"My Sportsbook" - A personal opinion

[pokherplyr]

Well, guys, I anxiously awaited this product's arrival and I am a bit "disappointed" at it's arrival. While I can see the potential for this product, it does not currently offer much value. Many areas need to be addressed.

1. Viewing format - as jamar pointed out in another thread, most USA bettors have become accustom to viewing lines on sporting events with the games listed down the left of the screen and the sportsbooks listed across the top (aka, the Don Best rotation). It is hard to ask the bettors to adjust to this new way of viewing things.

2. Debuting here at Bettorsworld, you must have known you are catering to a predominately USA market. Why then, would you bother to even show odds in the decimal format. Yes you have a nice odds converter to fractional, but most USA bettors are use to seeing the "standard" moneylines "-/+ 1xx/100 and are put off my this way of viewing thing.

3. I have only heard of One of the sportsbooks available (Intertops). I realize this will change and welcome the listing of lines of all of the fine books at the top of the screen here.

There are other "nit-picking" details that I might address at another time but getting these 3 majors addressed will go a long way in making "My Sportsbook" having some value to me.

Perhaps, because of marketing reasons (aka don best unveiling of DBS2K, and IXPlatinum) you decided to announce your product prematurely. I hope you can address some of my concerns in the near future.

My Sportsbook's current grade - Incomplete reserving final judgment at this time.

[bgeorgia]

pokrplyr,

very good points and believe me much appreciated.
this is what we are looking for. rest assured, these guys want a product that satisfies the u.s. market. changes are being made on the fly and will appear quickly so look for them regularly.
we encourage all players to voice their opinions/complaints here so the process can be expedited.

thanks
bg

[Steven]

Good points made....To clarify, the reason the format is structured as you see it is becuase unlike DonBest, in which a few books are displayed. The MySportsbook product will eventually have dozens and dozens of books both from the America's as well as UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. Keep in mind the product will be evolvolving into a lot more then just odds comparison on sports. Coming in the near future is automated arbitrage notification and similar odds comparison for pari-mutuals based on OTB betting pools. We are making upgrades and changes continuosly. Although we recognize that display format, and data from the books you are familiar with is key. Equallly pleas recognize the vast personalization features that will make utilizing that data extremely efficient and usefull. :cool:

[jacmar]

I pretty much agree with pokherplyr. We need to see something similar to the Don Best screen. We need to see the line changes as they happen, even if it is based on a slight delay. And of course, we don't want to have to keep hitting the refresh button as per Offshore Connection. Totals are significant too, and their changes must be addressed as well. And Hurricane Steve, I understand the idea of having dozens of sportsbooks. But for most of us, speed is of the utmost importance. It is quality over quantity. A simple screen with the books across the top and the games along the side is about as simple as one would want. I, for one, am not concerned about numerous sportsbooks. Just a few sharp books on the screen with the changes shown in color or black is so important. And as you know, the most important part of any line service is the speed of the line change. Without that, then there really is no purpose for those of us who are trying to get the move as fast as possible.

[pokherplyr]

Bg & Steve;

I am glad you took my earlier post in the spirit in which it was given, a.k.a. constructive criticism. Steve you mention you have your way of viewing things so you can allows "dozens and dozens" of sportbooks info to appear. Well, when I used DB IE when free and 2 min delay, they had I believe around 30 sportsbooks listed. I was only interested in maybe 10 of those, and I set up the screen to show those 10 on the 1st page. As jagmar pointed out QUALITY, not QUANTITY is what we are looking for here.

Steve, if you are going to succeed in business, you must "give the customer what they want." Please don’t expect me to "adjust" you your way of viewing data. Give me the data in a form that I am comfortable with to deal with.

There are limits to the number of "outs" that one punter can do business with. I don’t need to see what every sportsbook in the world has for a number, just the one’s I respect and one’s I do business with. And I want to view them in the "old fashion" method I have been used to since the dark days of calling my "man" and writing down there numbers in a schedule book.

Auto arbitrage, yep very nice concept. I have been doing this manually for years and the thought of not having to strain my eyes on the screen, but just to hear a bell or whistle and click , click, done is nice. But how about getting the basics UP and Running before all the nice bells whistle.

[jacmar]

I couldn't have said it better. There are only two of us commenting but I assure you that many others feel the way we do. Take a look at the Don Best screen or even Offshore Connection. It is very easy on the eyes, and very simple to understand. The changes are easily noticed, which as I mentioned before, is so important. I would be very satisfied with even 5 or 6 quality books instead of having 20 or 30.

[Jeff]

Any tool that can be of any help whatsoever to the players is welcome with open arms!

Pokehrplr and jacmar, I'm sure there will be new products on the horizon that better fit your needs!

[jacmar]

I certainly hope so Jeff.....My Sportsbook certainly has not been what any of us was expecting. So until something else comes along, I will be known as "the refresh kid" as I continue to hit the refresh button on Offshore Connection about 8000 times a day.

[Steven]

Guys,

We do appreciate the feedback. Just to clarify, the MySportsbook product allows you to create a "mybookmakers" list, in order to view the odds from just the books you care about. We are addressing the very feedback you here at bettorsworld have given...WE LIKE THIS! You will notice some layout changes in 2 to 3 weeks. Also, although we appreciate your feedback, much of what we have done to date was with the feedback of many bettors through focus groups. We are confident that before long you will embrace the MySportsbook product, and find it to be very useful. Also, although your needs may make it that you only focus on the layout and display format, many bettors have given very positive feedback and find the betlalert, myjournal and personalization features very helpful.

[sportshobby]

I'm really excited about the potential of this thing! Sure, it's not quite ready to revolutionize the way players work, but with some work it surely could. Here are my suggestions:

The "click-to-bet" option could really be a time-saver, if only it would link directly to a screen to set up the particular bet just clicked. Taking the user to the home page of that sportsbook is less useful, as there is still login screens, type of wager to be selected, etc, etc.

Other suggestions of mine have already been mentioned - U.S. odds format, seeing all the games at one time, etc.

Keep up the good work! This could really be a winner.

[Steven]

Sportshobby...Thanks for the encouraging thoughts. We are in fact working with all the books to set up a much more efficient landing page. In fact, the product will eveolve to where it will capture your potential wagers on a betting ticket to then allow you to go through the list and execute.You will begin to see minor additions and enhancements over the next several days and weeks, to address and enhance the value of these tools to you the bettor. Again, we want the criticism, amd feedback!