If you want to start an online bookie business, the best and most affordable way to do it is with a pay per head service. These services give you a professional sportsbook website that also includes an online casino and a racebook for horse racing. They post thousands of sports betting options for your players every day and update the odds second by second. After each game ends, they grade every wager, and every player and agent balance updates automatically.
A pay per head service handles all the technical parts of bookmaking. You don't need to know how lines are set or why they move. You don't need to hire employees, rent servers, or pay for software development. There's no overhead in the traditional sense.
Instead, the provider charges a small weekly fee for each active player. With Best AcePerHead, that fee starts as low as $3 per player per week, and you're only charged for players who have a graded wager that week. Whether a player bets once or a thousand times, the price is the same.
Whatever your players win or lose each week, you settle with them directly. You pay players when they win and collect when they lose, using whichever payment methods you and your players agree on. For a deeper look at the model, read what is pay per head.
Starting an online bookie business is simpler than most people expect. Here's the typical path:
Our guide on how to start a bookie business walks through each of these steps in more detail.
One of the best things about the pay per head model is how little it takes to get going. There are no start-up charges or commissions on your players' action, and there's no software to buy. Your main cost is the weekly fee for each active player, and you only pay for players who actually bet that week. If you have ten active players at $3 each, your platform cost for the week is $30.
Start-up promotions can lower that cost even further. AcePerHead has offered options such as free weeks, 50% off the first five weeks, a discount for paying with cryptocurrency, and a free customized website. Current offers are listed on the AcePerHead promotions page. Because costs scale with your player count, you never pay for capacity you aren't using, which makes it easy to start small and grow at your own pace.
Compare that with building your own sportsbook from scratch, which would mean paying for developers, odds feeds, hosting, security, and staff before you take a single bet. For a fuller breakdown, read how much sports betting software costs.
Clear rules up front prevent problems later. Before you take your first bet, decide:
Write these down and share them with every player so there are no surprises on settle-up day.
Because the provider does the bookmaking, you can put your time into growing your business and adding players who want to bet every week. The best way to find players is word of mouth. Reach out to friends, family, coworkers, former classmates, and social media contacts. Plenty of people like to bet, and once word gets around that you have a sportsbook website and accounts available, you'll start getting players quickly.
You can also offer new players a small free play. A free play is a set amount, such as $50, that can be used to place a wager. If the wager loses, the free play amount disappears and no real money is lost. If the wager wins, the free play itself disappears, but the winnings are real money added to the player's balance.
People enjoy getting something for free, especially a risk-free bet. A free play is an easy, low-cost way to get someone to try your site for the first time and see how simple it is to use.
When you launch matters. The best time to start is a few weeks before football season. From September through the Super Bowl, football drives more betting interest than any other sport, and casual bettors who only play during football season are actively looking for a place to bet. Sharp, fast-moving football betting software with plenty of props and live betting will keep them busy every Sunday.
If you're starting at another time of year, there's still plenty of opportunity. Basketball fills the winter and spring, with the college tournament in March bringing a huge wave of action. Baseball runs almost every day from April through October, and reliable baseball betting software keeps daily bettors active all summer. Horse racing and the casino keep things going year-round.
The more ways your players can bet, the more often they'll log in. With AcePerHead, every player account includes:
That variety keeps players engaged between games and through slower parts of the year.
Every book has some risk, but a few habits keep it under control:
The AcePerHead support team is available 24/7 and can offer advice if you're unsure how to handle a particular player. You can also read our guide on how to be a successful bookie for more tips.
The bookies who last are the ones players trust. Pay winners promptly and in full, communicate clearly, and treat players fairly. Satisfied players stay with you for years and recommend you to other bettors, and referrals are the cheapest and most reliable source of new business you'll ever have. Consider rewarding players who send new bettors your way, for example with a free play once the new player has placed a few bets. It costs little, shows appreciation, and turns your best customers into your best recruiters. If you're still deciding whether this path is right for you, our guide on how to become a bookie covers the fundamentals.
If you want to get set up with one of the top-rated pay per head services in the world, call AcePerHead today at 1-800-909-5193 or Create Your Package to get set up. Ask about a risk-free trial when you call.