The Vig: Gamblers...who's your bookie?
Gambling just became legal in Virginia, so there are a lot of new options. I've been using BetUS for years, and I have an account with William Hill, Bovada, Fanduel, & DraftKings, although I have only placed bets on BetUS & Bovada. BetUS doesn't have an app, but the mobile site is good enough.
Who do you use?
Anyone paying attention to Georgia? They had 4 wr's & a TE out with injury to start the week and they've added 2 starters to the list, a TE and a CB are questionable for the Clemson game, where they are +3 even. They also have a star transfer WR who is away from the team for personal reasons. The starting center is in a cast and is trying to snap with his other hand.
August 20th, 2021 at 10:16 AM ^
Can you take money out of BetUS? I used to use FanDuel when I was in an approved state. No issues and it was super easy to get my money out. Betting was easy through the app too.
August 20th, 2021 at 12:11 PM ^
I haven't tried...I put $100 in a few years ago and have been playing with that same money ever since. There is a 2x or 3x rollover though, and i hadn't won enough money to bother.
August 20th, 2021 at 10:20 AM ^
This guy and the juice is running
August 20th, 2021 at 10:54 AM ^
Damn, Grama bought you up for 30 cents on the dollar too?
August 20th, 2021 at 10:22 AM ^
Being a mostly very low stakes gambling junkie, I use FanDuel, BetMGM, DraftKings, and Barstool when I have time to compare odds for the games I really want to bet on. If I am just bored doing $5 -10 bets, FanDuel seems to be my go to. No special reason. I will get more serious looking for the best odds and boosts in the next week or so.
August 20th, 2021 at 10:22 AM ^
Hey, if you need a loanshark, consider me, ol' Clarence Boddicker here. I'm looking to expand that side of the operation. Yeah, I'll shoot off your hand if you miss installments, but we'll have a good laugh together while I do so.
August 20th, 2021 at 10:29 AM ^
I’d buy that for a dollar!
August 20th, 2021 at 10:56 AM ^
the fact that this actor was also Red from that 70s show is amazing!
August 20th, 2021 at 10:24 AM ^
DraftKings offers good promo's IMO.
The other weekend they offered 10x 50% profit boosts on MLB games. I bet the max on the over and under on 5 different games. Guaranteed profit.
August 20th, 2021 at 10:30 AM ^
I started with Barstool but I'll probably open other accounts to get promotional free money for football season.
August 20th, 2021 at 10:51 AM ^
Oh, not from me--- all three (illegal) bookies I ever had back in the days I used to bet on football (late 70s thru early 80s) were also my weed sources at the time. Good businessmen all, I guess, diversifying their income.
I suppose I can go with nicknames or just first names though: Dog, Urchin, and Big John. But since I haven't gambled or inhaled in decades, no idea what happened to two out of three of them, the third became a successful business owner in something a little more legit once he got married and started a family.
August 20th, 2021 at 11:30 AM ^
Did they allow you to cash out your winnings in weed?
August 20th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
??
Yep, one of them did, "Dog" and I were good friends, we worked at the same location for at least a half dozen years, played on the same softball team, he'd throw an occasional kegger, too. Weed and winnings were freely exchanged. Good times and high times.
But I also often heard he could be a mean SOB with anyone who didn't honor their debts.
August 20th, 2021 at 2:14 PM ^
Here's the thing.....you're not going to be a bookie very long if you can't make people honor their debts. Asking nicely to people with gambling addictions isn't going to cut it and if you let anything slide, word will get around and before you know it you will have a lot of money owed and perhaps not be able to cover payouts.
August 20th, 2021 at 6:18 PM ^
True. So... are you Dog or Urchin?
August 20th, 2021 at 4:13 PM ^
Bookie story #1--my freshman year at Michigan guy down the hall was an avid gambler. No cellphones at the time so he was always in the hall talking to his bookie on his dorm room phone. After winter break he disappeared. Someone cleaned his stuff out of his room for him. He owed $30-$40k to his bookie and he either had to move back home or something bad happened to him. Not sure which.
Bookie story #2--My best friend from high school was known as a tough guy. He played football at a couple of directional schools his freshman and sophomore years and did steroids because he wasn't quite big enough for dline or fast enough for linebacker. He got in over 60 fights during that time either through roid rage or just being a dick. Some of his buddies who went to Ball St. owed a bookie $16k and they approached my buddy about a scheme. The bookie carried around $30-$40k when he made his rounds paying out people and collecting from people. The idea was that my friend would mug the bookie and then give the $16k to his friends to pay the bookie back and then keep the rest. My friend wanted me to help. (I was sort of a tough guy.) Neither of us went to Ball St. so we'd be untraceable. We started planning the whole thing out and were going to do it, but I got cold feet because going to jail wasn't worth $5-$10k to me. My buddy bought my logic and we didn't do it. Moral of the story is that there are people out there who would do it.
Gambling more than a few dollars for fun is bad news.
August 20th, 2021 at 10:55 AM ^
Vito Bosignio down in Brooklyn...do not trifle with his money though...pay your debts when due or bodily harm may occur
August 20th, 2021 at 11:29 AM ^
So I got into gambling really heavily while in college.
I always used a bookie. I was warned this guy was hardcore and something you would see in a movie. Think breaking legs/stuff you in a trunk type of stuff. He was an old school Italian guy with supposed ties to the Mafia.
Well long story, I got down BIG thanks to fucking Michigan St hoops. Was down thousands and had no money to pay.
My roommate was in the same boat. We contemplated just getting in the car and going away for a while among other things.
We decided to stay in our apartment and face the music. The bookie said he would meet us at a gas station near campus to discuss how we would pay our debts.
The guy rolled up in caddy with gold rims. Gets out and looks exactly like I pictured. Short, stocky Italian guy with multiple gold chains, wearing a suit with the dress shirt half way unbuttoned.
Never have been so scared in my life. Anyways, we got to talking and it tuned out that my dad actually coached him when he played high school football and really respected my dad. We got off light. Thank God!
Needless to say, I am now 12 years removed from college and have placed exactly 0 bets with a bookie since then. lol
August 20th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
We got off light. Thank God!
Light as in you were at least left with six fingers and eight toes? Or light as in no punishment?
August 21st, 2021 at 5:56 PM ^
Is that you Marty S?
August 20th, 2021 at 11:49 AM ^
I use the BetMGM app, mostly because they have integration with the standard banking apps (I use Chase) so it's easy to get money in/out of my account
August 20th, 2021 at 11:57 AM ^
I keep my bets to lunches and handshakes. My money, (the smart money) stays in my wallet.
August 20th, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^
lol ok
August 20th, 2021 at 12:22 PM ^
I've made the very occasional bet on UM football with friends in the past—usually betting on Michigan to lose its bowl game—but I've never understood the basic urge to gamble, whether on sports, cards, or whatever. I don't get any kind of thrill or excitement from it. I can't imagine anything more boring than spending time in a casino or playing poker night after night.
August 20th, 2021 at 1:28 PM ^
I'm with you Don.
August 20th, 2021 at 1:50 PM ^
You guys must really hate those damn kids who have the nerve to STAND during games
August 20th, 2021 at 1:56 PM ^
Nope - just dislike twerps that downvote you for expressing your opinion.
August 20th, 2021 at 2:26 PM ^
+1 for twerps.
August 20th, 2021 at 6:46 PM ^
You clicked on a gambling thread to make a snarky comment about how gambling is stupid
what I'm saying is nobody cares, stfu
August 20th, 2021 at 8:47 PM ^
Apparently, you care enough to downvote me and respond incessantly.
I get the strange sensation that you care.
In addition, you mischaracterize my comments. I only expressed my personal opinion.
August 20th, 2021 at 10:26 PM ^
I'm responding to a thread in which I had already commented, and I'm laughing at how fucking stupid your logic is, boomer
August 21st, 2021 at 3:42 PM ^
There is irony in your use of the word "logic". Your commentary is long on name-calling and short on logic.
August 24th, 2021 at 1:36 PM ^
You came into a thread about gambling to preach about how gambling is stupid. You *are* an internet boomer
August 24th, 2021 at 5:47 PM ^
I did not preach. I stated my opinion. I never stated that gambling was stupid, only that it wasn't entertainment for me. There probably are other Gen Zs that share my opinion.
August 20th, 2021 at 12:05 PM ^
I use Bovada still in MI because I don’t itemize my tax returns and you can only deduct gambling losses if you itemize. Once you start laying down a decent amount of action, those losses really add up even if you’re netting profit. So instead I use Bovada and cash my money out in Bitcoin and keep it away from Uncle Sam. Plus I like betting on things like US elections which US sports books aren’t allowed to put up odds for.
For example, if a bettor had $10,000 of sports betting winnings in 2020, and $8,000 in losses, he could deduct the $8,000 of losses if he itemized his tax deductions. A more detailed look at itemized deductions vs standard deductions can be found here.
August 20th, 2021 at 12:40 PM ^
I apologize if this is a stupid question, but can someone explain how gambling winnings are taxed? To use your example above, you have $10k in winnings and $8k in losses, so that's net $2k, right? Although it would intuitively make sense to only be taxed on the $2k net, if you can deduct the $8k in losses, that would have to mean that you're taxed on the $10k in winnings, right? And so the next question is how are "winnings" and "losses" calculated? If you bet $100 and get back $200, are your winnings $200 or just $100 ($100 winnings and $100 return of bet)? Losses seem a little easier to comprehend, each bet you lose goes to losses, right?
And are things different for how you cash out? Like are winnings treated differently if you're making a series of sports bets that you're cashing in (potentially each won bet adding to your winnings) vs. sitting at a roulette table (where it would make more sense to calculate winnings or losses based on the net for the session, i.e. did you leave the table with more or less than you started with)? It doesn't seem right that every bet you win adds to your winnings irrespective of the losses in the same session, since you would be paying tax on winnings (potentially sizable ones) even though you left the table with less than you started with (net loss for the session).
August 20th, 2021 at 2:53 PM ^
You don't get taxed on the NET winnings. You get taxed on winnings. So you'd get taxed on the $10K and if you don't itemize you're return, you wouldn't have the option of deducting the $8K in losses. No tax loss harvesting in gambling if you don't itemize
Winnings are the actual profit you make on a specific bet, the money you laid down as the bet returning to you is not profit/winnings.
With sports betting, each bet is considered individually. It's not like sitting at a blackjack table where the entire time you're playing it's considered one "gambling session".
I don't have an incentive to itemize my return since I don't own a home and all my income is W2. I also don't earn enough on gambling (probably make a couple grand if I have a good football season) to itemize solely for that. So I just decide to use offshore books to avoid the $2K net winnings but getting taxed on $10K winnings situation.
August 20th, 2021 at 2:54 PM ^
IF you itemize, you can reduce your taxable income by the amount you lost (deductions), but then your income goes up by your winnings. The amount you deduct can only go up to the amount you won, so you can never actually reduce your taxable income by gambling. So if you increase your taxable winnings by $10k, and reduce it by your losses (deduct), then you're effectively paying taxes on the $2k in net winnings. If you lost more or the same amount that you won, the two cancel out and there's no tax changes.
August 20th, 2021 at 1:26 PM ^
Whatever you do, don't use Draftkings.
August 20th, 2021 at 2:24 PM ^
I'm not a gambler, but just curious about why not to use them.
August 20th, 2021 at 2:57 PM ^
I've been on DraftKings and FanDuel for about 1.5 years and have loved them both, curious why you say that.
August 20th, 2021 at 2:10 PM ^
Fat Tony of Springfield.
August 20th, 2021 at 2:35 PM ^
August 20th, 2021 at 5:56 PM ^
Smooth Jimmy.