How Does One Start A Sportsbook?

[mucho69]

does anyone know how much it costs to get licensing and software and just generaly how much it costs to start an online sportsbook?

[Vedran]

I t probably depends in what country you are.

[pips.inc]

and it depends on what software you want

[IWIN]

Originally Posted by mucho69

does anyone know how much it costs to get licensing and software and just generaly how much it costs to start an online sportsbook?

Cheapest Labor: Costa Rica
Easiest licensing: Costa Rica

Costa Rica is where you'd want to start. I've seen books that had 500k in funds go belly up in the first year. You have to have enough capital to sustain two years of losses and then in the third year you'll start to make money. I'd say on a conservative gestimate about 2 million would start a decent book and get the "watchdogs" to come by and see your operations and vouch for you. You'll be giving ridiclous bonuses to get the player in so you'll have to eat alot of money upfront. Lets face it. There are not alot of stand alone books out there these days. Most are backed by other books and have several books under one family. If you have a couple of mill to throw around then yeah a sportsbook would be a hell of a hobby.

[mucho69]

i was thinking about a sportsbook that would be arbitrage friendly and promote it as such, and i dont think you need millions to start small and grow

[IWIN]

Originally Posted by mucho69

i was thinking about a sportsbook that would be arbitrage friendly and promote it as such, and i dont think you need millions to start small and grow

Where are you going to promote it? Probably like any new book you'll go to the online sports forums. This is where the sharpest of the sharp in the sportsbetting reside. How would you ever make money promoting arbritage? THis is a lose/lose situation. Hell, most books don't want that action unless they are on the winning side and you scalped the other book. Thee smallest amount, that will gain credibilty, for a investment is 300k. Don't you think that every Tom,**** and Harry would start a book if it only took a few bucks? What happens when all the winnings in the "arbritage" come from your book? THe only way you could avoid it, is to have sharp lines and in that case you'd need one of the top linesmakers in the industry, where the average salary is right around 75k, even in Costa Rica. Now that you have a great linesmaker, how will you avoid the people that don't use arbritage betting and only straight up bet? These are the people that will bury a new book.
All I'm saying is that there is alot to consider when thinking about this business. Look at the "E" ranked books that have tried this at www.theoffshoreedge.com and go to sbratings and see how many more failures there are than sucsess stories. You could start small, but one bad week of losses and you not paying up, would have every watchdog on you like white on rice.

[VinceVanHorn]

The simplest and most cost effective way to start an online sportsbook is with a white label turnkey sportsbook option. Line management, hosting, tech support, player support, phone bets, etc are all included. Some options can start as low as $7500 without any revenue share or royalties paid to the operator. Check out http://turnkeywhitelabelsportsbook.com/ or http://gamblegaming.com/

[FixIt4U]

Better to try first free sportsbook software. You will have a lots of idea's on how has sportsbook work. There are lots of free sportsbook out there just use your seach engines.

[VinceVanHorn]

What free sportsbook software are you referring to? You can become an affiliate of a sportsbook for sure or get betting management software. I do not know where you can actually acquire real sportsbook software to operate on a professional level for free. Do you have one example? Thanks

Originally Posted by FixIt4U

Better to try first free sportsbook software. You will have a lots of idea's on how has sportsbook work. There are lots of free sportsbook out there just use your seach engines.

[tchatting]

There is nothing so called a free sportsbook, there are server costs, LIVE ODDs cost, operational costs and deposit fees/withdraw fees, operators and support and many many more, especially when you could expect to pay up a lot if your first few months were unlucky as operator.
Of course, if you do not intend to pay your clients, its doable, but you wont be able to get much clients if you dont have a reputation in the first place...

Anyway, its still doable, if you have referrals and really willing to work your way to get sportsbook for really cheap OR build up your commission to get your own sportsbook with the least possible costs, i can guide you to someone who works in sportsbooks offerings (wont post his email on public , dont know if its a good idea )
PM me and ill reply with his information ... the strategy is you get a very nice affiliate deal which he gets you, and when you prove it worth, you get your own sportsbook sponsored by their company.
If you are interested PM me, and dont take my word for it, when i send you their name do some Google search about them and their reputation before even doing the actual contact...
I know such operator, and they dont really advertise such offerings because of the hundreds of lame offers they would receive and only deal with serious proven workers.