07/27/2010 -
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Glenn will sign a one-day contract with
the Houston Texans on Wednesday and then announce his retirement after 15
years in the NFL.
The Humble, Texas-native was selected by the Texans through the 2002 NFL
Expansion Draft after an eight-year stay in New York. He spent three years in
Houston and, along with Gary Walker, was the team's first Pro Bowl selection
in 2002.
For his career, the 5-foot-9, 183-pound Glenn made three Pro Bowls and
returned six of his 41 interceptions for touchdowns while accumulating 641
tackles with the Jets, Texans, Cowboys, Jaguars and Saints.
<< Pac-10 announces future name change
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pac-10 Conference will officially
undergo a name change once two new schools join the grouping.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, as conference commissioner Larry Scott
unveiled new branding
<< Wolves' Flynn has hip surgery
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jonny Flynn
underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair a labral tear and remove extra bone
from his left hip.
The Wolves have already planned for Flynn's absence, signing f
<< Eagles come to terms with second-round pick Allen
Bethlehem, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Eagles have signed safety
Nate Allen, their 2010 second-round draft pick, to a four-year contract.
Allen was taken with the 37th overall selection out of South Florida, where he
picked off
<< Colorado's Street sent to hospital after batting practice accident
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado closer Huston Street was sent to the
hospital after being hit by a line drive during a batting practice accident.
Street was hit in the midsection by a line drive off the bat of Ian Stewart
prior to Tue
<< Nationals scratch Strasburg before series opener with Braves
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals scratched Stephen
Strasburg before his scheduled start on Tuesday night versus Atlanta.
Strasburg stopped his pre-game warm up and was shut down after consultation
with coaches
Braves send McLouth to minors >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves have sent slumping
outfielder Nate McLouth to Triple-A Gwinnett.
In 62 games this season, the sixth-year pro was hitting just .168 and missed
more than a month with concussion-l
Dolphins sign veteran DE Douglas >>
Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Dolphins signed veteran defensive end
Marques Douglas to an undisclosed contract on Tuesday.
Douglas has spent each of the past three seasons with a different club,
playing in all 16 regular se
Big Hurt returns to White Sox as team ambassador >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time American League MVP Frank Thomas, who
announced his retirement last winter, will rejoin the Chicago White Sox as a
team ambassador.
Thomas, who played 19 seasons in the majors, will have his un
Caps sign Fleischmann for one year >>
Arlington, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Capitals inked forward Tomas
Fleischmann to a one-year contract on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old native of the Czech Republic notched career-highs with 23
goals, 28 assists and 51 points in
Broncos sign draft picks Beadles, Decker >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos came to terms with their
second and third-round draft picks, offensive lineman Zane Beadles and wide
receiver Eric Decker, the team announced on Tuesday.
Terms of the deals were not di
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.
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.”
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