This may not be the correct forum for this question, so if it needs moving - move it.
I have noticed that a few bookmakers will adjust some of their lines in the last hour or two before game time to be outside of the general consensus range. I also notice this seems to happen on games with a more popular/public team playing.
For example, most books will be offering
-180 Public Team
+165 Mudville
and suddenly a book (usually a smallish book) will move their line to
-200 Public Team
+180 Mudville
Is this book attempting to exploit the public bias in order to be more profitable or
Are they trying to generate additional action on Mudville to lower their exposure on this line
Again, this is specific to when it happens close to game time.
While it does not really matter (to me) what the motivation is, I am curious. (And maybe it should matter to me, and I don't yet know why.)