Very easy and good read for sportsbettors...
"If you didn't have to move lines to get balanced action there would be no better setup," said Rob Gillespie, president of BoDog.com Sportsbook and Casino. "It's like running a poker room. You just go in there and you know you are going to have your rake (the vig) on every single game.
"What you don't want to have is the situations where you balance action all day and then you get completely lopsided on one game. You have no chance to win that money back if you lose. You can completely wipe out your players with a big win. When you get a group of five or six games that are lopsided you hope you go down the middle and split. It keeps the money in circulation."
Gillespie makes no excuses for BoDog's style of bookmaking. The book releases its lines after most other books have already posted theirs. Gillespie turns away most of the professional action as well. Plus, they use the off-standard line more than most others in the industry. They rely heavily on the vig to keep their business profitable.
Still, balancing all action is nearly impossible even when a book like BoDog installs measures intended to do just that. For the NFL, BoDog has roughly 35 percent of their weekly action balanced to where they have no 'root' on the games. For another 40 percent of the games they have what Gillespie describes as a small decision where they stand to lose $15,000-$20,000 if the bettors hit their side. In the other 25 percent of the games they just have to sweat them out and hope they booked the right number.
With a large decision riding on approximately a quarter of the NFL games on any given weekend, Gillespie would rather take his chance against the squares.
"Typically, Sunday and Monday night games are hard to balance (because of a run of public money)," added Gillespie. "Obviously there are games where you look and say, 'I don't see what the public sees here. This doesn't seem right.' We don't want to put too many opinions out there. But there are certain times obviously where we feel we have a big advantage with our line. If we think a fair line is five and (the public) is wanting to lay six, getting that extra point is real powerful for us."
Now that most books offer first-and-second-half betting and a plethora of teaser options, balancing the books can become even more difficult. Doc at Rio, the head oddsmaker for Skybook, often uses his second-half numbers to help balance his books - even if it means giving the professionals some lines that they can win with. As long as they can help balance out some of the public action he knows he will always be ensured a profit with the vig.
"Depending on how much action I have written, I let people bet a lot in the second halves," he said. "I am not really worried about the second half number falling unless it is a key number. I will let them bounce around. I really don't care. But I want to write action that suits me. If I have no decision on a game, I will just try and balance out my second half like the game and go for the juice."
Skybook is one of the books that chooses to abandon the conservative approach and go heavily against the public bettors. Doc from Rio said that he only has one NFL game per weekend that he is balanced on.
"You get a lot of public action and you want to root against them," he said. "You don't want to try and write back all their money."
"I am one of the guys that tends to hold larger decisions probably than a lot of sportsbooks," added Leo Shafto, head oddsmaker for Royal Sports. "It depends on who's playing. If I have real sharp guys that I know are sharp customers; those guys are a lot more influential to me if they play $500 on a game than what I perceive to be a complete square who has more money than he knows what to do with and he comes in to bet $10,000 on a game. I would move (the number) off of the $500 before I would move off the other guy's $10,000."
"What you don't want to have is the situations where you balance action all day and then you get completely lopsided on one game. You have no chance to win that money back if you lose. You can completely wipe out your players with a big win. When you get a group of five or six games that are lopsided you hope you go down the middle and split. It keeps the money in circulation."
Gillespie makes no excuses for BoDog's style of bookmaking. The book releases its lines after most other books have already posted theirs. Gillespie turns away most of the professional action as well. Plus, they use the off-standard line more than most others in the industry. They rely heavily on the vig to keep their business profitable.
Still, balancing all action is nearly impossible even when a book like BoDog installs measures intended to do just that. For the NFL, BoDog has roughly 35 percent of their weekly action balanced to where they have no 'root' on the games. For another 40 percent of the games they have what Gillespie describes as a small decision where they stand to lose $15,000-$20,000 if the bettors hit their side. In the other 25 percent of the games they just have to sweat them out and hope they booked the right number.
With a large decision riding on approximately a quarter of the NFL games on any given weekend, Gillespie would rather take his chance against the squares.
"Typically, Sunday and Monday night games are hard to balance (because of a run of public money)," added Gillespie. "Obviously there are games where you look and say, 'I don't see what the public sees here. This doesn't seem right.' We don't want to put too many opinions out there. But there are certain times obviously where we feel we have a big advantage with our line. If we think a fair line is five and (the public) is wanting to lay six, getting that extra point is real powerful for us."
Now that most books offer first-and-second-half betting and a plethora of teaser options, balancing the books can become even more difficult. Doc at Rio, the head oddsmaker for Skybook, often uses his second-half numbers to help balance his books - even if it means giving the professionals some lines that they can win with. As long as they can help balance out some of the public action he knows he will always be ensured a profit with the vig.
"Depending on how much action I have written, I let people bet a lot in the second halves," he said. "I am not really worried about the second half number falling unless it is a key number. I will let them bounce around. I really don't care. But I want to write action that suits me. If I have no decision on a game, I will just try and balance out my second half like the game and go for the juice."
Skybook is one of the books that chooses to abandon the conservative approach and go heavily against the public bettors. Doc from Rio said that he only has one NFL game per weekend that he is balanced on.
"You get a lot of public action and you want to root against them," he said. "You don't want to try and write back all their money."
"I am one of the guys that tends to hold larger decisions probably than a lot of sportsbooks," added Leo Shafto, head oddsmaker for Royal Sports. "It depends on who's playing. If I have real sharp guys that I know are sharp customers; those guys are a lot more influential to me if they play $500 on a game than what I perceive to be a complete square who has more money than he knows what to do with and he comes in to bet $10,000 on a game. I would move (the number) off of the $500 before I would move off the other guy's $10,000."