The 2021-2022 NFL football season kicks off on September 9 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers begin their quest to become the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since 2004 and 2005. The National Football League's first game between Tampa Bay and the Dallas Cowboys not only opens the NFL's regular season, but it also begins the most profitable for U.S. sportsbooks.   

In the United States, being confined to their homes because of COVID-19 caused people to change their perspectives on various forms of entertainment. Betting on sports has become more mainstream.

The change in mentality has sportsbooks climbing to new revenue plateaus as more volume tends to equal more profits. Plus, this fall, attracting sports betting revenue won't stop with football.

For the first time since 2019, the NBA and NHL should run their seasons free from coronavirus-specific rules. Although missing from top online ways to make money lists, running an internet-based sportsbook, where owners pay per head for their customers, has become more prevalent.  

How bookie software allows anyone to run a sportsbook

In the past, sports bettors, called players, signed up with online companies. Since 2018, organizations like DraftKings and FanDuel have begun to offer sports betting in the United States.

Sportsbook software allows anyone to become a bookie, oddsmaker and private business owner. Like DraftKings, individual bookmakers provide their clients with "daily sports, sports betting, and iGaming opportunities."

For million-dollar global casinos, introducing sportsbook software to help improve business is the equivalent of onboarding the Bloomberg Terminal.

The pay per head model allows anyone to become a bookie. Companies have designed software for the individual who wishes to run a traditional bookmaking operation without ever having to create a brick-and-mortar storefront or worry about software architecture.

Why running an online sportsbook is lucrative

The Super Bowl, the National Football League's Championship game, is the year's highest betting revenue-generating event. The average betting handle on the Super Bowl is $6 billion per year.

A deep dive into those numbers reveals why many entrepreneurs are learning how to become a bookie. Per Forbes, New Jersey players wagered more than $117 million on the 2021 Super Bowl.

$117 million is a far cry from $6 billion, which tells us that most money wagered on the Super Bowl goes uncounted.

Not counting Super Bowl betting revenue isn't an anomaly. Most betting revenue in every sport goes uncounted.

Individual bookies, and non-U.S.-based sportsbooks operating online, mustn't release betting revenue stats. A person who runs a sportsbook with ten to one hundred clients, or even more in some cases, mustn't say how much money their players bet.

Speaking of players, why would they stick with an individual bookmaker when U.S.-based avenues to bet are now available? Read how much states take from each dollar wagered, the states cut. Most of us will come to the same conclusion.

The very best sports bettor wins 52% to 55% of their bets. After the bookie fee, which is often 10% on against the spread wagers, the most common on football and basketball, the best handicappers on the planet grind out a 2% to 5% profit.

If the state takes a cut above 2%, sports handicappers must make well above the typical threshold to make money.

Casual players don't worry so much about the takeout. Professional players have no choice but to worry about the money they must provide to states that legalized online gambling.

Pro handicappers, and many casual handicappers, have stuck with their bookie or non-U.S. sportsbook.  

How much do bookies make? Nobody knows because almost all revenue goes uncounted. But simple math tells us that many bookies, not all, but many, and probably most, make a lot.

Price per head sportsbook software closes the gap    

Bookmakers provide a service where they offer free betting software to their clients. The bookmaker runs their service the same way a more prominent sportsbook would, providing betting software, making payments to winning clients, and collecting from losing customers.

Many individual companies use DGS and ASI software. Some PPH sportsbook companies use proprietary software.

Organizations with their software can integrate third-party platforms, often provide more robust security, and add things like a racebook or 3D gaming option to their product list.

Proprietary software also allows agents to use reseller tools. By doing so, agents super-charge their bookie businesses by becoming master agents.

A master agent resells their sportsbook to sub-agents. Most of the time, a master agent uses a company with proprietary software to create a custom domain.

The master agent then resells the domain to sub-agents. Sub-agents don't always wish to run an individual sportsbook due to cost and their client base. Many subs must cut costs because they provide online bookie software to ten clients or less.

Some master agents have become so adept at signing subs that they've created Reddit sportsbooks that they promote daily. Agents at that level have created companies that rival much bigger sportsbook companies.