Provider-versus-provider comparisons

Below the guide there's a table that sets any two of the shops we've reviewed side by side, line by line, from what each review found and where it found it. It's a starting point for your own test, not a substitute for it.

Start with what a head is

The price per head is the first figure every shop gives you, and it means nothing until you know what they count. Most shops charge for each active player in a week, but "active" is theirs to define. At one shop it is a player who placed a bet. At another it can be a player who logged in, or one with an open bet carried over from last week.

Say you have 50 players, 30 of them bet this week and 42 logged in. At $8 a head, the first shop bills you $240 and the second $336. Same advertised price, $96 a week apart. Ask each shop for its definition in writing, and ask what is charged on top: live betting, the casino, the racebook, setup, a weekly minimum. Then compare the bill you would actually get, not the number on the banner.

The lines

This is the part I would spend the most time on, because it is where an agent wins or loses money. The shop gets its fee whether your players win or lose, and a stale number costs you, not them.

Put the two shops' boards up next to the market on a busy afternoon and watch what happens when the market moves. How long does each one take to follow? Look at the price as well as the number: a shop dealing -110 on sides and one dealing -105 are running different books for you, and you can usually choose. I'd ask both who their line movers are and how they handle a player who keeps hitting the opener. A shop with a straight answer to that one has thought about your money.

The controls

Open the agent screen at each shop and try to set the limits you would really use: a credit figure per player, a maximum bet by sport and by type of bet, parlays and teasers on or off, live betting on or off for one player but not another. If you can't cut one player's limit on a Saturday night in under a minute, that is the answer.

Live betting and props

If your players bet during games, compare the live boards the same way you compared the pre-game ones: how much is offered, how long a bet sits before it is accepted, and how often markets are taken down. There is more on this in PPH software for live betting. Do the same for props, and check whether you can write your own (see prop-builder software).

Reports and support

Ask each shop for a sample of its weekly figure sheet and its open-bets report. You will settle every week from that sheet, so it has to be clear to you, not to them. Then call support at the worst time you can think of, a Sunday at kickoff, and time how long it takes to reach a person who can change something.

Running the test

Most shops offer a trial. I'd use it properly. Open two or three test accounts of your own at each, place bets at busy hours, ask for a grade to be checked, change a limit, and read the reports at the end of the week. Move one or two trusted players before you move all of them.

And keep the bankroll that covers a losing week whichever shop you pick. A better shop lowers your chances of a bad week. It doesn't pay one for you.