Sports betting can’t work efficiently without limits. Bettors want to have the freedom to wager whatever amount they believe is suitable for their game, but bookmakers can’t simply accept any amount, especially if the bet involves sharp action. Maybe you are confused, but this is the naked truth of the sports betting industry.
Bookmakers work to make profits, while sports bettors wager for a number of reasons, including but not limited to, making profit. NBA fans might just want to support their favorite team in a big NBA game, let’s say, using the best NBA betting app in the Philippines or simply visiting an online sportsbook that offers a wide selection of NBA bets. Punters might just want to get more engaged with an upcoming, blockbuster game and as such put their money so as to bring in more action. Or they might want to make profits, because they believe they have an edge and they seek to beat the house.
Whatever the reason for wagering, sports bettors can’t really go unnoticed by bookmakers’ radars, if they win much and if they win big. Bookies have that ensured, guaranteed profit -the vig or the juice – which makes their operations feasible.
They wouldn’t survive if they were to try to beat the bettors at all their games and for that reason they have a built-in margin, which secures their profitability no matter what.
Some bookmakers have higher profit margins than others. These are called soft bookies and they are generally operating at margins that often make their odds and lines not really competitive to the market.
That’s because they usually follow the market prices and instead of setting lines and quickly responding to any changes, they tend to be rather slow in adjusting their offerings. Their primary goal is not to be ‘sharp’ bookmakers, but to attract customers who are also not predominantly interested in being ‘sharp’ bettors.
The soft bookmakers want to have a lot of users that won’t bother to look for the best value, but they will most likely get what they want without shopping around for value prices and odds. This way, the bookmakers keep their guaranteed profits secured and have their customers satisfied.
But what happens when the customers show signs of sharpness or savviness? This is when bookmakers impose limits on the bettors’ game.
Let’s see why they do that.
Bookmakers will see when sharp action is there and for that manner they will want to prevent themselves from any risks. To do so, they don’t want to ban sharp bettors, but to place some limits on the amounts so that they can avoid too many outflows.
These bookies emphasize marketing and promotion or betting market variety more than they emphasize odds’ and lines’ competitiveness. So, they are better off with bettors who also don’t look for value odds and lines. When customers appear to choose prices instead of bets (which is an indication of sharp betting), then this is a red flag for the sportsbooks.
And if this kind of action is accompanied by winning streaks or winning big, then it rings a bell. The bookmakers impose restrictions on bettors’ games and these restrictions are, in the vast majority of cases, bet limits.
Of course there are bookmakers that do accept sharp action and don’t put limits on punters. But these bookmakers, the so-called sharp bookies, function under an entirely different business and bookmaking model, putting emphasis on data analysis and statistics to compile competitive betting odds.
These allow them to be quick and fast in responding to market changes and in being innovative in setting odds. For these bookmakers, sharp bettors are welcomed, they are not limited or restricted in any way and frankly, they are utilized to the best way possible in order to further inform and update their betting markets.
