This word bookmaker is used to refer to persons who take bets on competitive events at pre-established odds. The job of a bookmaker is to accept bet placements in such a ratio that regardless of who loses and who wins, he will still have made a lot of profit.
In certain countries, this activity is considered illegal and even in those ones where it is legal, at times there are no legal provisions for enforcing debts that arise from such activity. But in countries where it is recognized by law, the government earns quite a large amount of revenue from it and that is why certain countries have a legal bookmaker under the state’s control.
It is more established in the United Kingdom than in the United States; in the former, it is legally acknowledged and bets are placed on a broader array of sports. They even have an organization in charge of regulating settlement disputes. On the other hand, the latter has made it illegal in all states but Nevada and when carried out illegally, it only covers college sports and professional events.
Even though the UK still has them located at the racecourse, technology has caught up with some and made them shift to their PCs with the internet making the job a whole lot easier. But this limits under age gamblers and those in countries where it is prohibited as they are not allowed to gamble on such websites. They may connect online casinos but their disadvantage is that they increase the numbers of gambling addicts. Some operators though have shied away from technology seeing as the betters are cutting down their profit margins by comparing notes with other bettors through betting exchanges, a resource which even they can use to determine how to place their odds based on market trends.
Governments are not having a lot of success in regulating online outfits from entering their spaces. Greater success has been experienced by those authorities that have licensed all forms of betting but put in place stringent measures for the operation of associated outfits. This way, the government exercises a measure of control over how they are run.
A sleazy side to the industry becomes evident in cases of match fixing, where teams play to a prearranged outcome – either fully or partially which is both a legal breach and also a contravention of the rules of any game. But many countries are now relaxing their stance as the industry is now getting significant roles to play in society like in sponsoring sports activities and that has got the names of some of the firms on players’ T-shirts and on stadium signs a situation which is facing a lot of opposition in certain countries where there is low tolerance for gambling and such ones continue in the war against online participants.