Sports betting, sports books and the internet......

[freak]

There was a time when sportsbooks on the internet didnt exist nor were they even a thought.

Thus came the era of explosion of information, and with this information came knowledge. Bettors could use this advantage over their local outs, but most had low limits. Vegas was the place, but if you werent hitting them, it wasnt worth the cost.

Thus came online gambling and the 100's if not now 1000's of casinos and sportsbooks.

The casinos far outway the sportsbooks indeed, thus maybe there is over 1000 casinos on the net. I lost track after # 546.

Now to the era of online gambling thru sportsbooks, it has become common place in todays society. The industry has grown at a rapid pace, however, have the sportsbooks prepared for such explosion ???
I think not.......

Every week you see folks complaining they couldn't access betting screens, interactives or just the lines.

This explosion is just the tip of the iceberg, as more and more and I mean MORE people find the comfort and leisure and for the most part safety in betting on the net.

They no longer have to worry if guido down the block will pay this week or come looking to crack skulls.

Thus the beauty of online sportsbooks.

There are many and I mean many good outfits out there and they have the current lionshare of the players. However in order to keep the lionshare, they must get their acts together as far as technology is concerned.

They know every week when the push will come, but yet are unprepared it seems most every week. I would love to see the books on some of these sportsbooks. I am sure they rake in huge profits for the most part, if not they wouldn't be in business. Sure they take their lumps from time to time but who doesn't.

I am not speaking about any sportsbook in particular here, it is just in general. I have my favorites and I have my hated.

However all in all it's time to seriously look to upgrade exisiting systems and be a little more prepared for the onslaught that will continue to come.

The internet reaches a lot of people however, there is a large section of the world that it has fully tapped, a study came out recently that said 45 % of United States homes have a computer..... That is less than 1/2 , think if just 1/4 of that 1/2 got hooked up, and say 5 % were going to try this online betting experience....

We havent even tapped into the rest of the world either......

Would make for a interesting Sat/Sun afternoon, but hey we already have that don't we ?????

[Jeff]

Briefly.......

The books that have been around are continuously upgrading their current systems.

Adding bandwidth,etc.etc. WSEX, CARIB, Intertops,etc.etc.etc.

It may not be immediately noticeable to the players, but rest assured, it's an on going process.

When one considers the great number of transactions that take place on a given Saturday or Sunday, or just day to day in general, the number of problems are very few and far in between.

Also not that some of the problems that do exist are on the players side,not the sportsbooks.

[FatBoy]

Jeff, please explain what you mean by;

"Also not that some of the problems that do exist are on the players side,not the sportsbooks"

I think the jist of what Freak was saying was that the online books are not keeping up with demand.

[ray]

As much as I want to kill my man with my every single bet, I hate to admit that it is true to say some of the problems that do exist are on the players side, not the sportsbooks.

Well you may consider that I am going to take a low blow on Freak but the simple truth is, he still didn't understand a statement from WSEX.

"Every trade could be your last trade".

Sure, things like the site was down and phone line was jammed or their system count your trade wrong are their responsibilties.

But please stop crying for you can't sell your shares in the 11 innings or the final minute of a football game when they just missed a FG or facing 4th and 10.

You should understand that the book have the right to "pause" the betting for the game when they think its a critical moment.

Like in live soccer betting, most if not all books will "pause" when either team will have a free kick around the box or a PK.

I would think they "pause" a game in the final 2 minutes of a football game or in the 9th inning of a baseball game is "understandable".

As far as I know, most live soccer betting will be closed for the last 15 or 20 minutes of the ball game.

Look, I'm not trying to say whether its fair or not. But the simple truth is, its a common pratice and it doesn't only happened at WSEX.

It you want to play the game, you should understand that.

Well, thats why they say, "every trade could be your last trade".

Sure, they have a lot of technical problems on their interactive but what you are missing was their "technically pratice".

[FatBoy]

Ray, whats up dude. I wasn't talking about interactives. I was talking about the ability to get down during crunch time.

[Jeff]

The "jist" of what I meant by "some of the problems are on the players side" is simply that you can't assume that everytime you can't access a sportsbooks website it's the sportsbooks problem. Rather, it's the players ISP and the lack of the internets ability in general to "keep up".

A variety of things effect your ability to access a website.

Like I said, rest assured, many of these books have spent hundreds and thousands of dollars to make sure they can accomadate the players.

Some problems are beyond their control.

[AussieVamp2]

and part of the problem these places will have, which also seems to affect Centrebet because of being in a small place like Alice Springs, is inferior telecommunications/bandwidth, etc., compared to being in a major metropolitan western city......

[ray]

Well, my earlier post was actually refer to Freak's rant about WSEX interactives.

Fats, about the ability to get down during crunch time, I'm with you.

Yes, there are many other factors that are out of control by the books, and those are all environmental factors.

However, players like us won't consider for the sportsbooks interest and their difficulties.

I will rather spend more time on studying a game.

Like eating in a restaurant, if I always need to wait more than an hour to get a table, no matter how good the food will be, sooner or later I will find another restuarant to eat OR at least I won't go there often.

The same as the sporstbooks, if their customers can't be satisfied with the service. They will sooner or later find another book.

I remembered back a while, we have a friend here that have problems to access an online sportbook, can't open the website at all or maybe very slow in loading. After talking with the techincians from the sportsbook, they found out that its the problem on the user's side, he need to make some adjustments on his Win95 setting/Netscape setting. So the sportsbook helped the guy out to fix the problem.

In this case, the problem is not came from the book. However, like I said earlier, if you want to get more business, customer's problems are just the same as your problems.

Otherwise, complains and rants are just the begining, losing your customers is the long term result.

One thing that most of the offshores should take a look at those Euro and Aussie books, they will respond to their customers inquires very quick and they will always try to help you.

I sent an email to an offshore concerning a problem and still haven't got a reply for about a week.

No problem, see ya.

[FatBoy]

ray, as usual you have a way of getting right to the heart of the matter. You're point about Windows or browsers settings being on the "user" side is true. However if a website needs special windows, browser settings, or something special from and ISP (like no caching), then it is their responsibility to convey that information up front.

I have dealt with it by finding 2 books that allow me to get down during "crunchtime" with my antiquated system (Pentium III 450 Mhz w/frame relay line or w/my 56k modem).

[betmaker]

Taking into account the challenges that were mentioned earlier, betmaker.com is working every day to bring you the best technology available.

We have satellite bandwidth direct to the U.S., several web servers and our betting screens allow you to make up to 10 straight bets without ever having to change screens.

And in the event that you are experiencing problems from your computer, on any given day we have more than 70 phone clerks ready to take your bets and we will allow you to bet the internet minimum ($6).

Regards,

Mike
betmaker.com

[STING]

I'm not quite sure if the technology is there to handle online crunch time at a place like Betmaker.com at this point in time. We've heard great things about Olympic's online program being accessible at crunch time but I think a lot of that has to do with a lack of online business. I would suspect they still conduct most of their business over the phone. I might be wrong about this. Betmaker I would imagine has some 1000 plus people trying to get off bets online just prior to the Sunday games going off. I'm not sure if any business can handle this yet, let alone a business outside of America. What we need in here is an expert on this subject of bandwidth, etc.... If anyone knows of one please send them this way even if they don't gamble or know anything about sports. I know for a fact Betmaker spent a fortune to upgrade their systems last season but they still encountered much of the same problems as nearly all the other online books out there.

I do get the impression that there are a few operators out there just coming on line that are not familar with the strain affecting online wagering.

[freak]

Sting makes very good points, as do some others. The only point I was trying to make, is that the era of online gambling is just beginning and we are truly the pioneers of it.

The bettors today will shape the histpry and future of gambling. Just as those before us did for us.....

Imagin in the year 2005 people thinking how archaic it was to gamble in such a way.....

Pretty funny stuff, just thinking 10 years ago, the majority of people had nothing but the corner joe to bet with.....

[freak]

So how did this week go any better ?????

From what I read not much so......

It can only get better from here can't it ???

[Cons]

I think this is the last straw as far as sportsbook online systems not able to handle peak times. Let's face it, the amount of digital information being transferred to place a bet is tiny to say the least. What is Microsoft supposed to say about their systems which handle vast numbers of multi-meg downloads simultaneously? In the past they have been caught redhanded, but now there's rarely a problem with their servers.

And the demand of ALL the online books put together during the biggest crunch time (the last half-hour before the Superbowl kicks off?)is probably 1% of what Microsoft copes with on a day-to-day basis. And there's lots of other sites like download.com which handle such immense trafic without major problems.

So it's time the books shape up or start taking stick and losing customers. In a year there will be no excuse not to meet customer demand, even if it soars at an even greater rate. The increase in customers doesn't happen overnight, and I'm not saying the books need to upgrade overnight. But in a few months I expect the systems to be able to cope with whatever the demand will be, or start losing players quite deservedly.