Best PPH under $5

Reading the price

A head price is a fee for each active player, each week. Three questions turn the advertised figure into the one you will pay. What counts as active: a player who bet, or one who only logged in? What is included: sides and totals only, or live betting, props, the casino and the racebook as well? And what sits around the price: a setup fee, a weekly minimum, a contract?

Here is how an advertised $4 can move. Say you have 30 active players at $4, which is $120, and 20 of them bet live, which the shop charges at $2 extra a head, so another $40, while 10 of them play the casino at $2 a head on top, which adds $20. The week costs $180. That is $6 a head, still cheap, and not under $5.

I'd ask the shop for a sample invoice for a package like mine before I believed any number on the website.

What a low price leaves out

A shop charging a few dollars a head has to save money somewhere, and the obvious places are people. Fewer line movers, more reliance on a feed, fewer clerks at busy hours, and support that answers in the morning rather than on Sunday afternoon.

The one that costs you is the line. The shop is paid its fee whether your players win or lose. When a number sits on the board after the market has moved, the player who takes it is beating you, not the shop. Most packages of any size have someone who looks for those numbers, and a slow board is what he looks for.

What the saving is worth

Put the saving next to that risk. Say the choice is a shop at $4 a head and one at $10, with 30 active players. The cheap shop saves you $180 a week. Over 20 weeks (say, a football season) that is $3,600.

That is real money for a small book. It is also one sharp player getting the better of stale numbers for a few hundred dollars a week. If your players are recreational and bet the main games before kickoff, slow lines matter less and the saving may be yours to keep. If you have even one player who bets late, bets props or bets live, I'd want to see the cheap board in action before moving him to it.

You get what you pay for. I'd only add that you have to check what you're getting, because some dearer shops are no better.

Testing a cheap shop

Run a trial before you move anyone. Watch the board on a busy afternoon next to the market and see how long it takes to follow a move, call support at kickoff on a Sunday, ask for a disputed grade to be reviewed and time the answer, and check that the limit controls let you cut one player's live and prop limits without touching anyone else.

If it passes, the low price is a good deal and I'd take it. If it doesn't, the comparisons page says how to set it against a dearer shop, and software operations covers what the money buys in the first place.

Whatever the head price, the fee is the small number in this business. The big one is what your players win in a bad week, so keep a bankroll that can pay it.