How To Run A Betting Book
The critical factor to betting a point spread is how much a team wins or loses. If a wager is placed on New England – “laying” the 9½ points – the Patriots need to win the game by 10 or more points for that bet to pay off. If New England wins 28-20, those betting on the Jets plus 9½ points (points added to their final total) win. Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basketball, baseball, hockey, track cycling, auto racing, mixed martial arts, and boxing at both the amateur and professional levels.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are causing oddsmakers to post numbers that the betting market hasn't seen since the New York Yankees' dynasty of the late 1990s.
Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill on Thursday opened the Dodgers' 2021 season-win total at 104.5. That's tied with the 1999 Yankees for the highest win total at sportsbooks in the past 32 seasons, according to odds archive SportsOddsHistory.com.
In addition to the reigning World Series champion Dodgers, four other teams also opened with win totals of 90 or higher -- the Yankees (97), Atlanta Braves (92), San Diego Padres (92) and Chicago White Sox (90.5).
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The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the other end of the spectrum and opened with a win total of 58, tied with the 1993 expansion Florida Marlins for the lowest win total in the past 32 seasons. The Colorado Rockies have the next-lowest opening win total this season at 62.5.
Other notable totals at Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill include the New York Mets (89), defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays (88.5), Houston Astros (88), St. Louis Cardinals (88), Philadelphia Phillies (81.5), Chicago Cubs (79.5) and Boston Red Sox (77).
As pitchers and catchers begin reporting for spring training, the Dodgers are the clear-cut, consensus favorites to win the World Series, with odds around +350 at most sportsbooks. At William Hill sportsbooks in Nevada, the Dodgers are even shorter, at +200. The 1999 Yankees also began the season at +200 to win the World Series.
'It's very rare for a baseball team to be that low before the season,' Nick Bogdanovich, director of trading for William Hill U.S., said in a company release.
Last year, the Dodgers posted a .717 winning percentage in the abbreviated 60-game regular season, which translates to 116 wins in a full 162-game slate. Only two teams -- the 1906 Cubs and the 2001 Seattle Mariners -- have won 116 games in a season.
After beating the Rays in last year's World Series, the Dodgers re-signed star players Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger and pitcher Walker Buehler and bolstered their pitching staff by acquiring National League Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer.
The Dodgers were the betting favorite in every game last season, including in the playoffs, a streak that's likely to continue in 2021.
'This Dodgers team, on paper, looks like an All-Star team in a lot of ways,' Randy Blum, an oddsmaker for the SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas, told ESPN. 'If you look at their pitching staff, you could take any of their top guys, whether it's [Clayton] Kershaw, Bauer or Buehler, and throw them at home against the Pirates, and those numbers are going to be absurd.'
ESPN's Vince Masi contributed to this report.
Understanding the different types of betting options is crucial when you’re getting a start as a first-time sports bettor.
The Point Spread: Betting the spread
How To Run A Betting Book Of The Day
For those new to sports betting, the point spread is the simplest, most straightforward approach to placing wagers.
Sports books set a predetermined margin of points on a game and a team must win – or not lose – by that set number. That’s why you’ll often hear people say the team won, but they “didn’t cover the spread” so their bet still came up short.
It’s not a matter of a team winning or losing like in a moneyline bet.
For a favorite: The favorite must win by more than the point spread.For an underdog: The underdog must outright win OR lose by fewer than the point spread.How To Run A Betting Books
Sports books aren’t in the business of predicting who will win or lose games. Their goal is setting a pre-game point spread with the intention to generate an equal amount of betting action/volume on both sides of the ledger – as much total money being bet on the favorite as on the underdog.
The vast majority of point spread wagers are made on football and basketball because of the proliferation of points that are scored in comparison to sports like baseball and hockey, where 1-0 or 2-1 games aren’t that out of the question or out of the norm. There’s one every night.
For example, the New England Patriots are playing the New York Jets and New England is a 9½-point favorite. Bettors typically have to spend $110 or so to win $100 with sports books, known as “the house edge/advantage.” With a point spread bet, simply having a team win the game isn’t the key. The critical factor to betting a point spread is how much a team wins or loses by. If a wager is placed on New England – “laying” the 9½ points – the Patriots need to win the game by 10 or more points for that bet to pay off. If New England wins 28-20, those betting on the Jets plus 9½ points (points added to their final total) win the bet.
How To Run A Betting Books
The same general rules apply for basketball and are quite easy to follow because of the inherent simplicity of the bet. When it comes to betting sports like baseball and hockey, the standard bets are made on the “money line” – an established number for both teams to win the game outright.
What makes point spread bets attractive are the fluid nature of each game – it’s a reality show that, when done right, is inexplicable. Games change on one play and momentum is a thing. But, when it comes to point spread betting, you know where you stand at every moment.
For those just starting out, the simplest form of gambling is betting the spread because it’s the easiest to explain and understand, which explains why it is the most popular form of sports wagering.