Online Sport Book

by Jerry "Jet" Whittaker

January 21, 2006

Sport books flourish on the Internet. While most are legitimate, it's important that potential players are aware that the Net is also home to many online sport book scams, too.

Choosing an Online Sport Book

Before joining a book, it's important you do your homework to be sure that the book is not only legitimate, but that it's suited to the way you prefer to bet. After all, if you enjoy the occasional $5 bet, you're not going to be happy joining a book that encourages high-roller $500 bets. Similarly, a person who enjoys and can afford to put large amounts of money into an online sport book isn't going to get much satisfaction by joining a small book that's geared towards the casual gambler who places no more than a few dollars now and then.

Where abouts in the world the online sport book is run from can also be an important indicator of how safe your money will be. Some countries have extremely stringent gambling laws. Online sport books that are run from those countries are far more likely to be legitimate and pay out any winnings without problems than those being run from countries that have lax laws, if any at all.

Countries that have stringent gambling laws include:

·         United Kingdom

·         Gibraltar

·         Austria

·         Jamaica

·         Australia

·         Isle of Man

·         Dutch Antilles

·         Belize

Countries with very lax or non-existent laws include:

·         Grenada

·         St. Kitts

·         Madagascar

·         Haiti

·         St. Vincent

·         Bahamas

·         Honduras

·         Costa Rica

·         Panama

These are by no means exhaustive lists but should help you be aware of which online sport books you should join and which should be avoided.

Unfortunately, choosing an online sport book can be as much a gamble as the actual wager you place, if not even more so! New books are appearing all the time and not all will still be around to make payouts. Before joining an online sport book, try to find out when it was established. The longer it's been around, the greater the chance of it being a legitimate business that pays clients promptly and properly.

Keep Records

Strangely enough, while most people always check the bill when they've taken their car to a mechanic, when they join an online sport book, they fail to keep records of their wagers. If you're placing a number of bets it can be very easy to miss a win and you really don't want to do that, do you?

Keeping records can be as simple as "saving" the confirmation page every time you place a bet.

What To Bet

When choosing an online sport book, it's important to consider what kind of bets are available and whether they suit your needs.

Different online sport books offer different types of bets. Some concentrate on one specific sport while others cover a variety of sports. Others again are open for any wager you'd care to place, such as the likelihood of a certain celebrity becoming pregnant before the end of the year or which song will top the charts on New Year's Day.

Decide how much you want to bet beforehand and find an online sport book that covers that size bet.

There are online sport books to cater for all types of bets. By using common sense, the Internet can offer an enjoyable form of sport book wagering.

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