Are sports book clerks useful?

I don’t venture into sports books often and I’m usually making a straight bet on my college team. I pretty much state a dollar amount and a three digit number and he takes my money and keys in the bet. I accomplished that at my first William Hill machine within five minutes. Are they helpful with more complicated bets? Are certain ones lucky? Are they just there to move cash quickly?

 

I would generally say to move money quickly and in the past there was no other option. A guy sportsbetting for the last 50 years may not want to learn how to use a kiosk or app.

 

For for complicated bets, it’s actualky easier to use a machine. Especially if you’re doing a ten team parlay or something, you can go back and check your entries before hitting submit.

That being said, I always place my bets with a real person when there is a choice. It feels more authentic, somehow. I place bets on my phone every other day. When I’m in Vegas or at the track I want to hand cash to a person and get a ticket.

Plus, phones don’t give you drink tickets...at least not yet.

 

I have been educated by friendly attendants, well I have also been scolded by crusty old ones for not been precise enough. If you're going to parlay, then the amount, then state to the attendant you are doing a parlay first, then give him the numbers and always check your ticket before walking away. I'm not a regular bettor, but that's what I've been taught over the years.

 

I know nothing about horses, and a friend of mine gave me a very complicated ticket to bet for the Kentucky Derby. I didn't even know what to say to the guy at the book -- I just handed him the paper and said "this, please" and he did it. I wouldn't have known what to do at a kiosk.

Otherwise I have encountered helpful people at the books but they are a minority, I think. I do like getting to know a particular attendant during a trip and talk about what's going on. Part of the fun in Vegas to me is interacting with the various personnel.

 

If kiosks were available, I would use them 99 times out of 100.

Actually, now that I think about it, that's probably not true. Kiosks would only give out drink tickets for bets of a certain size. I can make $100 worth of race bets ($20 at a time) at Paris or Harrah's or Bally's and probably end up with 6 or 7 drink tickets.

 

many of them are old grouches, but not all.
I use the kiosk when WH has the better odds. if someone else is offering better odds then I have to deal with a "live" clerk.

 

Good luck getting 8 drink tickets from a kiosk. It's amazing what small talk and a couple of ones can do with a clerk.

 

I will add this... The crew in the book at the El Cortez seem to be a little bit nicer and helpful. They don't seem to mind doing their job.

 

I guess since they aren’t a big part of my personal Vegas experience I don’t mind the automated tellers, but regular bettors would miss the human interaction. I’ve seen a lot of personnel downsizing over the years but wouldn’t wish it on anyone. One of my earliest Vegas memories is of the change cart ladies walking the floor at Caesars. When I bought a roll of dollars from her she kissed the roll before she handed it to me. You can’t get that from an ATM.

 

My rule of thumb is the sportsbook folks are not big into customer service. I've seen some stuff that would horrify customer service consultants. I humble myself and if I don't know what I'm doing, I tell them up front. Lately, it's been all good. If you have a number of individual bets, have them written down before you approach the desk.

 

I have found the tellers so far to be borderline annoyed many of the mid strip sports books. I wish they had the machines as well as the tellers line like they do at the OTBs and the track. When I don’t want a drink but DO want to make a quick last minute bet, there’s always a newbie trying to figure out a wager who cut in front of the diamond line. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad there’s newbies, we need new bettors to keep the industry alive.

 

They can be pretty damn crabby compared to most other employees at nice hotels. The younger guys seem to be friendlier in general and more willing to explain things if you don’t know what you are doing.

 

I agree 100% i need a machine to bet the Horses. In the evening Ballys goes down to one grumpy ticket seller. The sports bettors get in the way taking up his valueable time ..making bets for some game then they want to chit chat about there bets...i wish the tellers would tell them bet and get outta the way. .I always remember that time i got shut out of a 80-1 winner...although ive probably been shut out of a hundred losers lol. Either way i want to bet.

 

This is what the app is for.

 

I played the horses at Ballys the first day of my trip in October. Two of the three tellers there were not loving their jobs that day, and you had to practically pry a drink coupon out of their hand, even after tipping well for a win. I figured I'd just play at Paris the next day. Guess what? They trade off between the properties, and got stuck with the same two over there the next day.

 

I'll give a shout out to the GVR team. Last March my wife wanted to bet horses just for fun but had no idea what to do. (neither do I). A female clerk spent 15-20 minutes walking her through options and how to bet. She went above and beyond.

 

I had an Arria Sports Bet Clerk go above and beyond teaching me baseball bets. I still stuck to football and have only bet football and basketball in my lifetime. I was thinking about betting on the Rockies, wish I would have because they paid well the day I was on the fence after the MLB lesson by the clerk.