Ivy- i agree... Even tho i was responding to azguy but you get the point lol. Id say if laying off with a connected Book makes you connected in LE terms.. Sure i guess so. But a book the size of Sacos doesnt need to layoff... Its all profit in the end.. The only time most bookies who are worth their salt ever lay a bet is... Perfect example... Right now. If Saccos book lays off any bets (which i doubt) hes doing it right now... Calling in markers in vegas....not nyc. Lets be honest, would you trust a wiseguy to give you a quarter million in cash when 49ers beat that 3.5 point spread??? Which, btw is probably closer to 5+ in LA right now.
Well, for one thing, I'm not sure how active Sacco is anymore. The last bit of news I read about him was from 20 years ago. This was before the internet and before the offshore sites in Costa Rica and elsewhere became the big thing.
Especially back then, bets were largely geographical. Bookies in a given area are usually going to have more action on the local teams and have to lay off with a bookie elsewhere to balance thing out. I can see mob bookies laying off with Sacco back in the day but I can also see it going the other way. It doesn't matter how big an operation is. If they have too much action one way, they'll lose money.
As for your question, any bookie (including a mob bookie) worth their salt is going to pay out to a winner, whether it's $2,500 or $250,000. That is, if they plan on being in business for long. Stiffing a winner would kill their rep. But all this is hypothetical because, as you know, the whole point is to balance the bets. As long as they're balanced, the bookie is paying the $250,000 to the winner with the money lost by the losers. It's not coming out of his pocket.
