We
have put together a list of the most commonly asked
questions about Sportsbooks & Sportsbook Betting.
What is a Bet in Sports Betting?
What Do Those Odds & Numbers Mean?
Where
can I bet legally on Sports?
What sports can
I bet on?
Do I have to pay
taxes on my winnings?
How old do I have
to be to play in the sportsbook?
What is "the
spread"?
Why do I have to
bet $11 to win $10
What are all of
the different types of bets?
Can I make a million
dollars with one bet?
Who makes the
odds?
Do I have to be
over 21 to bet on sports?
What is the minimum
bet that must be reported to the IRS?
What is line movement
and are there any patterns to it?
Regular sports
bettors usually lose. How do professionals take
advantage of that fact?
Why don't sportsbooks
just not allow bets from wiseguys?
What is a wiseguy?
What are "steam
chasers?"
What are syndicates
and how do they cause "steam?"
How do wiseguys
make money sports betting?
What is scalping?
How do I scalp?
What is middling?
Middling isn't
like scalping, there's no guaranteed profit like
in scalping. Right?
When should I
try "middling" in other sports?
What about "middles"
in which one side ties and the other side wins or
loses?
Has
the 2 pt conversion changed the strength of the
"key" numbers in the NFL?
What is
a Bet in Sports Betting?
In its narrowest sense, a bet is a pledge of money
that a certain outcome will occur. On a broader
level, placing a bet on a sports event is taking
some of the risk that the quarterback, the point
guard or the pitcher takes himself – it’s
one of the ultimate cases of putting your money
where your mouth is.
To place a bet, go to the Sportsbooks Betting page.
Choose an event from any of the sports betting menu
options there, and be taken to a page showing you
the sports odds (prices) on any particular event
occurring. The greater the likelihood of the event
occurring, the lesser the price. The less likely
the event is to occur the greater the price, and
therefore, the greater the potential return.
What Do Those
Odds and Numbers Mean?
The sports odds, or price, on a given event can
be rendered by an online sportsbook in one of three
ways.
American
A price listed as +800 means that the bettor will
return $800 profit on every $100 wagered, plus the
original stake. +500 will return $500 profit every
$100 wagered, plus the original stake. A price listed
as -200 means that $200 must be wagered to make
a profit of $100. The payout is then $300, the $100
won and the $200 stake.
Fractional
A price listed at 8/1 means that the event will
return $800 for every $100 wagered, plus the original
stake. 5/1 means that the event will return $500
for every $100 wagered, plus the original stake.
Decimal
A price listed at 8.00 means that the bet will return
$800 for every $100 wagered. A price listed at 5.00
means that the bet will return $500 for every $100
wagered.
Where can
I bet legally on Sports?
Leaving aside various forms of horse racing, there
are at least four ways to bet on sports in the US,
and of these two are legal, one is illegal, and
one is ambiguous.
You can bet legally at licensed Nevada Sports Books,
and illegally with bookies in virtually every town.
Most of the following describes the ins and outs
of gambling at sports books. There are two points
worth noting here. First, Nevada Sports Books can
set up phone accounts, but will not accept wagers
across state lines. Second, odds with illegal bookies
are often worse than those one can get in Nevada.
Betting with offshore (international) sports books
seems to be on the rise, and promises to spread
from phone services to internet based online services.
From the point of view of bets and odds offered,
these books are similar to licensed Nevada Sports
Books. The legality of these services is, at best,
ambiguous. There are claims and opinions on all
sides of the argument, but few legal precedents.
In addition, some offshore books are run by old
trustworthy firms, some are fly-by-night scams,
and many are somewhere in between. Cavaet Bettor.
The last way (and other than in state Nevada betting
the only other clearly legal way) to bet on sports
in the US is the Oregon Lottery. This was described
as follows in a rec.gambling post:
The Oregon lottery is alive and well as far as football
betting. The game is called sports action. The line
is set by Jim Feist. It is set and printed on Wednesday
and does not change. This can work to the bettor's
advantage due to changes in team lineups due to
injuries and such. The minimum wager is $2.00 and
the minimum number of games bet is 3. The payoffs
for a three game win is $5.00 per dollar wagered.
Four games gets $10.00 per dollar wagered. All other
wagers are paid on a paramutual fashion. For example,
a seven game winner usually pays around $160 to
$350. The maximum number of games that can be bet
have a winner. A week or two ago $14,000 carried
over in the 14 pool. There are also some games that
are called special play games with over/under total
score. The line seems to be fairly consistent with
the Vegas line on the Wednesday that it is set.
What sports can
I bet on?
You can bet on any sport the Sports Book you are
wagering with covers. At most books, this includes
professional and college football and basketball,
professional baseball, professional hockey, and
horse and dog racing. Every now and then Sports
Books will offer proposition bets (see below) on
events like professional golf tournaments and the
Indy 500 and the like, but not on a regular basis
for other events in those sports.
Do I have
to pay taxes on my winnings?
Paying taxes on your winnings depends upon the jurisdiction
in which you reside. Most Online Sportsbooks will
not provide details of individual's net proceeds
or losses. This is up to the individual to declare
to the proper authorities. All customer information
is kept highly confidential and is not disclosed
to any third parties or public agencies.
How old do
I have to be to play in the sportsbook?
No one under the age of 18 years will be allowed
to play for real money.
What
is "the spread"?
The spread is a point advantage given to a weaker
team that is expected to lose by X number of points.
This is the odds makers way of making even bets
possible for a Sports Book. Usually if you bet against
the spread you make an 11-10 bet. This means that
you win $10 if you bet $11 for a total of $21 if
your team covers the spread.
A team covers the spread if it wins the game with
the score modified by the spread. If Dallas and
Washington are playing and the spread is (Dallas
-7), then Dallas has to win by at least 8 points
to cover. Half-point spreads are also possible.
Why do I have
to bet $11 to win $10?
This is one of the many ways the Sports book makes
its money. In an ideal situation, the same amount
of money will be bet on both sides of the line and
the Sports Book will take its 10% from the losing
side. If $55000 ($50000 and an addition $5000 to
make the bets) was bet on Washington and $55000
bet on Dallas, no matter who wins the game the SB
will make $5000. In case of a tie, all money is
refunded. This is a rather simplified version as
the spread moves when one side becomes more heavily
bet on.
What are all
of the different types of bets?
Proposition bet
A prop bet is a bet the SB offers at odds and
conditions of its choosing. Prop bets can be exotic
bets like which team will score the most touchdowns,
which team will shoot the most three pointers,
which running back will rush for the most yards,
etc. Most prop bets are offered at 11-10 odds,
but some of the exotics will be offered at better
or worse odds, depending on the bet.
Money Line Bets
A money line bet is a bet on the straight up total
of an event or the odds for a straight up prop
bet. There are two totals given for either side
on a money line bet. A negative and a plus side.
Dallas -170
Washington +150
What this means is that for every $17 you bet on
Dallas, you win $10 if they win. For every $10 you
bet on Washington, you win $15 if they win. This
is the way SB's make money off games by not giving
points.
Spread Bets
These are the standard bets to make. Basically
a proposition bet at 11-10 odds where the conditions
are you give or take points on the team you are
betting on hoping that the modified total of your
teams score beats the other teams straight score.
Bets on the spread are often know as straight
bets because they pay even money (minus the 10%
vig).
Tampa Bay +19 1/2
Miami -19 1/2
This means that if you bet on Miami, Miami needs
to score at least 20 more points than Tampa to cover.
If you bet on Tampa, the score must be at least
within 19 for you to win. The bottom team is almost
always the home team.
Over/Under Bets
These are also 11-10 bets on what the total of
the game will be. If the total posted on a game
is 39 1/2 points, then you can wager that the
total score of both teams added together will
be either over or under the posted total. Betting
the over is known as "betting on the ball",
betting under is known as "betting on the
clock".
Chicago -5 1/2 -180 1:00 pm
Atlanta +5 1/2 +150 42 1/2
This gives the money line, the point spread, and
the total for the game. It also tells you that Atlanta
is the home team, and the game starts at 1:00 pm.
As far as I know, this is the standard posting at
mosts Books.
Parlays
A parlay bet is betting on the outcome of two
or more events, and getting higher odds than betting
on the outcome of both events. The drawback is
that the odds aren't right and that you must win
all of the events to win the parlay.
# of plays Standard Odds True Odds
2 plays 13-5 3-1
3 plays 6-1 7-1
4 plays 10-1 15-1
5 plays 20-1 31-1
6 plays 40-1 63-1
7 plays 80-1 127-1
The more events parlayed the worse the odds shift
in the casinos advantage. The advantage for the
player for parlays lies in the fact that he can
bet more on the same game (spread and over/under)
and he can bet more on two teams who are playing
at the same time.
In order to be competitive, some casinos offer ties-win
parlay cards. This greatly helps the player. The
Las Vegas Hilton SB is one of these.
Teasers
A teaser bet is a bet where you can move the spread
by a set amount, but have to pay to do it. You
must bet at least two teams like a parlay and
win both. You can move the spread by on all the
games by the set amount.
Football
Teasers
# of teams 6 pts 6 1/2 pts 7 pts
---------- ----- --------- -----
2 teams 11-10 5-6 5-7
3 teams 8-5 3-2 6-5
4 teams 5-2 2-1 9-5
5 teams 4-1 7-2 3-1
6 teams 6-1 5-1 4-1
Basketball
Teasers
# of teams 4 pts 4 1/2 pts 5 pts
---------- ----- --------- -----
2 teams 11-10 5-6 5-7
3 teams 8-5 3-2 6-5
4 teams 5-2 2-1 9-5
5 teams 4-1 7-2 3-1
6 teams 6-1 5-1 9-2
Buying a half point
You can shift the spread a half point in your favor
by laying 6-5 odds instead of the standard 11-10.
This is called buying a half point. You usually
want to stay away from this bet except on three
point spreads on football games. This is also know
as "buying the hook".
Can I make
a million dollars with one bet?
Sure. Bet $1,100,000 straight up.
Who makes
the odds?
Las Vegas Sports Consultants Inc., establishes
the odds for about 75% of the licensed Sports
Books in Nevada, as well as for the Oregon State
Lottery. It is run by Michael 'Roxy' Roxborough.
He also operates as a consultant on gaming strategies,
management, marketing, and personnel. Most illegal
books in and out of Nevada draw their odds from
what is posted at the various casinos. Transmitting
gambling information across state lines for the
purpose of placing or taking bets is illegal.
News items about point spreads and the like can
be reported for informational and entertainment
purposes only.
Do I have
to be over 21 to bet on sports?
Yes.
What is
the minimum bet that must be reported to the IRS?
Well all gambling wins and losses are supposed to
be reported to the IRS at the end of the year, but
if you bet more than $10,000 at once, you must fill
out some IRS paperwork at the ticket counter. All
money won must be reported to the IRS.
What is
line movement and are there any patterns to it?
The point spreads and money lines change throughout
the week in football and daily in baseball and basketball.
Sportsbooks want to balance the amounts of money
bet on each side so to promote betting on a side
they change the number in that sides favor.
The general rule to line movement is "bet the
favorite early and the 'dog late." This means
that if you want to bet on a favorite bet it early
in the week because as the public starts to bet
the line moves against favorites. You will get a
better number at the beginning of the week. Bet
the underdog late in the week because the line will
get better as the public bets against the underdogs.
In over and unders the rule is to bet the over early
in the week and the under late. The same reasoning
applies to this as well.
Regular
sports bettors usually lose. How do professionals
take advantage of that fact?
Regular sports bettors don't do the necessary
things to become successful and they do things that
make them unsuccessful. Regular sports bettors are
referred to as the "public."
The public likes to bet on the NFL, the Super Bowl,
the NCAA Basketball tournament and the World Series.
Professionals view these games are regular games
that carry the same weight as any other game on
the schedule. >The public likes to bet
on "public" teams. It used to be America's
team, the Dallas Cowboys or the 49ers and the Green
Bay Packers. These are teams that the public likes
because they are successful and bettors think that
they cannot lose. Today the public teams are probably
the Rams and the Colts. Professionals realize this
and find some advantages to betting against public
teams because the line has been inflated towards
those teams.
The public also likes the bet the favorites and
the overs. They think that the good teams will win
but don't realize the strength of the point spreads.
With this being the case, professionals are mostly
underdog bettors because there is more value in
the underdog.
Lastly, the public does not "shop for lines."
They usually bet any number they can get and sometimes
what ever the newspaper publishes. Professionals
go from one sportsbook to another lookingWha for
the best line and they can usually find a 1/2 pt
here and sometimes a full point. Over the couse
of the season, they will win more games. A good
tool to finding better lines is found right here
at Offshore Odds. The lines section takes you directly
to over 40 sportsbooks lines.
Why don't
sportsbooks just not allow bets from wiseguys?
Some don't! There are some sportsbooks that are
notorious for kicking out successful sports bettors.
NASA Sports is the most notable example. Most syndicates
bet at Don Best or Bettorsworld approved books.
They are generally the larger books that have been
around a long time. All of the recommended sportsbooks
on the homepage are Bettorsworld approved. There
are debates regularly on message boards about taking
or not taking syndicate action between successful
bettors and bookmakers.
What is
a wiseguy?
As mentioned earlier, this definition is highly
debatable. Some claim that a wiseguy is just a professional
sports bettor. Others have a more precise definition.
A wiseguy is a sports bettor that makes a bet and
then minutes later the screen changes the lines
dramatically. They are seen as the originator of
the play.
What are
"steam chasers?"
Steam chasers are those bettors who watch the
Don Best screen and wait for "steam."
Once steam has been recognized they bet the side
that was moved against because they realize that
it was a syndicate bet. A "steam chaser"
will lose in the long run if they are always getting
slighly worse lines than the syndicates get. This
is because the syndicates are highly successful
and they choose their plays selectively. Their play
may not have been a play if they could only get
the slighly worse lines.
What are
syndicates and how do they cause "steam?"
Syndicates are organizations that bet large
amounts of money on games. The amount is large enough
to cause the sportsbooks to adjust their lines in
order to promote betting on the other side. A sportsbook's
objective is to have the same amount of money on
each side of a game so they can pay the winners
with the losers money and keep the rest. When syndicates
bet there becomes a drastically uneven proposition.
My knowlegde of syndicates is limited but I do know
they exist. Some common names you might hear in
the message boards are the Kosher Brothers and the
Poker Players. There's more out there including
a big Asian one but I don't know who they are.
>When syndicates bet, the lines change drastically.
This is called "steam." On the Don Best
screen you will see the colors change across the
board. Steam opens up opportunities for scalpers
and middlers because the lines have changed a great
degree.
How do wiseguys
make money sports betting?
There are several ways that "wiseguys"
beat the point spread. First of all there are people
who will debate you on the term "wiseguy"
being the same thing as "professional."
More about this below. And although I've described
several of the "approaches" they use (below)
they are by no means fully described. This is how
they earn a living and do not want to give away
all trade secrets. Below are descriptions of approaches
used by professionals. As you will see, they are
much different than ordinary handicapping.
What is
scalping?
Betting both sides of a money line bet taking advantage
of differences in lines. The dfferences in the lines
must overcome the sportssbook's commission. Most
likely scalps are
only available at sportsbooks that offer "Dime"
lines but this is not always the case. One
example is taking NY Mets -120 and the other side
at a different sportsbook, St. Louis Cardinals
at +130. Therefore, if NY wins you get back the
$120 bet and the winnings
take care of what was bet on St. Louis. On the other
hand, if St. Louis wins you get back the $100 bet
and win $130. That's a $30 profit with no risk!
How do I scalp?
There are several different approaches to scalping.
The first approach is by simply searching for different
lines from sportsbooks across the web. One tool
that helps the search is found right on this website.
Click on the leagues under the Offshore Odds above
and each sportsbook link takes you directly to there
lines. This way you can easily search for differences
in lines.
The second approach is looking for lines using a
line service. Basically they're grids that show
all the current lines from several sportsbooks all
on one page.
The third approach is taking leads. Although taking
leads can open up scalping opportunities not available
to straight scalpers, it is very difficult to do
and if done incorrectly can backfire on you. By
taking leads the scalper bets a side in anticipation
that the line will move in their direction thus
being able to take the other side later in the day.
Say NY Mets opens at -120 and the other side +110.
Bet NY -120 in anticipation that the line will move.
Later in the day the line moves in increments so
that now NY is -140 and St. Louis is +130. Now you
bet St. Louis at +130. Because you have taken a
lead you now have the scalping opportunity described
above eventhough at no one time the scalp was available.
The last approach takes all the above approaches
into one. There are lots of scalpers who have joined
"groups" in order to share the scalps
they find. This lessens the work load involved in
finding these lucrative opportunities. Usually the
email each other or talk by instant messenger.
What is middling?
Middling is like scalping only with a few differences.
Instead of money lines, middling is done with point
spreads and like scalping one tries to find adequate
differences in line. Basically, middling is taking
both sides of the same game with two different point
spreads hoping that the game ends with a spread
that is in between the two lines bet. You bet the
NY Giants -1 1/2 and at another sportsbook you bet
the other side, New England Patriots at +2 1/2.
The game ends with the Giants winning by 2 and you
win both sides.
Middling isn't
like scalping, there's no guaranteed profit like
in scalping. Right?
That's true. Scalping does guarantee a proft at
least if the underdog wins. If the favorite wins
there's no loss. Basically there's no risk. In middling
however there is risk. By betting 11/10 on both
sides you will lose 1 every time until you hit a
"middle." That means you must get a "middle"
5% of the time to break even. There are only a few
circumstances in which you will want to middle betting
NFL games. The magic numbers you want to middle
are '3' and '7.' Because the highest percentage
of games in the NFL land on a spread of 3 or 7.
And for the over/unders the number is '37.' More
than 5% of the time in a game that had a spread
of around 3 the favorite wins by 3. Therefore, it
is worth your while to try and "middle"
these games. But, the sportsbooks have realized
this point and are now more hesitant to move the
spread off of 3. They will more than likely move
the money line part of the spread and keep it at
3. In addition, sportsbooks also increase the price
for buying a 1/2 pt on or off 3 which makes it not
worth your while. There are middling opportunities
available in all sports.
Also, middling is not for everyone. Whenever you
have a situation that occurs only 5-10% of the time,
over the long run there are going to be long periods
of time where you don't ever get a "middle."
Even when flipping a coin which is a 50/50 proposition
you are going to have at times long streaks of just
heads or just tails. The same goes with "middling"
but with much worse streaks.
When should
I try "middling" in other sports?
Before you try middling you should know how
much each half point is worth in every sport. You
need to go back into the statistics for the past
couple of years and figure out how often a favorite
wins by the spread of the game. Make sure that all
the line information you obtain is from the same
part of the week because the lines change throughout
the week. Find out if it's the opening lines or
closing lines and make sure they're not mixed. Once
you find out how often a number lands you will know
when profitable middling opportunities are available.
Whenever you can find two lines that have a "middle"
number that lands more than 5% than it will be profitable.
What about "middles"
in which one side ties and the other side wins or
loses?
It's the same thing except ties don't cover
the loss of the other bet. Therefore only a half
point difference in the lines is probably not worth
it even around the number 3 but a 1 1/2 point difference
allows the game a bigger window to land in the "middle."
Always know how much your situation is worth.
Has the
2 pt conversion changed the strength of the "key"
numbers in the NFL?
I've had this question a lot and I don't have the
statistics to back me up but I think that the 2
pt conversion has actually strengthened the "key"
numbers. (3, 7, 10, and 14 for sides, 37 for over/unders)
In football games the coaches are more likely going
to want to bring the game back to "key"
numbers than away from them. If a team scores a
touch down and they are now up by 6, the coach will
more than likely just kick the extra point and bring
the game to 7 than to go for the win and be up by
8. The same goes with 3.
|
