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I spent the entire weekend at the Plaza sportsbook, which is part of the Lucky's sportsbook chain, and was encouraged after seeing customers fill the joint. After talking to friends in the industry, it looks like traffic was good everywhere.
Obviously everyone is looking to win, but just enjoying a nice day out is also a priority. When making a bet, lots of customers ask for drink tickets, and in some cases lunch, or whatever they feel they were entitled to in order to help them get through a busy day of betting sports or horses.
On days like that, a bookmaker looks to spice things up a bit, so we went to a 6-cent line on game 7 of the ALCS. The result was pretty much what I expected. We wrote considerably more business on the game, but even more important was the increase in the number of tickets that we wrote.
So I wasn't surprised when lots of customers asked: “Jimmy, will you do this for the World Series?” Probably not, but maybe on weekend games where it just blends in with the excitement of a full football schedule and the Breeders Cup.
Bear in mind that reduced juice dramatically cuts into your profit margin. While you are writing more business, your expenses stay the same. To be perfectly clear, let me state that we are absolutely not considering this as a new way of attracting business. But my boss, Joe Asher, and I have discussed it and weighed the plusses and minuses of such a move. Our conclusion: it makes for great conversation.
Naturally, if you change the business model of your operation, you need to cut costs if you are giving more away. If we instituted a 6-cent baseball line, and say went to -107 on football, that comp Corona you just got would now cost you something.
Now before you say, Jimmy, I do not drink and would gladly pay for the other things, remember there are still a lot of players who do not know what reduced juice is. They have been coming to town for years to party on weekends and getting freebies is part of the bargain.
So, reduced juice or no reduced juice, it’s a delicate balancing act which is always part of any discussion on how to attract customers. Everything changes, and even “old school” policies which are based on proven principles need to be refreshed.
Personally, I am in the middle, having heard arguments from both points of view that make sense. But in the next five years we will see industry changes that simply dictate how we do business. A laundry list of items that impact our future needs to be addressed as we determine how we deal with customers and our bottom line.
Of course, right now, it is just a lot of ideas that are on the back burner and are not likely to be implemented any time soon. Let me put it this way: If you had Michigan +25 last Saturday, laying $1,070 instead of the customary $1,100, and that final screen pass put you on tilt so you need immediate relief, when the cocktail waitress brings you a double Jack & Coke and says $4 please, do you subconsciously put her and JoePa in the same crosshairs? Think about it.
Take care,
Jimmy V.
Obviously everyone is looking to win, but just enjoying a nice day out is also a priority. When making a bet, lots of customers ask for drink tickets, and in some cases lunch, or whatever they feel they were entitled to in order to help them get through a busy day of betting sports or horses.
On days like that, a bookmaker looks to spice things up a bit, so we went to a 6-cent line on game 7 of the ALCS. The result was pretty much what I expected. We wrote considerably more business on the game, but even more important was the increase in the number of tickets that we wrote.
So I wasn't surprised when lots of customers asked: “Jimmy, will you do this for the World Series?” Probably not, but maybe on weekend games where it just blends in with the excitement of a full football schedule and the Breeders Cup.
Bear in mind that reduced juice dramatically cuts into your profit margin. While you are writing more business, your expenses stay the same. To be perfectly clear, let me state that we are absolutely not considering this as a new way of attracting business. But my boss, Joe Asher, and I have discussed it and weighed the plusses and minuses of such a move. Our conclusion: it makes for great conversation.
Naturally, if you change the business model of your operation, you need to cut costs if you are giving more away. If we instituted a 6-cent baseball line, and say went to -107 on football, that comp Corona you just got would now cost you something.
Now before you say, Jimmy, I do not drink and would gladly pay for the other things, remember there are still a lot of players who do not know what reduced juice is. They have been coming to town for years to party on weekends and getting freebies is part of the bargain.
So, reduced juice or no reduced juice, it’s a delicate balancing act which is always part of any discussion on how to attract customers. Everything changes, and even “old school” policies which are based on proven principles need to be refreshed.
Personally, I am in the middle, having heard arguments from both points of view that make sense. But in the next five years we will see industry changes that simply dictate how we do business. A laundry list of items that impact our future needs to be addressed as we determine how we deal with customers and our bottom line.
Of course, right now, it is just a lot of ideas that are on the back burner and are not likely to be implemented any time soon. Let me put it this way: If you had Michigan +25 last Saturday, laying $1,070 instead of the customary $1,100, and that final screen pass put you on tilt so you need immediate relief, when the cocktail waitress brings you a double Jack & Coke and says $4 please, do you subconsciously put her and JoePa in the same crosshairs? Think about it.
Take care,
Jimmy V.