Casino Player September 2022

SPORTS BETTING DEFINED The act of sports betting is exactly what it sounds like: wagering on the outcome of a sporting event. In all but the most simplified cases— such as betting with a friend or in an office pool—such gambling is typically done through the use of a bookmaker, a person or organiza tion set up to take or “book” bets, pay winners and claim their per centage from losers. In order to provide bettors with their services,bookmakers charge a small commission (called “vigorish” ) on wagers.That commission ranges from a typical 10% to as low as 5% in some situations. Follow ing the posted event, the bookmaker pays out the winners according to predetermined values, or odds. While there are a variety of betting options sports bettors can avail themselves of, there are two general wagering formats available with regard to the winner of a sporting event.They are: point spread and moneyline. A point spread wager is a simple betting format whereby the bet tor is required to risk more money than they can potentially win. For example, a bettor would need to risk $110 in order to win $100,with the extra $10 being the bookmaker’s commission. In addition, bettors who back the favorite—the team expected to win—collect only if their team wins by a predetermined margin, while underdog bettors—the team considered to be at a disadvantage—collect as long as their team covers the point spread, even if they lose. In events such as boxing, where the nature of the sport makes point spreads impractical, the moneyline system is used. These are straight-up odds bets based on the amount of risk required to win $100 when betting on the favorite,or the amount paid for a $100 bet on the underdog. For example, suppose that you wanted to place a bet on a game between two opponents—X and Y.The moneyline might have team X (the favorite) at -200 and teamY, the underdog, at +180. If you wanted to take team X, you’d need to risk $200 for every $100 that you’d like to win. On the contrary, if you had opted to bet on teamY, you’d win $180 for every $100 wagered. For this type of betting structure, bookmakers typically use what’s known as a“dime line”to calculate the vigorish.For favorites of -120 to -150 the difference between the opponents is 10 cents, with prices increasing for -160 and above. In addition,unlike with the point spread system mentioned previously, moneyline wagers require that the team wagered on wins. Beyond the money lines and point spreads, sportsbooks offer a range of alternative bets designed to cover many possibilities. These include over/unders, parlays, proposition bets, futures, run line and goal line bets. “ ”

OTHER TYPES OF WAGERS Beyond the money lines and point spreads, sportsbooks offer a range of alternative bets designed to cover many possibilities.These include over/unders, parlays, proposition bets, futures, run line and goal line bets. Over/Unders: When betting the over/under, punters (bettors) are basically predicting the combined total score between the com petitors and betting on whether that score will be higher than or lower than a specified number. For example, let’s say that a football game has a total set at 50. If the score at the end of that game was 24 to 35—to taling 59 points—the over bettor would win.Had the score totaled 21, on the other hand, the under bettor would collect.To compensate for the possibility of a tie,or“push,”bookmakers frequently set their totals at intervals that include half points, such as 50.5. Parlays: A parlay is a difficult, yet potentially lucrative, wager where the bettor must select the winners of two or more independent events. For example, in a five-team parlay, the bettor is essentially mak ing five distinct bets on five specific teams. If any of those teams fail to cover, the bettor loses. Proposition bets: Proposition bets are wagers made on very specific aspects of an event, such as a wide receiver’s total yardage for the game. Futures: A wager made (or lines/odds posted) on the future out come of an event, such as betting on the Super Bowl champion for the upcoming season.The odds for this type of bet are usually high and given as the ratio of units paid to units wagered, such as 50-1. Run line/goal line bet: These are fixed point-spread bets offered as an alternative to moneyline bets and feature higher payouts for the favorite and lower payouts for the underdog. A WORD ABOUT BOOKMAKERS Whether they deal with online or traditional bettors, bookmakers de vise and publish the odds that will, from their perspective, accomplish two goals: accurately predict the most likely outcome of the event and balance the value of incoming wagers for both sides. In other words, since a bookmaker’s money is earned by the vigorish and not on risk ing their own capital through gambling, they want the sum of all wa gers made on both sides of the event to be as close as possible, thereby earning them their commission and a profit.To do this they make minor adjustments to the money line or point spread as bets come in. For example, in the case of anAmerican football game where the point spread is 23, if they notice an inordinate number of wagers com ing on one side they would shift the spread to either 23.5 or 22.5— whichever direction would encourage more wagers on the team receiving less action.The same action of shifting the line is also taken for money lines,again with the purpose being to ensure profitability on the part of the book. ´

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