RealBookies review: $9 a head on the front page, $10 and $15 in the FAQ

Which price is the price

RealBookies says it is based in Costa Rica. The front page offers $9 a head a week for 1 to 29 players, a quote for 30 or more, and two weeks free with no deposit. The About page repeats $9 as all-inclusive: sportsbook and racebook, live betting and props, the casino and live dealers, 24/7 phone support, no setup fees and no long-term contract.

The FAQ says something else. It gives $10 a head if your players bet online only and $15 if they bet online or by phone, and calls it a flat fee with no extra charges. The live betting page talks about the "regular 10 dollar per head service". The pricing page shows the $9 table under a banner that calls it a promotion and says it expired on 8 September 2024. So $9 may be the current price that nobody took the old banner off, or it may be a promotion that ended two years ago. You can't tell from the site.

That gap is real money. Say you have 25 players, 10 of whom like to phone in. At $9 across the board that is $225 a week. On the FAQ's terms it is 15 at $10 and 10 at $15, which is $300. Over a 20-week football season the difference is $1,500. The page on pay per head under $5 explains how a head price grows once you read what is in it.

The trial is the same. Most pages say two weeks; the home page text and the racebook page say four.

Phone and online

The part of RealBookies that stands out is the phone. The site says your players can bet online or by a toll-free number, the FAQ says the clerks speak English and Spanish, and the racebook page sells call center service for horse bets as well. Plenty of older players still want to talk to someone, and plenty of shops have dropped the phones. If your book has those players, this is the question that decides it, and it is also the reason the price goes to $15.

The FAQ is specific on the small things. An active player is one who has a graded bet. There is no minimum number of players and no minimum deposit. RealBookies says it covers deposit fees on deposits over $200 when your account is in credit. It stores only usernames and passwords, not names or phone numbers. And it never pays or collects from your players, so you still settle with them yourself. You can have your own domain on one of their templates for $100 or a custom design for $500, refunded if you have over 30 players in the first three months.

How the live lines work

The live betting page is the most useful page on the site, because it says when the lines come down. In-game betting is included in the head fee. NFL runs continuously and the NBA, MLB and NHL during breaks; college football and basketball on selected games; golf majors from the third round; soccer only on selected games, through minute 40 of the first half and minute 80 of the second. Football and basketball lines come down for good with two minutes left, there is no live betting in overtime or extra innings, and baseball's last live line goes up after the top of the eighth. A dynamic live add-on is offered on top, without a price.

That is a conservative live product. Lines that only go up at breaks are harder to pick off than a constantly moving board, and if your players want to bet every pitch it isn't enough on its own.

The racebook is in the base plan. One page says over 80 tracks, another over 70 in North America plus meetings abroad. It describes $2 tickets with caps on odds and on the payout for each bet type, and track odds paid only on request. Read those caps before you open the racebook to a horse player.

What the site says about itself

The site claims to have started in 1999 and also, in the footer, 2006, with over 15, over 20 and over 25 years on different pages. One page says its racebook software was built in-house; the About page says the owners partnered with an outside software company and improved its product. The home page quotes press mentions and rankings, which I give no weight. On lines, it offers reduced juice, standard -110 and custom vig, and claims the best hold in the business. Watch the board during the trial and judge that yourself, and see the software operations guide for what to watch.

Before the trial ends I'd ask for the head price for my players, online and phone, the cost of dynamic live, the racebook payout caps, and how I fund the account (the FAQ says to call for instructions). In writing.

Whether you can take bets at all depends on where you live, and a Costa Rica phone room doesn't change the law in your state. Our pay-per-head section and how we review explain how we compare these shops.

Ask for the price in an email. Then you know which page to believe.