A bookmaker is a person whose job is to take your money when you bet and to pay you money if you win. someone whose job is to collect money that people want to risk on the result of a race, competition etc, and who pays them if they guess correctly (book (19-21 centuries) + maker)
Bookmaking is the activity of taking people's money when they bet and paying them money if they win. an Internet bookmaking business. Gambling practice of determining odds and receiving and paying off bets on the outcome of sporting events and other competitions. Horse racing is perhaps most closely associated with bookmaking, but boxing, baseball, football, basketball, and other sports have also long been of interest to bookmakers ("bookies") and gamblers. Morning-line odds, established by legal bookmakers, are printed in the sports sections of newspapers throughout the U.S. Illegal bookmaking operations have often been linked to organized crime. See also handicap