Breaking Down the Sportsbooks

Sportsbooks are a lot like stocks. You have your blue chips, your penny stocks, your overseas markets and the perfect slogan, "Greed is good." The only thing missing is Michael Douglas' slicked back eighties hair and the snooty business parties. And the Manhattan apartments. And the chicks. Okay, maybe they aren't so similar, but work with me here, I'm going somewhere with this.

Standard Sportsbooks

Your basic sportsbook can be broken into two categories:

Blue Chippers - Sportsbooks that have a large capital base, and coincidentally enough, are even listed on their countries' stock exchange. These are solid sportsbooks that you should have no major problems with. On the other hand, like blue chip stocks, they don't offer much in terms of perks and rewards.

Penny Stocks - These sportsbooks are more desperate than your average sixteen year old boy and desperation if nothing else provides a buyer's market. With favorable lines and high bonus payouts, you can probably get more bang for your buck. Occasionally, the sportsbooks might even comp you with t-shirts and coffee(yes, coffee) in hopes of keeping your business. However, as relatively smaller sportsbooks, you can run into slow payouts, bad service and low betting limits. You can also run into scams, telemarketing and as a result, frequent fits of rage.

Sportsbook Betting Exchanges

To help explain betting exchanges, I point you to something I wrote in an earlier article:

"Betting exchanges are a new style sports betting site, which works more like a stock exchange than an actual sportsbook. You can actually buy shares of a particular line, then sell them to prospective buyers. The shares can go up or down depending on whether the line you bought is getting popular, thus driving the price up. Using exchanges as a betting tool really depends on whether you understand the process and can take advantage of the fluctuating prices. You also have to have a feel of which way the public will go."

Euro Sportsbook

European sportsbooks specialize in crazy overseas sports like cricket, rugby and soccer. Speaking of which, is there a player in professional sports that looks smellier than Peja Stojakovic? Somehow I don't think when he runs the floor and pulls up for three, mouth open and pits blazing, defenders are smelling roses. This theory is also backed up in Jayson Williams' book, "Loose Balls," a hilarious comedic piece about the lifestyle of an NBA player that I'd recommend to children of all ages. In any case, the advantage of Euro sportsbooks are obvious; more overseas wager types while still maintaining basic domestic lines. The drawback being the fact that the domestic lines are basic. Get it? I just used the same attribute as a pro and a con. I smell Pulitzer. Well, it's either that or Peja Stojakovic.