In this article I will explain how bookmakers use different business models and how understanding these can benefit someone's personal betting approach.
European Bookmakers | 1x2 | Fixed Odds
This is the oldest model and somewhat outdated. These bookmaker simply offer odds on matches and customers can bet on these events. This model right now is very profitable for these european bookmakers and crush 98%+ of the people who are using them. The model they use is not fair as they take huge margins on the odds and only allow small or losing players to bet with them. Winners are not welcome, specially not if they bet big and understand how to exploit their entire model. The reason they are also called 1x2 or Fixed odds bookmakers is because they mainly focus on Win-Draw-Lose outcomes and the odds are not directly affected by money that is being bet. They also offer a very big variety of special bets like over-under, correct score, both teams to score, goalscorers, 1H/2H and so on. These type of bets are charged with bigger profit margin! Bookmakers in this category are nearly all the bookmakers the big betting public know. Some of the European 1x2 bookmakers are Unibet, Bet365, Ladbrokes, William Hill, bwin. They are the most convienient to use, but this comes at a big price, The odds ! Since these bookmakers allow no big winning players, they don't have to fear huge losses. This is their weak point as odds adjustment often is slow and can be exploited. Don't ever take a bet with these bookmakers when the asian market as explained below offer better odds on the same exact bet.
Asian Bookmakers | Asian Handicap | Dynamic Odds
These type of bookmakers offer a newer model that is much more fair overall. Unlike 1x2 bookmakers, they focus on asian handicaps to offer 50%-50% type bets on a football match which allows then to offer dynamic lines that move directly based on the money that comes in. For example if 50%-50% odds are Home 1.952 - Away 1.952 and I bet lets say 1000€ on the home side the odds will instantly change to 1.892-2.01. This way they created a self regulating system where the market sets the price. They allow for bigger bets and winning players are welcome as they help them set the lines correct. The way they make profit is by having absolutely huge turnovers which allows them to only changer small margins compared to the European business model. A side effect is that most of the times the odds are set very very tight. That is the reason why you should never take a bet at 1x2 books when they have lower odds compared to the asian market. Also important to know is that big money always comes into the Asian market first and the European market adjust their odds based on the this a tiny bit later. The most used asian bookmakers are Pinnacle sports, SBOBET, IBCBET, ISN, 188Bet
| Example Football match | Venezuela vs Colombia |
|---|---|
| Book Without margin (100% book) | Home 5.80 - Draw 4.32 - Away 1.68 |
| What Asian Book offer (Pinnacle) | Home 5.65 - Draw 4.08 - Away 1.66 |
| What 1x2 books offer (unibet) | Home 5.50 - Draw 4.10 - Away 1.60 |
| Book Without margin (100% book) | Over 2.5 Goals 1.99 - Under 2.5 Goals 2.01 |
| What Asian Book offer (Pinnacle) | Over 2.5 Goals 1.943 - Under 2.5 Goals 1.961 |
| What 1x2 books offer (unibet) | Over 2.5 Goals 1.85 - Under Goals 2.5 1.95 |
Exchanges
These type of bookmakers directly link players and charge a commission for their services and do not risk losing money in the process. Betfair and Matchbook are the biggest examples. Exchanges like betfair are mostly used for sports trading since the commission fee only is charged on the net winnings.
Blockchain Bookmakers
There are so many benefits that bookmakers on a blockchain can offer compared to the business models that are currently being used. A company does not need to make any profit so they will be able to offer the best odds on the market. Safety should also not be an issue as blockchain has proven itself in this regard. Right now there are a lot of country restrictions. US players can't use Pinnaclesports who offer 1.952-1.952 lines on US Sports and are forced most of the time to beat 1.91-1.91 lines. Being able to go to 1.98-1.98 will be huge and it will attract a lot of big players.