Football Betting

No. 6 Kentucky routs Auburn

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/26/2012 - Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A'dia Mathies scored 20 points while Samarie Walker pulled down 15 rebounds as No. 6 Kentucky took down Auburn, 66-48.

Maegan Conwright added 10 points for Kentucky (19-2, 8-0 SEC), which forced 30 Auburn turnovers and outrebounded the Tigers on the offensive glass, 21-11. The Wildcats have won eight straight games.

Blanche Alverson netted 15 points for Auburn (10-11, 2-6), which has lost five of six.

Kentucky shot just 32.4 percent from the field in the first half, but attempted 17 more shots -- helped by 12 offensive rebounds and 16 Auburn turnovers -- as the Wildcats took a 31-20 lead into the locker room. Mathies had eight first-half points to pace Kentucky.

The Wildcats led by as many as 21 late before cruising to the easy win.


<< Florida earns comeback win at Ole Miss
Oxford, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Patric Young scored 15 points and added four rebounds to lead the way for No. 14 Florida as it came from behind to hand Ole Miss its first home loss of the season, 64-60, at Tad Smith Coliseum. Kenny Boynto

<< VT upsets No. 8 Maryland
College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Monet Tellier scored a game-high 31 points, as Virginia Tech upset No. 8 Maryland, 75-69, on Thursday. The Hokies (7-14, 3-5 ACC) had lost five straight games but got 15 points from Aerial Wilson a

<< Hurricanes shut down Wake Forest
Coral Gables, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Riquna Williams and Stefanie Yderstrom each scored 14 points as the 10th-ranked Miami-Florida Hurricanes extended their winning streak to seven games with a 64-39 victory over Wake Forest. Shenise

<< Zeller, UNC hammer NC State
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyler Zeller's double-double of 21 points and 15 rebounds powered seventh-ranked North Carolina to a 74-55 victory over the North Carolina State Wolfpack. Harrison Barnes had 15 points and Reggie Bullo

<< Brown to stay at Texas through 2020
Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Texas has agreed to a four- year contract extension with Mack Brown that will keep the head football coach on the Longhorns' sideline through 2020. Brown, 60, has been the head coach at T

Datsyuk picked first in All-Star draft >>
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk was the first overall pick Thursday in the NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft. A flipped puck was used to determine who got the first pick and Team Chara won the toss. Captain

BC Lions sign WR Bruce to extension >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The BC Lions have signed veteran wide receiver Arland Bruce to a contract extension. Last August, the Lions acquired Bruce from Hamilton in exchange for a third- round selection in the 2012 CFL

Baylor stays perfect in rout of Oklahoma >>
Norman, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brittney Griner scored 18 points, had seven blocks and pulled down six rebounds as the top-ranked Baylor Bears remained perfect with an 89-58 win over Oklahoma. Odyssey Smith had 14 points, five rebou

Scott helps Virginia take down Boston College >>
Charlottesville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Before arriving in Charlottesville, Tony Bennett completely transformed the culture and expectations of the Washington State basketball program. He's now doing the same in his third season

Badgers down struggling Hoosiers >>
Madison, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wisconsin still has Indiana's number. The 25th-ranked Badgers showed why they're considered the nation's best defense by shutting down the No. 16 Hoosiers en route to a 57-50 victory, their ninth st

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.

Academy Award Betting Odds for Best Picture Offer Great Value

If there is any category that is not an obvious win for any one nominee in this year's Academy Awards, it would be for Best Picture.  Sure the Departed is a 5/7 favorite, but that's hardly anything when we look at Helen Mirren and her "out-of-reach" 1 to 40 odds (which means you would win a whopping $1 for every $40 bet).

For value, take a look at MySportsbook.com Oscars betting odds on my personal favorite, The Queen - a remarkable 12 to 1 long shot.  The film hasn't won any pre-awards for Best Picture (compared to The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine), but there is a tremendous following and it is a strong enough film to warrant a surprise win.

TV Guide advises Oscar watchers should be cautioned not to discount the  drama "Babel" with its strong social themes about overcoming communication gaps among people of different cultures.

"While 'Babel' lost several guild awards to 'Sunshine' and 'Departed,'  it still enjoys loyal support, and historically Oscar voters favor dramas with social messages over comedies like 'Sunshine' and violent crime movies like 'Departed'."

"It hasn't done well in the guilds, which means there isn't much industry support," said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com, "But several critics are expecting it to win, and that gets my attention." Babel had 7 to 2 odds at press time.

Who is to say independently produced Little Miss Sunshine won't be this year's Crash.  Last year, Crash won for Best Motion Picture, shocking those who bet on gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, as the favorite to win. 

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.