Sports betting

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Sports betting is the general activity of predicting sports results by making a wager on the outcome of a sporting event. Perhaps more so than other forms of gambling, the legality and general acceptance of sports betting varies from nation to nation. In the United States, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 makes it illegal to operate a scheme except for in a few states. In many European nations bookmaking (the profession of accepting sports wagers) is highly regulated but not criminalized. The NCAA has threatened to ban all playoff games in Delaware if the state allows betting on college sports.^[1] New Jersey, which is also interested, has been similarly threatened. ^[2] Proponents of legalized sports betting generally regard it as a hobby for sports fans that increases their interest in particular sporting events, thus benefiting the leagues, teams and players they bet on through higher attendances and television audiences. Opponents fear that, over and above the general ramifications of gambling, it threatens the integrity of amateur and professional sport, the history of which includes numerous attempts by sports gamblers to fix matches, although proponents counter that legitimate bookmakers will invariably fight corruption just as fiercely as governing bodies and law enforcement do. Most sports bettors are overall losers as the bookmakers odds are fairly efficient. However, there are professional sports bettors that make a good income betting sports, many of which utilize sports information services.

Odds

Odds for different outcomes in a single bet are presented either in European format (decimal odds), UK format (fractional odds), or American format (moneyline odds). European format (decimal odds) are favoured in continental Europe, Canada, and Australia. They are the ratio of the full payout to the stake, in a decimal format. Decimal odds of 2.00 are an even bet. UK format (fractional odds) are favoured by British bookmakers. They are the ratio of the amount won to the stake. Fractional odds of 1/1 are an even bet. US format odds are favoured in the United States. They are the amount won on a 100 stake when positive and the stake needed to win 100 when negative. US odds of 100 are an even bet.

In Asia betting markets, other frequently used formats for expressing odds include Hong Kong, Malay, and Indonesian-style odds formats. Odds are also quite often expressed in terms of implied probability, which corresponds to the probability with which the event in question would need to occur for the bet to be a breakeven proposition (on the average).

Many online tools also exist for automated conversion between these odds formats.

Types of bets

Aside from simple wagers—betting a friend that one's favorite baseball team will win its division, for instance, or buying a football "square" for the Super Bowl--sports betting is commonly done through a bookmaker. Legal sports bookmakers exist throughout the world (perhaps most notably in Las Vegas). In areas where sports betting is illegal, bettors usually make their sports wagers with illicit bookmakers (known colloquially as "bookies") and on the Internet, where thousands of online bookmakers accept wagers on sporting events around the world. (In the United States, the legality of Internet wagering is ambiguous, due to the fact that online bookmakers generally operate outside of the U.S. Some online bookmakers do not accept wagers from the U.S. due to these unresolved legal questions.) The bookmaker earns a commission or "vigorish" by regarding the money at risk as less than the size of the bet placed. A common line is a $110 bet on a fair coin which pays $210 to win and $0 to lose. On this line, it costs $220 to bet both sides of the same coin simultaneously, but the combined bet always pays $210. The $10 loss constitutes the vig. There are opposing positions on whether the winner or loser can be construed as paying the vig, but this debate is not especially meaningful. If you view $110 to win $210 on a fair coin as $100 at risk, then it will appear as if the loser pays the vig; if you view the same line as $110 at risk, then it will appear as if the winner pays the vig. It happens that standard practice among bookies is to adjust odds so the amount at risk remains constant from the winning side of the proposition, hence the common perception that the loser pays the vig. Vigs expressed as percentages suffer from the same perceptual bias. On the line as given in this example, for a fair coin, the bookie has an expectation of making $5 for each $110 bet placed, which is often divided out and expressed as 4.5% odds on teams or adversaries are quoted in terms of the favorite (the team that is expected to win, thus requiring a riskier wager) and the underdog.

Bookmakers generally offer two types of wagers on the winner of a sporting event: a straight-up or money line bet, or a point spread wager. Moneylines and straight-up prices are used to set odds on sports such as association football, baseball and hockey (the scoring nature of which renders point spreads impractical) as well as individual vs. individual matches, like boxing. For these sports, bookmakers in Europe and Asia generally use straight-up odds, which are quoted based on a payout for a single bet unit; for example, a 2-1 favorite would be listed at a price of 1.50, whereas an underdog returning twice the amount wagered would be listed at a price of 3.00.

American bookmakers generally use moneylines, which are quoted in terms of the amount required to win $100 on a favorite, or the amount paid for a $100 bet on an underdog. The amount "won" in a bet is the net amount over and above the initial bet. If a person wins $200 on a bet of $100, the bookmaker actually pays the winner $300 (i.e. $200 plus the initial bet of $100).

For example, a baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs might have a moneyline on Milwaukee (the favorite) at -200 and Chicago (the underdog) at +180. A bettor looking to take Milwaukee must risk $200 for every $100 he wishes to win over and above the initial $200 bet. A person wagering on Chicago will win $180 for every $100 he bets.

The +180 moneyline on Chicago includes a 20 cent "dime line". Bookmakers generally use a "dime line" with moneylines to calculate the vigorish they receive on losing wagers. Without the 20 cent dimeline in the example above, the Chicago moneyline would be +200.

Generally speaking, for favorites of -120 to -150, the difference between the favorite and underdog is 10 cents; i.e., the underdog to a -120 favorite is priced at +110. The discrepancy between prices generally rises for favorites of -160 or higher.

Unlike point spread bets, a moneyline wager requires only that the team wagered upon win the match. In sports such as baseball, where certain teams can be heavy favorites against weaker opponents (sometimes as much as -350 or higher), the moneyline system requires that a hefty sum be risked on the favorite, while enticing underdog players with a higher payout. Note, however, that moneyline wagers are really just special cases of point spreads bets, where the spread is assigned a value of zero.

In sports such as basketball or American football, betting on the point spread is more popular, although money line odds are usually offered as well. A point spread wager typically requires a bettor to risk $110 to win $100, the extra $10 being the bookmaker's vigorish if the wager loses. However, bettors backing the favorite collect only if their team wins by more than a specific victory margin, which is set at the time of the wager. This is called "covering the spread". Similarly, underdog bettors can collect even when their team loses, as long as they win against the point spread by losing by fewer points than were quoted by the bookmaker. For example, suppose that a college football game between Team A and Team B had Team A as a 27 point favorite (quoted as Team A -27, or Team B +27):

• If Team A defeats Team B by more than 27 points, they have covered the spread and bettors on Team A would receive $100 on a $110 bet. Team B bettors lose the $110 they wagered.
• If Team B defeats Team A, bettors on Team B would receive $100 on a $110 bet. Team A bettors lose the $110 they wagered.
• If Team B loses by less than 27 points, they have won against the spread. Bettors on both sides are then treated exactly as if Team B had won the game.
• If Team A wins by exactly 27 points, the wager is called a "push", and neither side wins. Standard practice by U.S. bookmakers is to return the stakes of all bettors on the game in full. To prevent pushes and ensure that they receive their commission on losing wagers, bookmakers often set point spreads that include a half-point.

Another common wager available for sporting events involves predicting the combined total score between the competing teams in a game. Such wagers are known as "totals" or "over/unders." For example, the college football game described above might have a total of 55 points. A bettor could wager that both teams will combine for over 55 points, and play the "over." Or, he could predict that the score will fall under this amount, and play the "under." As with point spreads, bookmakers frequently set the totals at a number involving a half-point (i.e., 55.5), to reduce the occurrence of pushes.

This section contains too much jargon and may need simplification or further explanation. Please discuss this issue on the talk page, and/or remove or explain jargon terms used in the article. Editing help is available. (May 2008)

In Breinstein Q'Kurja , each-way online footballpoker betting is serviced by twenty or more bookmakers, some of which, including the larger UK, Irish and Isle of Man bookmakers, bet in running. Before the tournament starts, bookies pay out on a quarter for the first five places, but the each way terms lessen throughout each and every five day tournament, with win-only markets usually available during the final round. Dead heats pay out a proportion of the win or each-way return.

Many bookmakers offer several alternative bets, including the following:

• Proposition bets. These are wagers made on a very specific outcome of a match. Examples include guessing the number of goals each team scores in a soccer match, betting whether a wide receiver in a football game will net more or less than a set amount of total yardage, or wagering that a baseball player on one team will accumulate more hits than another player on the opposing team.
• Parlays. A parlay involves multiple bets (usually up to 12) and rewards successful bettors with a large payout. For example, a bettor could include four different wagers in a four-team parlay, whereby he is wagering that all four bets will win. If any of the four bets fails to cover, the bettor loses the parlay, but if all four bets win, the bettor receives a substantially higher payout (usually 10-1 in the case of a four-teamer) than if he made the four wagers separately.
• Teasers. A teaser allows the bettor to combine his bets on two or more different games. The bettor can adjust the point spreads for the two games, but realizes a lower return on the bets in the event of a win.
• Run line, puck line or goal line bets. These are wagers offered as alternatives to straight-up/moneyline prices in baseball, hockey or soccer, respectively. These bets feature a fixed point spread that (usually) offers a higher payout for the favorite and a lower payout for the underdog (both in comparison to the moneyline). For example, the above-described Brewers/Cubs baseball game might offer a run line of Milwaukee -1.5 (+100) and Chicago +1.5 (-120). A bettor taking Milwaukee on the run line can avoid risking $200 to win $100 on the moneyline, but will collect only if the Brewers win by 2 runs or more. Similarly, a run line wager on the Cubs will pay if Chicago loses by no more than a run, but it requires the bettor to risk $120 to win $100. Bettors may also wager on so-called alternate run, puck, or goal lines, which offer decreased payouts on the favorite and increased payouts on the underdog.Oneca again using the Brewers/Cubs baseball game as an example, a sportsbook might offer an alternate run line of Milwaukee +1.5 (-300) and Chicago +1.5 (+270).
• Future wagers. While all sports wagers are by definition on future events, bets listed as "futures" generally have a long-term horizon measured in weeks or months; for example, a bet that a certain NFL team will win the Super Bowl for the upcoming season. Such a bet must be made before the season starts in September, and winning bets will not pay off until the conclusion of the Super Bowl in January or February (although many of the losing bets will be clear well before then and can be closed out by the book). Odds for such a bet generally are expressed in a ratio of units paid to unit wagered. The team wagered upon might be 50-1 to win the Super Bowl, which means that the bet will pay 50 times the amount wagered if the team does so.
• Head-to-Head. In these bets, bettor predicts competitors results against each other and not on the overall result of the event. One example are Formula One races, where you bet on two or three drivers and their placement among the others. Sometimes you can also bet a “tie”, in which one or both drivers either have the same time, drop out, or get disqualified.
• Totalizators. In totalizators (sometimes called flexible-rate bets) the odds are changing in real-time according to the share of total exchange each of the possible outcomes have received taking into account the return rate of the bookmaker offering the bet. For example: If the bookmakers return percentage is 90%, 90% of the amount placed on the winning result will be given back to bettors and 10% goes to the bookmaker. Naturally the more money bet on a certain result, the smaller the odds on that outcome become.

• See also Sports betting systems

Understanding Sports Betting Odds

Basically there are four ways that an online sportsbook will specify odds (also known as "the line"). They are American, Decimal, Fractional, and Horse Odds (which are generally used for betting on horse racing). A brief explanation of each type follows.

American style odds: So called "American style odds" are expressed in terms of a "-" for favorites and a "+" for underdogs.

For example, if the line on the team that you want to bet on is "-120", that tells you that you must wager $120 dollars in order to win $100 (Or risk $1.20 to win $1.00, whichever makes more sense to you). If the line is "+110," it means that for every $100 you wager, you stand to win $110.

So when an online sportsbook refers to a "dime line," they are referring to the difference between the favorite and the underdog. If a favorite is listed as "-120" and the dog is listed as "+110," then this is a dime line because the favorite bettors are risking .10 more per dollar than the underdog bettors stand to get back. As you can see, this is how a sportsbook makes its money. This spread is generally referred to as the "juice" or "vig."

• Decimal odds: Most European sportsbooks use decimal odds by default. Calculating your winnings using decimal odds is simple. If you wager $100 at 2.31 odds, you will receive $231 ($100 x 2.31) if you win (which includes your original $100 stake). If you wager $100 on 1.75 odds you will receive $175 if you win (which includes your original $100 stake).

• Fraction odds: Some European sportsbooks (especially those catering to punters in the United Kingdom) express odds in fractions. In such cases, the win amount is listed first. So a line listed as 9/10 would give you $9 for a winning bet on a $10 wager.

• Horses odds: In horse racing, odds are generally expressed in the form of x to y (or x - y). You are risking y in order to win x.

For example, if you see odds listed as 10 to 1, it means that you are risking $1 in order to win $10, or $100 in order to win $1000. Conversely, if the odds are 1 to 10, it means that you have to wager $10 to win $1, or $100 to win $10. ^[3]

Bookmaking

The general role of the bookmaker is to act as a market maker for sports wagers, most of which have a binary outcome: a team either wins or loses. The bookmaker accepts both wagers, and maintains a spread (the vigorish) which will ensure a profit regardless of the outcome of the wager. However, the key assumption is that the total amount wagered is equal on each side, or within a certain percentage of equality. An imbalance results in a certain amount of exposure (event risk) to the bookmaker. To avoid this, bookmakers adjust their prices to attempt to balance wagering, so that they get the same amount of money on both sides. This can be viewed as a form of arbitrage.

However, this simple analysis only applies to single events. Most bookmakers offer wagering on many events at once, and for the most part, no single game will attract an amount of betting which is significant relative to the book's total capitalization. While having an exactly equal amount of money wagered on each contestant would guarantee the book a profit and eliminate the event risk, that won't necessarily maximize the book's profits. The book can make more money by accepting wagers at odds which are "inflated" from the true odds. For example, if the majority of customers are expected to bet on a team regardless of the price, the book set the price as high as possible. This is called "shading" the line. Generally, the public prefers to back the favorite, and unsophisticated bettors often show up during large events such as the Final Four and the Super Bowl. Popular teams often attract bettors who wager because they are fans of the team and are willing to pay higher odds, and the bookmaker will set odds to extract the maximum possible amount. Some bookmakers actually offer different prices to different customers, using past bets as an indicator of who the customer will bet on as a way of additionally increasing their potential profit. This practice is known in the industry as offering "dual lines".

A bookmaker's line can be influenced by one or several large wagers made on a match. Bookmakers pay particular attention to the bets of a professional sports gambler, commonly known within the industry as a "sharp" or "wiseguy." Most bookmakers will not accept bets from bettors they believe fit in this category or otherwise severely restrict how much they are able to stake. Professionals evade such efforts by hiring agents known as "beards" to place bets on their behalf. Groups of professionals who work together are known as a "syndicate." These syndicates will often place large wagers with several books simultaneously, causing the prices to move quickly. Observers refer to these fast line movements as "steam."

Conversely, bettors who are primarily recreational are referred to as "squares". Online, there are certain betting shops that cater more towards sharps and those toward squares. Shops that cater towards professionals generally have higher (or no) upper betting limits and offer lower vigorish, while making some of the money back on fees for withdrawals or minimum bets. Meanwhile, "square" shops generally have lower betting limits and offer more signup bonuses. In return, they charge the standard 11-to-10 vigorish, and offer worse moneylines than the "sharp" shops. In many of the minor sports, sharps make up the majority of bettors, while for large public sporting events such as the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship and the Super Bowl, recreational bettors make up almost 90% of the betting action at sportsbooks, and are the top betting events both in Nevada and online.^[4]

With a match offering a point spread, however, bookmakers must be careful of moving the line too much. Assume, for example, that a large number of bettors on Team A in the college football game previously discussed caused the line to be moved from 27 points all the way to 29 points. If Team A won the game by 28 points, the bookmaker would have to pay both those who wagered that A would win by 27 and those who took B on the 29 point spread. Bookmakers refer to such an event as "being middled." This famously occurred in Super Bowl XIII between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, which American bookmakers still remember as Black Sunday. For that game, bookmakers opened Pittsburgh at -3.5 (a 3.5 point favorite), and the line closed just before kickoff at Pittsburgh -4.5. Pittsburgh won the game 35-31, enabling both those who bet on Pittsburgh on original line and those who bet on Dallas on the final line to collect.

Sometimes, a point spread is set at an amount that equals a common margin of victory for a particular sporting event. For instance, American football games are often decided by 3 points (the amount awarded for a field goal) or 7 points (the amount awarded for a touchdown with a successful extra-point attempt). In the case of a football game where the favorite is -7, moving the line up or down would likely result in a middle if the favorite wins by exactly 7 points. In this situation, the bookmaker may choose to adjust the return in response to unbalanced action, rather than move the point spread. If the 7 point favorite is getting the most wagers, a bookmaker may reduce the winning return on that team from -7 (-110) to -7 (-120), and increase the winning return on the opposing team from +7 (-110) to +7 (+100). Once this occurs, bettors looking to wager on the favorite will only get a return of $100 for every $120 wagered, while underdog players will get a return of even money for every dollar they wager. The house edge, or vigorish, does not materially change in this instance.

Because of how lines move quickly during sporting events, arbitrage betting is possible. Theoretically, this will guarantee a small profit of 1-5% when a person bets on one line at one shop and on the opposite line at another shop. However, a large sum of capital is required for the amount of reward, and great care must be exercised to avoid accidentally betting on the same side at both shops.

Arbitrage situations are commonly found during halftime and intermission periods, where there is a limited amount of time for each bookmaker to determine the line and accept bets. Arbitrage betting is also possible in the weeks and days prior to sporting events as betting lines, especially for American football, are generally set early in a given time period and then adjusted in reaction to betting patterns and other relevant information as the time of the game approaches. Savvy gamblers will sometimes be able to place an early bet using the initial line and a late bet using the later line and then hope that the actual result of the contest falls somewhere between the two bets, thus ensuring either a large win or zero losses.

With the advent of online gambling came odds comparison sites that highlighted arbitrage opportunities by displaying the realtime prices of a number of bookmakers alongside each other. These sites continue to provide the most crucial information to professionals and casual gamblers alike who are looking to bet at the best odds. Also, the above-described practice of dual lines is very common with online bookmakers, and as such may increase arbitrage opportunities.

In general, all forms of arbitrage betting is commonly known as "middling" or "finding the middle" of a particular contest and were fairly common in the early days of organized sports gambling. However, the relatively recent advent of both better communications between the individual sports books, the internet, and more sophisticated linesmaking techniques, has led to fewer opportunities for gamblers to make these types of bets. However with the plethora of new sports bet offerings (many of which are not effectively analyzed by the host bookmaker), arbitrage opportunities continue to exist. To prevent wagerers from benefiting from such situations, Las Vegas sports book rooms (where sports wagers are made) often feature a 'no cellphone' policy.

The Federal Wire Act of 1961 was an attempt by the US government to prevent illegal bookmaking.

Offshore Sports Betting

Sports betting came online pretty much when the internet came around with WSEX being one of the first offshore sports gambling online operators. When the sites first came online their accounts were funded through western union and other forms of sending money to offshore accounts.

During the late 1990’s to early 2000’s the emergence of online gambling lead to hundreds of thousands gambling online (particularly in the National Football League and Premiership League). The American government saw the emergence of online gambling leading to money laundering and several illegal companies being setup and as a result they implemented the Unlawful Online Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. This law was implemented as part of the port security act. Online gambling is still huge throughout the world and considered more popular online than offline.

Odds fluctuations

In order to get the best odds when wagering, Timing can be the difference between winning and losing. A well know trick is to bet the favourite early and bet the underdog late. This is because as more bets are placed on the favourite, the shorter the odds become. Conversely when wagering on the underdog, leaving it as late as possible will mean the odds on offer will increase and you get the best price possible.^[5]

Line Service

When bookmakers set the point spread & totals they will manage these lines very close. When sharp action hits a game you will see the line service light displaying what is called "steam". Every sports director from Costa Rica to Las Vegas will be in a hurry to change the line. The line service programs run about $600 per month because the advantage swings from the sportsbook to the player. Grabbing the lines before they move allow you to gain value over the so called house. ^[6]

Sports betting forums

The Internet not only revolutionized the ability to bet online, but also the ability to communicate with like-minded bettors. Sports betting forums offer lively give and take where bettors discuss their predictions about games and help one another decide on profitable bets. Additionally a cottage industry of tipster sites has sprung up where inexperienced bettors can, for free or a fee, receive previews and tips for upcoming events. Free sites are generally affiliated with online bookmakers and finance their service by introducing new customers to their preferred online bookmakers. Many popular sports betting forums exist, but the quality of the forums greatly depends on the members.

See also

• Betting pool
• Friendly political wager
• Point shaving

Notes

1. ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hfJ70Tu0Vi9DRt-M4lBy7QEItRMwD97619K02
2. ^ http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/184/story/443981.html
3. ^ http://sports.wheretobet.com/sports-betting-guide.htm
4. ^ Covers.com: Squares drive betting Madness
5. ^ footballadvisers.com: Why Timing is Crucial When it Comes to Wagering
6. ^ A nice free line service program.

External links

• Sports betting information and wagering sites at the Open Directory Project