What is pay per head?
Pay per head is a service for bookies. An offshore office gives the bookie a betting site, the lines and the phone clerks to run his players, and charges him a fee for each player who bets that week. The bookie keeps the players, the risk and the money.
How it works
The bookie, called the agent, opens an account with a pay-per-head shop and gets a website and a login for each of his players. He sets the terms: every player has a credit limit and a bet limit that the agent decides. The players bet on the site or by phone, at the shop's lines. The shop grades everything and sends the agent a report of who won, who lost and what each one owes or is owed, and then the agent settles, paying and collecting himself, usually once a week.
The shop never touches the players' money. It is a service bureau, not a sportsbook.
What the fee buys
The fee is charged per head: per active player, per week. A player who doesn't bet that week normally costs nothing. Say the price is $10 a head and 40 of your players bet; the week costs you $400, whether they won or lost.
For that you get the software, lines that are moved by the shop's own people, clerks who answer the phone, and the reports. Extras such as a casino, a racebook or live betting are sometimes included and sometimes charged on top.
What it doesn't buy
- A bankroll. When your players win, you pay them.
- Collection. A player who doesn't pay is your problem.
- Legal cover. The shop being offshore does not change the law where you are. Whether you may take bets at all depends on where you live.
Cheap and dear
Head prices vary a lot, and the cheap shops are cheap for a reason. What you are really paying for is the people moving the lines and how seldom the site goes down on a Sunday, because a slow line gets picked off by your sharpest player, and one bad number can cost more than a year of the difference in fees. I'd pay the extra dollars a head without thinking twice.
You get what you pay for. The shops are listed in the pay-per-head directory.
Choosing a shop
I'd ask who moves the lines and how fast before I asked the price. I'd test the site on a busy day before moving a single player to it. And once you're running, read the reports every week and act on them, because the limits are yours to set and nobody at the shop will set them for you.
There is more on the business in how to become a bookie and on the tools in software and operations.
The shop runs the bets. The book is still yours, and so is the bill when your players win.
Related questions
What is a bookie?
A bookie is a person who takes bets. He sets a price, takes your money or your word on it, pays you if you win and collects if you lose. The word is slang for bookmaker, and it usually means a local, independent one.
How do you become a bookie?
To become a bookie you need players, a bankroll to pay them when they win, and a way to take and grade their bets. These days the last part is rented from a pay-per-head shop. Whether you may do it at all depends on where you live, and in most places taking bets requires a license.
How do bookies make money?
A bookie makes money by charging for every bet. The charge is built into the price: you lay $110 to win $100, and across thousands of bets that extra $10 is his living. He does not need to pick winners. He needs volume.