My uncle was a bookie and Irish. He worked closely with LCN and paid a cut in exchange for territory and protection. He did not work a "legal" job his entire life after serving in WWII.

He paid a minimum fee every week and a percentage of proceeds from his book.

On big betting weekends, when more than one sport overlapped, he made his payments on a daily basis.

He also "laid off" other bookies, this was before Vegas built sport books and the internet, which meant he took bets from other bookies around the country to balance their books. He had guys that each helped each other. All this was done over a wire (ever hear of Continental or Pioneer News? Reagan or Molasky?)

He rarely lost money on any given week and had a goal of making 12 - 15% of the money bet.

He spent time in Vegas with some of the first casino books to set their lines and moved them according to the money flow.

He told me he never got in trouble ("roughed up") because he always paid on time and never over extended himself, but mostly because he made his guys a lot of money, consistently.