decade of experience in various offshore sportsbooks in addition to approximately 20 years of working in the horse betting services industry in the states. He has truly seen and done it all.

The top two lines managers also have no shortage of experience. Both started as corner bookies and have mastered their trade offshore. Both are tireless workers, always looking for the most ideal number.

The two latest additions to the management team come from ‘across the pond’. Sure they talk a little funny, but these two Brits specialize in Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Cricket and Live in-running. These are the hottest sports to bet on in the UK, so we went directly to the source to recruit guys that know how to deal with high volumes of bets.

There is never a moment where the stage is on break. It is a 24/7, 365 day a year operation. If a bet is placed at 3:30 am on some random Wednesday, one of our guys will be right on top of it.

Due to the expertise of this team, our guys do something known as a “sharp check”. On a continuing basis, the guys on the stage will be looking for “sharp bettors”. Once a sharpie has been identified, the pph agent is contacted and informed that one of his players is sharp. No other pay per head group offers this service; something that can save the bookie thousands of dollars.

Sure, my stage is the most expensive in the industry, but I can sleep well at night knowing we have the sharpest lines around. It would only take a few bad lines to eat up the money a lesser pph agent shop would save by hiring a less experienced team – not worth it at all.

Although encouraged, my pay per head agents aren’t forced to use our lines; they can manage the numbers themselves if they so choose. However, considering that just over 85% of the agents trust our stage, confirms to me that I have the best crew around.

Earlier this week a major and highly reputable offshore sportsbook became the victim of a Denial of Service (DOS) attack. Days later and their bettors are still having issues placing a bet. Even though this offshore bookmaking joint doesn’t deal in the bookmaker outsourcing business like the company I run, payperhead.com, the threats of DOS attacks and website down time is as much of a threat to other price per head shops.

For those not familiar with what a DOS attack is, I’ll spare you the boring technical talk and try to keep it simple. Basically, the Russian mafia or another Eastern European organized crime group makes the website unavailable to their users. The mafia will then attempt to extort money out of the owners of the website; in return they will cease the DOS attack.

Thankfully we here at payperhead.com have invested a lot of money in our technology and we have the infrastructure in place to repel DOS attacks.

And it’s not just about DOS attacks. Our IT department works around the clock to ensure that our site does not experience any down time.

Let’s face it, if the site is down, the pay per head agent’s players can’t place their bets. And obviously if the pph agent’s players can’t place their bets, the agents can’t make any money. Believe it or not, many other outsource bookmaking joints encounter this issue. They cut corners and do not want to invest in the proper technology to ensure their site is up-and-running 24/7, 365.

To take it one step further, our bookmaking agent reports are protected with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. Again, without getting too technical, this means that agents will be able to view their data with the utmost confidentiality.

In conclusion, if you are looking out for your bottom line as a bookie and you value your players, do your homework when choosing your potential online gaming software provider. Make certain that they invest the necessary time and money into their technology. It might cost you a couple extra dollars a month, but you will sleep easy knowing your players will be able to bet uninterrupted around the clock.

Earlier this week it was announced that offshore bookmaking giant Sportsbook.com would cease taking on new U.S. customers starting May 1st. Shocking news indeed, especially considering this offshore sportsbook has been catering to primarily bettors from the states for about 14 years.

Local bookies and pay per head shops (including yours truly) are licking their collective chops.

Considering that sports betting isn’t going anywhere, the tens of thousands of bettors that won’t be able to deposit with SB.com, will need a new home.

Sure they can try and take their thirst for action to any of the other dwindling amount of post-up online sportsbooks that still accept U.S. play. If they are fortunate enough to get their money in their account, hopefully they won’t have to pay too many deposit fees on top. Oh, and if they do win and request a withdrawal, I hope they don’t mind paying more outrageous fees. They better be patient; it often takes weeks to get their hands on the money. All this hassle for the convenience of betting online all of a sudden does not seem so convenient.

With all of these problems in the offshore sportsbook world, there is no better time to be involved in the wonderful world of outsource bookmaking.

Let’s face it, people are going to continue to bet, but as long as the DOJ continues to tighten the clamps on the monstrous post-up books, it will be more and more difficult for these bettors to get their action in. So, naturally they’ll start looking elsewhere – traditional sports bookies.

However, this large mass of 21st century sports bettors are accustomed to making their bets online or even from their mobile phone. That’s where the corner bookie needs to realize that in order to expand his business he must get out of the dark ages and use an outsource sportsbook like the one I run, Payperhead.com.

Once the bookie uses a pay per head sportsbook, his players will be able to bet online on countless events. They won’t have to pay crazy fees or wait weeks to get paid. The pph agent will simply collect and pay his player however they see fit.

This is the future of sports betting services in the U.S. Offshore as post-up sportsbooks are a dying breed. Old school corner books that still take their own bets on the phone are stuck in the stone ages. Don’t hold your breath for the states to legalize sports betting anytime soon.

The advantages that per head sportsbooks offer the agents and the bettors dwarfs any other option out there today.

The future is now my fellow bookie.

When people think of pay per head services, they usually only think about sports betting. Often, lost in the shuffle are the large sums of money the price per head agents can make off of their players in the casino. As a matter of fact, some of the pph agents are very leery of letting their players spend their money on blackjack, roulette, craps and of the other casino games offered at payperhead.com.

Why is that? The casino is not the bookie’s enemy; it is the exact opposite. Offshore sportsbooks offer their players the opportunity to play casino games for a reason. Because they make the books a ton of money! Duh!

Gamblers like to gamble, whether it’s on big game cards, a golf game with their buddy, etc; gamblers always need a little action to keep them going.

Now, as we all know, the sports betting services business is very seasonal. Once March Madness is over, things start to slow down. And in just over a month, when the NBA playoffs come to an end, things get even slower. Bookies will be counting the days until football starts; two plus months of agony.

Well, if your players had access to an online casino, you wouldn’t have to solely depend on dime line baseball to pay your summer rent. No matter the time of day, your players would be able to get their fix and spend their cash on casino games.

This not only keeps your players happier, but obviously makes you a lot more money.

Now, come the high season, your players will still pile into the casino – at even a higher rate. When they win on sports, they’ll try to keep the hot streak going at the virtual tables. When they lose on sports, they’ll try to recoup their losses. A win-win for the bookie.

When I was checking out some competing pay per head shops the other day, I was floored when I discovered that they kept a portion of the profits their pay per head agents made on the casino. These competitor pph shops were keeping anywhere from 5-7% of the boookie’s winnings that they made off of their players. Doesn’t that go against everything the pph industry was built on?

We here at payperhead.com, on the other hand, only charge the agent a fixed fee of about $5 if a player uses the casino. The consistent winnings go to the bookie, just as it should be.

To all you bookies out there, don’t ignore the mass amounts of extra income you can make by allowing your players access to casino games.

A few days back, one of my pay per head agents in New York forwarded me an article from his local newspaper. The main gist of the story was that once the city’s Off-Track Betting closed down, the bettors turned to wagering on other sports via a corner bookie to quench their never ending thirst for action, which makes sense.

However, what didn’t make any sense was the fact that the article stated that “almost no street bookies will take horse-racing wagers.”

Now, that might be true if the local bookie is stuck in the stone ages; however, with the myriad of outsource bookmaking joints, this doesn’t have to be so. For instance, the pph agents I and the business I run, payperhead.com, cater to have full access to our horse betting services.

So basically, if these old school bookie types were using payperhead.com, their players would have a safe place to bet on horses, or any other sporting event for that matter. Considering the ‘house hold’ on horse betting is higher than other sports, Joe Bookie would increase his revenue by using a price per head shop.

Additionally, these potential agents in New York would be in the middle of fertile recruiting grounds, now that there are so many horse bettors without a home.

Al told me that since the OTB’s closed up shop, the tracks have replaced the sports bar as his number one place to recruit new players. Al stated that horse bettors are some of the most passionate gamblers out there and, coupled with the fact that there is always a horse race about to go off somewhere in the world, they don’t drop off the face of the earth like loyal bettors of other sports once that particular sport’s off-season hits.

Al went on to explain that his potential new players were always interested when they heard about the benefits of using our racebook. How could they not be? Up to post betting, full track odds, daily head-to-head horse matchups and access to specially trained horse wager clerks – all from the comfort of their own home.

Time to wake up my fellow bookmakers; just because most bookies don’t bother with taking horse action, doesn’t mean you don’t have to. It’s too profitable to ignore. Of course, you are going to need the help of highly trained professionals like me and the rest of my team at Payperhead.com.

Considering I have been employed in the bookie industry for just about all of my adult life, I’m always searching the web for sports gambling stories. Every few weeks I’ll come across a story on how some corner bookie got pinched.

Last week, I read an article about a 51-year old man by the name of Sidney Jay Winfrey from outside of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Mr. Winfrey was not only into sports bookmaking, but also ran unlawful lottery games.

Obviously, there is nothing wrong with Mr. Winfrey’s chosen profession. Although I have always concentrated on being a sports bookie, dating back a couple decades when I was taking bets out of an undisclosed bar in Philadelphia, I never dabbled in the lottery – but I had some associates who did.

Anyways, my problem with Mr. Winfrey is how he got caught. The police were able to confiscate plenty of evidence from Mr. Winfrey’s trash. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the first time an officer of the law rummaged through coffee grinds and cigarette butts to create a paper trail, but this is 2011 and there is no excuse for it.

If only if Mr. Winfrey used a sportsbook agent service to help him manage his clientele, he might still be a free man. This is something I’ll never understand with some of these old-school corner bookie types.

Why in the world would anyone sit on their phone all day taking bets, then writing the bets (evidence) down on paper, when they can simply direct their players to a bookmaking outsourcing group like PayPerHead.com?

A couple of years ago, I was back home in Philly when I met up with a fellow bookmaker (let’s call him Joey) I ran around with 15 years ago. I recognized that in order to expand my business and lessen the chances of getting pinched might mean to learn how to use a computer. On the other hand, Joey wanted nothing to do with it. He was as ‘old school’ as they come. Setting up in a bar, taking bets, answering the phone all day, writing numbers down on paper, etc – a real grind if there ever was one.

Don’t get me wrong, booking is always hard work, but, when you use a pay per head service, like the one I run, we do most of the grunt work. We are by the phones 24/7, we are answering the non-stop ‘what’s the line’ questions, we are taking and recording the bets.

The PPH agents, on the other hand, can concentrate on the fun stuff like recruiting new players and collecting the money.

I don’t care how large or how small your client list is; protect yourself while making your life easier by using a per head sportsbook. Or at the very least, invest in a good shredder.

Michael Taconne

Ah yes, Super Bowl week… my favorite time of the year to be involved in the sports betting industry, but it wasn’t always that way.

Back when I was a local bookie in Philadelphia a couple decades ago, I used to absolutely loathe this week. Sure the action was good but every Tom, Dick and Harry would come out of the woodwork looking to place a wager on Super Bowl Sunday.

All of my clients had numerous friends that wanted to come in for this one game and make a bet. Now don’t get me wrong, referrals are always wonderful. But taking one bet from one guy you’ve never met wasn’t always worth the risk.

Also, considering I myself am a football junkie, I hated the fact that I couldn’t just sit there and watch the pregame hype and game itself in semi-peace. Yea I know this is the profession I chose; I should have expected to be answering my phone non-stop throughout the weekend leading up to the game.

“Hey Mikey, my roommate’s- cousin’s-uncle’s-pizza delivery guy wants to place a bet on the Super Bowl. Will you take his action?”

Non-stop, all week. Then came the game itself. Phone ringing off the hook with my players wanting to know if the line changed, over and over again.

Booking the action wasn’t much fun either. Considering that the action was rarely 50-50, I just about always had a huge decision come game day. This of course made it stressful not only taking the sports bets but changing the betting odds themselves. Too late on a line move because I’m taking a $25 bet from some college kid and suddenly I get pounced on by a wise-guy.

But how the times have changed, thanks to Al Gore and his invention of the internet.
When I first discovered bookmaking outsourcing years back, I cried tears of joy. What an ingenious product – I direct my players to an offshore bookmaking joint where they sit and take my players bets, move the lines, and deal with the non-stop “what’s the spread” questions. I can finally watch the Super Bowl and every other sporting event in peace!

Of course, I still had plenty of potential players hitting me up all week, but now I had the time to properly screen these guys to see if they were worth my time. I also had time to go out and recruit since I wasn’t sitting next to the phone all day.

Fast-forward a few years and now I’m the man in charge at payperhead.com. Now I’m dealing with the very pay per head agents on a daily basis. I know exactly what they are going through, especially this time of year.

I explain to them what a ‘no brainer’ it is to use a outsource bookmaking joint like mine. Thanks to the thousands of bets we see, we’ll move the lines and make them the sharpest, thus limiting the bookies exposure and increasing the profits for all involved. Win-win for everyone.

If you have ever been involved in the sports bookie business, chances are at one time or another, one of your players failed to make a payment. Now, if you’ve ever used a corner bookie, it is unlikely that you’ve gotten stiffed, but it still happens on occasion.

Every once in a while one of my pay per head employees takes a call from a bettor stating that his bookie is nowhere to be found. Every time we get one of these calls, I have to shake my head in amazement.

Nowadays, all of the tools you need are out there to make a lot of money in this business. But, many of these fly-by-night bookmakers don’t treat this as a business and they find out the hard way – going broke or carrying the “stiff” label for life.

The bookies of the 21st century really don’t realize how easy they have it. Back in the day when I was taking bets in Philly I had to be the king of multi-tasking: Taking bets, moving lines, recruiting players, identifying sharps, managing my bankroll, exchanging money, keeping the local authorities happy (allegedly), etc.

Now most of that can be done by using a reputable sportsbook agent service like the one I run, PayPerHead.com.

Our management staff is not only made of old school bookies, but also professionals that have been involved in running Fortune 500 companies.

Now, back to the bookies that don’t pay…

From my experience, both as a traditional bookie and as the main man here at PayPerHead.com the common theme that failed bookies share is that they don’t treat this as a business. I don’t care if you are selling bets or selling ice-cream, if you want to score a profit, the same business acumen applies.

You need to be able to best sell and market your product, have good money-management, be able to learn from your mistakes, and employ good staff. This is all provided at reputable price per head bookmaking spots.

It’s not just about sitting by the phone and taking bets and then hoping your team covers the point spread. If you want to book bets for the long-haul and make unlimited money, then using pay per head sportsbook is the only way to go.

Let the professionals with decades of experience guide you and show you how to turn the best profits. Let the per head call center services deal with your players on a daily basis. You concentrate more on recruitment and exchanging money.

Taking your players to a bookmaker outsourcing joint like PayPerHead.com will take your business to the next level. Think long term instead of short term.

Michael T.

Hey, I’m not usually into conspiracy theories, but don’t you think New Jersey is taking a huge step in the direction of legalizing online gambling and the biggest Mafia bust in US history occurring in the same week is a tad bit coincidental?

On January 11^th, the New Jersey legislature voted 63-11 in favor of letting Atlantic City casinos to offer online casino games to their residents. Since the assembly and Senate both passed the internet gambling bill, all that is needed now is Governor Chris Christie’s ‘yes’ vote and those living in New Jersey  will be rolling crap dice and pulling slot levers from the comforts of their homes.

Fast forward a week and U.S. Federal agents bust 127 alleged mafia members from New Jersey, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Rhode Island. One of the many charges against the alleged La Cosa Nostra members is illegal gambling.

Now, both of these events happening within a week’s time is probably just a matter of coincidence, but I always love reading the words “illegal gambling” and immediately think of how hypocritical the U.S. government is when it comes to gambling.

At least when you place a bet with your local sportsbook agent or your preferred offshore betting service, you have a realistic chance of winning your bet. However, if you bet on this weekend’s Jets-Steelers points spread, your chances of winning is about the same as a coin-flip.

What are your chances of winning the lottery? You’re more likely to get eaten by a shark or struck by lightning. No thanks; I’ll stick to ringing up my favorite pre head sportsbook call center every Sunday.

Let’s not fool each other, these government-run lotteries are monstrous money-makers. The government’s keep is a joke. Whereas a standard wager at an offshore bookmaking joint would give the house approximately 4.5% house edge, the house edge on these legal lotteries always surpass 25% and at times above 50%.

It seems like the feds are going after the wrong guys here when it comes to gambling.

Considering that U.S. citizens spend over $50 billion a year on the numerous ‘pipe dream’ lottos, the government is feeding off of the ignorant and downtrodden, given the embarrassingly horrid odds.

People gamble to be entertained and for the chance of making a couple of bucks. Betting on sports gives mature adults that outlet. Thanks to gambling, the Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors game now means something to someone in Boston. And it’s even more entertaining when the gambler wins, which happens often in the world of sports betting.

Who are the real crooks? Joe Bookie or the Lotto operators? The answer is quite obvious to me.

With the NFL Playoffs set to kick-off and the college bowl season in its final week, it is high-season for anyone and everyone involved in the sports betting world. Doesn’t matter if you are a corner bookie taking bets at the neighborhood watering hole, a pay per head agent monitoring your players at an outsourcing bookmaking joint, or an employee at an offshore bookmaking joint; one thing certain – you are logging plenty of hours this time of year.

Tony D. from bookie service payperhead.com explained:
“This is without a doubt my favorite time of the year to be involved in the sports bookie industry. The phones in our sportsbook call center are ringing off the hook 24/7. The action never stops… if you have a passion for sports and betting – bowl season and the NFL playoffs is where it’s at.”

Of course, like any betting event, the bookies can find themselves on the wrong side of a wager just as easily as being on the right side. And when you take on a ton of volume, you can be in for quite the rollercoaster ride. However, one thing is for certain, you’ll always end out on top – especially if you are hooked up with the proper sports book software.

Take some of this year’s biggest bowls for instance. Saturday’s Rose Bowl, Monday’s Orange Bowl and Tuesday’s Sugar Bowl were the three biggest bet games of the 2010/11 bowl season. Thanks to their razor sharp betting lines, the group at payperhead.com won two of the games and lost one.

The Wisconsin Badgers and TCU Horned Frogs met in the much anticipated Rose Bowl. Thanks to their flawless record, TCU opened as a 3-point favorite. The college football betting public backed the favored Horned Frogs. TCU ended up winning the game 21-19, more importantly; the Badgers covered the point spread.

Bookies 1 – Bettors 0
Next up was Monday’s Orange Bowl between Stanford and Virginia Tech. Stanford opened as field goal favorites and again the point spread was moved to -3.5 due to the public backing the favorite. This time the public was correct; Stanford pummeled VA Tech 40-12.

Bookies 1 – Bettors 1
Tuesday’s Sugar Bowl between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Arkansas Razorbacks was the next big game on the college bowl betting docket. OSU opened as a 3-point favorite and although the line moved to 3.5 for a while, the public was on Arkansas at the end of the day. Thanks to OSU’s last minute interception, the Buckeyes secured a 31-26 victory and the sports books escaped a loss.

Bookies 2 – Bettors 1
The betting public can more than make up for their previous losses if they win next Monday’s BCS Championship game between Oregon and Auburn. Using the early numbers as an indicator, Tony D. and his pay per head shop will be rooting like hell for a particular side once again. With five days of betting until kick-off, about 75 percent of their players are on Auburn -2.5.