Review of The Book on Bookies

Title:

The Book on Bookies: An Inside Look at a Successful Sports Gambling Operation

Author:

James Jeffries as told to Charles Oliver

Publisher:

Paladin Press

Date:

2000

ISBN:

1-58361-070-4

Pages:

152

Price:

$18.00

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@lvrevealed.com

April 1, 2005

One of the few things that rivals athletics in popularity is wagering on athletics. In the United States a bettor generally has three means by which they may make a wager on on athletic events: Licensed casinos in Nevada, overseas sports books, and local bookies. Even though the last of these options is illegal in every jurisdiction with which I am familiar, it remains popular with many sports enthusiasts. Running a book making business isn't easy, though, and there is little information available on how such an operation functions. One such information source is The Book on Bookies.

The Book on Bookies is intended as a one-stop source for just about everything one might want to know about setting and running up a book making operation. James Jeffries is a pseudonym for a long time successful book maker ostensibly operating out of the southeastern United States. In this book, "Jeffries" provides a wealth of information on how he made his business a success.

The book begins with background information on sports and sports betting. This is a pretty decent introduction to this material, although some aspects differ a little bit from what one might have come to expect from Nevada casinos. For those who are new to sports betting, there are other books that do a more thorough job of explaining what's going on, but The Book on Bookies does remarkably well considering that this isn't the main focus of the book. This isn't a book for first-timers, though. The authors appropriately expect a certain amount of foreknowledge from the reader. I doubt that many people with no sports betting experience will be terribly interested in the contents of this book.

Jeffries then covers some of the business aspects of book making, including where an how to set up shop, handling employees, recruiting customers, and dealing with day-to-day operational issues. There is a lot of good advice here, some of which may be readily apparent, although worth stating explicitly, and some that's quite subtle, obviously coming from hard-learned experience. Someone who wishes to go into this line of work may want to run their operation a little differently than the way presented in this book, but the suggestions found here sound like a reasonably place to start.

Of course, I can't advocate that anyone go into the book making business. It's not just that it's illegal, although that's enough of a reason to avoid this line of work, but it also carries other risks. Jeffries insists that his customers have no chance to win over an entire season, but I believe that variance and bankroll considerations are a bigger issue than are stated in this book. There is also the risk of theft by one's employees as well as the risk of being stiffed by one's customers, but the authors cover these topics pretty thoroughly. Overall, this is a pretty pragmatic approach to being a bookie, and approach that I appreciate, although I suspect that things are presented a little bit rosier than they might turn out in practice.

If someone does want to become a bookie, against my explicit advice, I suspect that the information in The Book on Bookies would be invaluable. It may not contain everything one needs to know about going into this business, but it does contain a great deal of valuable information on the subject. If someone wants to learn about sports betting, there are better introductions to the topic, but Jeffries and Oliver provide a pretty decent introduction. For those who are just interested in how a sports betting operation works, this book provides a pretty good look into what is happening on the other end of the phone.

The Book on Bookies is written in a clear and authoritative manner. The voice of the author comes through directly, if gruffly. I probably wouldn't be tickled about the idea of the principal author dating a relative, but Jeffries is unquestionably an authority on the subject of this book. Readers who want to understand how bookmaking operations work, whether out of an interest in moving into the field, a desire for understanding on how the house end of sports betting works, or just curiosity will be well served by this book.

Capsule:

The Book on Bookies delivers an insider's view of how illegal book making operations work. The information is thorough and authoritative and is easily understandable by those with a modest familiarity with how sports betting works. Those who have an interest in knowing how bookies operate their business will undoubtedly gain a great deal of insight from this book. I recommend it to those interested in this subject.