You might guess that a sports book is a book about football or baseball, or maybe a book about a particular sport player’s career. But a sports book is actually a legal business for placing a bet—it’s the place where you make a bet before the contest or race takes place. Traditionally sports books were dark and smoky places where you went to talk to a bookie to bet on a race. Fancier sports books were called turf clubs and you could place your bet by going to a club at places with names like Churchill Downs and Del Mar.
Once the tax was lowered on sports betting in casinos, sports books started to open in Las Vegas. You could place your bet and then watch your contest on TV -all with comfortable seating and waitress service. Out was the dark smoke filled room lined with chalkboards, in was the electronic age of betting.
But sports books have really come of age on the Internet and online betting is big business. People love to bet from the privacy of their home. There are hundreds of sports book sites out there, so you’ll need to do some research to locate a secure and reliable site. A great place to start is www.betus.com, a site devoted to sports betting of all kinds. It’s fast, convenient and very easy to use.
You can bet on almost any sports activity, game, race or contest. Bets are taken on winners, losers, who will make the first point, or in what particular round a boxer will knock out his opponent. There are also sites that cater to casino type games, poker and bingo. You can even place bets on reality TV shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars, or bet on who you think will win the 2012 US elections.
