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We don't really know the true history behind sports betting. If you believe the book "Casino", Lefty Rosenthal invented the modern-day sportsbook at the Stardust Hotel and Casino.

The truth probably lies closer to the early Roman days when people probably bet on chariot races or placed a bet on "Lion" or "Christian" (depending on what the "line" was).

Sports betting for a lot of people presents a mystery, an array of numbers that need to be explained before somebody gets comfortable with walking up to a sportsbook agent and placing a wager. Before we get into the numbers and what they mean, lets give you some insight as to how the numbers are arrived at and how the casino makes money on the games.

In any betting or gaming situation you are betting that something is going to happen (or not happen). The casino will take your wager and pay you off if you are right, and will take your money if you are wrong. Pretty simple. If two evenly matched teams were playing there is a 50/50 chance of either winning. Let's say you are betting on Team A. The odds of team A winning are 1:1. Remember in our craps discussion, the first number in an odds bet are the number of times something will happen. The second number indicates the number of times the alternative will happen. In this case Team A has 1 chance to win and 1 chance to lose, hence 1:1 odds.

Some things though are more likely to happen then others. For example: A football team that's won 10 straight games playing a team that has lost 10 straight games.

Most people would bet on the team with the 10-0 record versus the 0-10 team. In cases such as these, it behooves the casino to have equal numbers of bettors dollars on each side of the bet. In other words, for the casino to make money on the deal, it needs to have the same amount of MONEY wagered on the 10-0 team and the 0-10 team. Since the 10-0 team is more likely to win, the casino will pay you LESS money if you win. Conversely, if the 0-10 team wins, the casino will you MORE (in some cases much more) than if the 0-10 team wins.

The casino makes money on what is known as the "vig". A built in percentage (usually around 5%) that is collected on losing bets. Things get dangerous for the casino if one side of the bet is overloaded with money, since being a casino they will accept both wagers. In order to keep the money even on both sides, the casino will do a couple of things in order to make it so.

The Money Line:

As mentioned earlier, the casino will pay differing amounts of money based on the expectancy of something coming true. In our case of the 10-0 team, the casino will present you with a "Money Line" bet. Perhaps in this case the casino will put up a money line bet of -600. Note the minus sign!

Whenever you see a number like this it is in relation to 100 dollars. In this case if you would like to make a bet on the 10-0 team to win, because of the minus sign in front of the 600 you would need to bet 600 dollars to win 100 dollars. In other words, you would need to risk a lot more money to win less because of the probability that the 10-0 team will win the game.

Conversely, the money line on the 0-10 team may be +430. Note the plus sign. In this case for every 100 dollars bet, you would win 430 dollars. In other words you need to risk a lot less money versus the amount of money you could win because of the small probability that the 0-10 team will win the game.

Which bet would you take? If the casino did it's job right, if you asked 10 people that question, 5 would take the 10-0 team and 5 would take the 0-10 team.

Point Spread:

Another way the casino can keep the same amount of money on each side of a bet is to assign a point spread. In other words giving the team least likely to win a "head start" over the team most likely to win. In the case of our two mis-matched teams, the "point spread" is usually expressed in relation to which team is the "Home" team.

Lets say the point spread is 10.5.

If our 10-0 team was the home the point spread would be expressed as minus 10.5 or -10.5. Notice again the minus sign.

If the 0-10 team were at home the point spread would be expressed as plus 10.5, or +10.5.

In either case, you will add 10.5 points to the 0-10 team's final score. So if the 10-0 team wins 20-10, the 0-10 team's bettors will win the bet.

When you bet on a point spread the odds are 1:1. However in order for the casino to make money, they build in a "vig". So in sports book, it is almost always 110 dollars to win 100.

If you bet on the 10-0 team, you will bet 110 dollars and GIVE UP 10.5 points. If you bet on the 0-10 team, you will bet 110 dollars and GET 10.5 points in your favor. If either bet loses, you lose 110 dollars. If either bet wins, you will collect your original 110 dollars plus 100 dollars for a total of 210 dollars.

Once again, the casino sets the point spread so that the bet looks attractive no matter which way you go. The casino wants an equal amount of money on both sides of the bet making it a 50/50 or a 1:1 bet for the casino and for you. The "vig" (or vigorish) is seen very clearly in this type of betting. Let's say you will bet BOTH the 10-0 and 0-10 teams. You will place two 110 dollar bets one on each team for 220 dollars. One team wins, you collect 210 dollars. The 10 dollar difference is the casino's "vig" on the bet. That's how in the long run, the casino makes money on the game. The more money that is bet (or the bigger the game), the more money the casino makes PROVIDED that they set the money line or the point spread properly. Too much money on either side of the bet, exposes the casino and puts them at risk. In the gaming business the only person at risk in the transaction is YOU, not the casino.

Buy Points

You may also "buy" points on the point spread or money line to move it favorably for you in either direction. For example in our point spread example if you bet the 10-0 team, you would have to give up 10.5 points and 110 dollars in order to win 100 dollars. However, the casino will allow you to "buy" points. In other words, if you put up more than 110 dollars for your 100 dollar payoff, the casino will lower the amount of points you would have to give up in order to win. For example the casino may list a second point spread at minus 5 (-5) at -160. In this case, you would only have to give up 5 points to the 0-10 team, but you would have to increase your bet from 110 dollars to 160 dollars in order to win 100 dollars. In our previous example, the 10-0 team wins the game 20-10. You would lose the 110 dollar (-20.5) bet, but you win if you "bought" points. It's almost like combining the "money line" bet with a point spread bet.

You can also look at buying points from the aspect of the money line. The 10-0 team is minus 600 (-600) on the money line. You could reduce the amount of risk buy giving points to lower the buy in. In fact, if you gave up enough points, you could turn that negative into a positive if the casino allowed it. For example you could make this a positive bet by giving the casino 25 points.

Other Bets:

The three bets listed above are the most common when betting on the major sports. However, you can bet on just about anything in a sportsbook (including politics).

Over/Under

You may bet on the total amount of points scored in the game. The casino expresses this number without a minus or plus sign. You can place a bet if you think both teams will score more than this number, or you can place a bet if you think both teams will score less than this number. The Over/Under bet can be for the total points scored in the game, or it can be for the first half or the second half.

For example, the over/under of our hypothetical game is 50.5. If you bet the over on the final score, you would have lost if the score was 20-10. You win if you bet the under. Also the first half over/under was 26. If the score at half time was 16-10, then all bets would be a PUSH (everyone gets their money back). Usually, but not always the over/under is expressed as a number plus a half, like 26.5, rather than 26. That way the casino always has "action" on that bet.

Odds Bet

Most common in horse racing where you are given ODDS on a bet. The odds are determined using the para-mutuel method. In other words, the odds are derived directly from a pool of money placed on each opponent, in this case a horse race. The casino, or race track fiddles with this so that the odds on each contestant are "adjusted" in such a way as to include the vig on each bet.

Futures Bet

Sort of like horse-racing odds. You can bet on a future event happening in sports based on the odds. For example, betting on the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series at the beginning of the year. The casino will take that bet at the beginning of the year at say, 10-1 odds. If you bet 100 dollars, you'll win 1000 if the Cubs won the World Series that year. The "Futures Bet" odds changes as the season goes on and more, or fewer people bet on the Cubs in relation to the other teams in baseball. If the Cubs are doing well, more people will begin to bet on them as the season progresses. The casino responds by lowering the odds to say 5-1 making the payoff less attractive. Once again, the casino would like to see the same amount of money bet on every team in Major League Baseball. They do this by adjusting the odds of these "futures bets".

Parlay

"Parlay cards" are a popular item in the sports-book. The parlay bet a multiple bet. Let's say you are keen on betting two or more games. You may bet these games separately, or you may combine the games for a bigger payoff on a "Parlay". In essence, a parlay is a let-it-ride type of bet. You wind up rolling over your winnings into the next game. If one of your teams on your parlay loses, then you lose the entire parlay. A parlay of three teams nets you more money than if you bet them separately.

Teaser Bets

Similar to a parlay, but you "buy" points in your favor in return for a lower payout than the parlay. Many times the points you get are so good, they are often difficult to resist. Hence the term teaser. You usually combine two or more teams, or two or more bets on one card, just like a parlay.

With both the parlay and teaser you can combine, point spread, over-under, half time over-unders all on one card. You are parlaying one bet into another.

Proposition Bets

Usually off-beat wacky types of bets. For example, you may bet on the first person to score a touchdown in a game. The total points scored by a particular player. We've seen bets on things like, first team to hit into a double play, first player to strike-out. Just about anything is possible with a proposition bet.

Summary:

Is sports betting a good bet?

The vig on sports-betting varies depending on the type of bet. Points bets have a vig of 4.5% because you have to bet 110 dollars instead of 100. The way the "vig" is calculated on this bet is simple.

If there were no "vig", the 110 dollar bet would pay 220 dollars. However, the casino makes you play 11 dollars for every 10 won. So in this case your 110 dollar bet only pays 210 dollars with the casino making a 10 dollar profit.

Therefore the vig is the profit divided by the true payout which is 10/220 = 4.5%

The problem with sports betting is that the person making the bet thinks they have some "inside" information, or has more knowledge about the game than the casino has and will "take advantage" of the casino's foolish point spread or money line bet. What's interesting about sports-book wagering is that the casino doesn't much care about which team is better or who is going to win. All they care about is keeping the total amount wagered pretty much the same on either side of a bet. In essence, what you are doing is betting against everybody else's "inside" information or "knowledge" about the game. In the end, the casino will take home 4.5% of the profits.

Despite the high advantage to the casino, we like to make sports bets. The reason? We like to watch sports and having a bet on a game, makes it that much more exciting. Plus, you can "milk" your money betting on a 3 hour football game. A 110 dollar bet can last 3 hours in a sportsbook, whereas it can disappear pretty quickly at a roulette table. We've seen some situations where it looks like we've lost our sports-book bet very early in the game, only to have some miraculous comeback seem even more miraculous because we had money on the game. Go to a sports-book and listen to the reaction to the touchdowns, the homeruns, the goals or the baskets. There is some REAL emotion out there because there's money riding on it.

Sports betting will never make you money. You need to win more than 52% of your bets. You really can't expect to do better than 50-50. The casino however is betting on the fact that you think you can.

Parlay bets with their tempting payouts are actually sucker bets in the casino. In the case of Parlay Cards or Parlay Bets, the more games you "parlay", the higher the advantage for the casino.

On a 3 team parlay the Parlay will most likely pay out 6:1. However, the true odds on the card should be 7:1. For every dollar bet you should get paid 8 dollars, but the casino only pays you 7 profiting one dollar on this bet. The vig is the profit divided by true payout which is 1/8 = 12.5%

A 4 team parlay pays out 10:1, but it should pay 15:1 Here the true payout on a 1 dollar bet should be 16 dollars, but the casino only pays 11, a profit of 5 dollars. The vig now jumps to 5/16 = 31.25%

A 5 team parlay pays 20:1, but it should pay 31:1, a whopping 34.375% advantage.

It may sound great to win 2,000 dollars on a 5 team parlay card where you wagered 100 dollars, but don't do it! It's a sucker bet!

Quick Review:

Let's review our sportsbook discussion with a look at a real-life football game set to be played on Monday November 21, 2005 between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. The game is to be played in Green Bay:

Looking at tonight's game, the Green Bay packers are 5.5 point FAVORITES.

That means you will be giving up 5.5 points on your 110 dollar bet if you bet on Green Bay.

If you'd like to bet on the Packers on the money line, you will not need to have to give up any points. However, you will have to bet 240 dollars to win 100 dollars in this straight up match up. If the final score was Green Bay 20, Minnesota 17, you would lose your point spread bet and win your money line bet.

The over/under on the game is 44.5. If you bet the under for 110 dollars in our 20-17 game, you would win 100 dollars.

Conversely, if you wanted to bet on the Vikings you would get 5.5 points.

If you bet the money line without getting any points, you would 190 dollars for every 100 dollars you bet. If the final score was 20-17, you would win your point spread bet, but lose your money line bet.

Post script:

The Fudge Packers lost this game 20-17!

If you had the Packers minus the points, you LOST

If you had the Packers on the money line, you LOST

If you had the Vikings and the points, you WON

If you bet the Vikings on the money line, you WON

If you parlayed, the Vikings and the points and the money line bet PLUS a bet on the UNDER, you would have made a killing!!!!

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