Sportsbetting sites... what are they for?

[wantitall4moi]

OK, I have been around the forum and internet world for almost 10 years in one form (and one name) or another. But I have yet to really figure out what sites like Covers, The Rx, Booby Bs place(ultimate capper) Johnny Detroits, Phoenix, Madjacks, Majors (a few others I missed I am sure) and now this place have as an ulitmate goal.

Is it to help players out with info and match up listings? Is it to make money somehow by selling advertising space, or is the advertising space simply there to help keep the place afloat?

I am also not just talking about forums. For most places inthis genre the forums are a miniscule part, but they are generally what the site operators use as traffic numbers to sell the aforementioned ad space.

So is is ultimately looking to turn a profit? Because honestly I do not know that ad space goes for but from past posts about getting "screwed" out of advertising money owed it seems pretty high. And also from some experience I know that having a site like this isn't all that great an expense to upkeep. Basically bandwidth is the most costly since the actual design is pretty fundamental these days. Not to metnion they have templates and guides that pretty much give you a step by step process to maximize what kind of space you are dealing with.

Or is it just the rush one gets from owning a site and having people look at them in a differing light than other so called "insiders"?

There has to be some draw since these places are popping up more frequently, and the ones that have been around awhile are still around today. Afterall Shrink apparently "sold" TheRX, but now has started this place. So there must besomething to it. Also other posters have left places and started their own sites as well. So what is that draw? I am sure it is different for some, but there has to be something.

Also when I se post describing the advertisers certain sites utilize. I have to laugh, because at one time or another EVERY site was using those very same advertisers. Sure some things change, but the more things change the more they stay the same.

Now this isn't a post to poke fun or make sideways remarks about the past. But I have yet to see a single site that didn't make more than a few mistakes allowing some books to start advertising with them.

But topics like that make it seem like it is mostly about the money. Taking ad dollars from books that don't have very good reputations. But on the other hand doing what they can for someone in certain situations to get them a few bucks.

I still haven't figured it all out, and honestly I stopped trying. But with so many places like this around it makes me think that there has to be SOMETHING, so was basically posing the questions to the guys that have interests in this place, and to guys that have other ideas as well.

Because I know some guys might be nice guys and all but they are not putting in the hours they do out of pure charity.

 

[Willy Loman]

Want, allows us to shoot the shit. Works for me.

 

[The General]

I think there are many reasons Want. Some good and some bad. Depends on the operation. Money making opportunities for sure. But so is selling Hot Dogs on the corner. The books want business and the site owners want to make money just as if we were selling steel forgings or break pads for Jeeps. The real good thing is that when a new guy comes along he can read and find very good betting info, just like you posted about the parlay cards. That is a lesson. We can never forget where we came from. I like to think we help all the newcomers in one way or another. We have 18 and younger old kids here wanting to learn how to wager properly. Hopefully they acheive a little by hanging around and tossing the ideas posted in their heads. Also, you could check out the Hot Gossip section and just chat with fellow degenerates like me. IMO, I worry about the New Blood and that is what the target market will be for EOG. The new & recreational gambler. We want to steer them in the right direction because we care and we want to make money too. I think it is just another business. One which caters to gamblers. A place to share the adrenaline and the downfalls, whether in life or wagering.

 

[JJGOLD]

Most of those sites are picks sites and good if you like posting picks

MW is not a picks site but a posting site. The Major has been around a long time and he has a very steady site and loyal following.

 

[Poker King Jim]

$$$

 

[Polaris]

The gambling forums are a business.

The forums generates traffic, the traffic attracts the advertiser.

There could be lots of extra stuff to the site with the forum, but the forum is the key.

There is this term in micro economics analysis called "added value". Typical business product development topic.

The forum is the "product". The other stuff such as scoreboard, articles, bet dispute resolution, is the "added value".




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For example, the "product", the eog.com forum is worth $1000 for arguement sakes, with strat up costs of $500.

So if THE SHRINK sold eog.com right now, he realizes a profit of $1000-$500 which is $500 net profit.

Another way of decribing this is THE SHRINK has $500 of equity in his business.

Now lets suppose THE SHRINK includes the other stuff such as the scoreboard, the articles, bet dispute resolution, which probably will incur costs of $100.

Since there is more to the website than just a forum with the other stuff, the value of the forum naturally increases, to lets say $1500.

Lets look at the numbers again and compare them.

......................................... price.....costs ....net worth
Business with the forum only = $1000 ... $500 .... $500

Business forum & added value $1500 ..... $600 .....$900

So it is clear that for an extra $100 bucks of "added value", THE SHRINK was able to almost double his equity for his site.

For a more down to earth example, that is why they add the Alore Vera to the plain regualar shampoo.

The plain regualar shampoo cost $2. But with another $0.25 cents of Alore Vera, that "plain regular shampoo" with Alore Vera, now retails for $3.50. Hence, the economists call the Alore Vera, the "Added Value".

Therefore, I think the other stuff associated with the forum at THE SHRINK new place, is just the "Added Value". The forum is still the product, the foundation.

The forum is the shampoo. The scoreboard, bet dispute resolution, is the Alore Vera.

 

[Polaris]

That is why people suck up to THE SHRINK.

He is one sharp operator.

Hang around him long enough and you will be impressed.

Interestingly ... I'll bet that some people are impressed, but don't know why they are impressed.
This can lead to rather even more interesting situations!

 

[wantitall4moi]

Polaris that makes sense.


I was a charter member of Covers forum which started just about 4 years ago. But I was using Covers info stuff long before the forum came into existance. As I am sure other people did as well. But I can say that once the forum was up and running Covers was updating and adding advertisers on a weekly basis.I think they updated their site 12-15 times in 3 months. There is a site that shows histories of web addresses, the name escapes me now, I am sure someone knows it, and anyone can see how places ahve changed over the years.

Now the forum was a major deal for awhile for sure. Still is I guess. But I have to say that the "better" posters that posted there were either banned or moved on, so it became a cess pool for touts and wannabes and ghosts.

Covers also went the road of letting touts pretty much buy all the ad spots they wanted, so maybe it was a hand in hand affair. But they have had their ups and downs for sure in some apsects, but in terms of data they are second to none.

I have to think that was because of that initial influx of traffic in the forum those years ago. I also have noticed the updates have slowed greatly since that first explosion, basically none in the past couple years. Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't believe in coincidences.

So while fourms are used by some, they are definately used to pump up figures for traffic. But the by product definately helps improve the sites overall. So while a place like Covers might have 2-3 hundred people reading the forums, they have thousands of people looking at the info they give out.

Even this forum with the hype it is getting isn't as productive right now as people think. I would think maybe 50-100 regular people looking. Simply look at the views posts get that have no responces, most have less that 50 views, granted that is unscientific, but doubling the views is a decent paramter to get a handle on how many people are around on a reuglar basis I would think.

I know people like to look and see that hundreds of guys are online in that little box on the front page, that has a major window and I am sure a lot of guys are counted each and every time they open the browser. So the numbers are escalated greatly.

But sites that have a good forum base definately have an advantage. While a forum might not make a site, it can definately help make one better.