Online and Brick/Mortar Sports Books odds making....

I've got a pretty simple question, and I THINK I know the answer, but I wanted to verify it around here since I don't know much about sports betting - and searching google has been kind of fruitless for me.


Usually, bookies try to balance their books to produce a vig, that they keep. It's my understanding that online casinos do the same, and that sportsbooks in Casinos do as well. Although - I've heard that casinos don't balance their books, rather, they attempt to actually figure the real odds of certain events, and then sponsor bets in which they have an edge. (They can handle the variance.)

So, which is it? Preferably, I'd like to know about both online and B/M casinos. There are a couple of reasons I'm curious about this, so can anyone point me to an online casino that uses "real" estimated odds (minus an edge for the house,) rather than balancing their books to get a vig? Or am I completely wrong, and no reputable casinos balance? If that's not possible, a B/M casino would suffice.

Thanks!

the major vegas sportbooks have moved away from trying to balance the book to make the vig. the biggest operations now usually have an opinion on the game and they want to be right. they dont mind unbalanced action because in the long run the vig will take care of them

Here is how it would work for me:
Typical NFL Sunday; lets use 12 games for this example:
6 games lopsided action
3 games small, insignificant action
3 games balanced action

Even though I'm lopsided on 6 games, I expect to win/lose half of these over the long-term.
End result- hold 4.5%, same as collecting the vig on the balanced action.

From straight plays, I would make about 4%-5%. Around 6%-8% if you include parlays/teasers.

11 to 10. It works!
Damn, I miss booking bets!

First bookie I worked for was great at handicapping baseball and college hoops. He would get the nickle line 105-100 from other books trying to balance their books, if he liked a game.

I remember in late 50's big scandal about some hoop games being fixed. Henry's comment " Hey, so what ! they might have been
fixed the way I bet " !

Estimating true odds and riding out the variance from incoming bets, earning froimam the vig, is called a 'marked maker' - and it's the only consistent profitable way for a sportsbook to operate in the long run. Balancing the books by biased line does reduce the variance for the book - but will cost them in EV. Of course the hard part is 'estimating the true odds', however you don't need to hit it exactly, the vig helps you in that. With enough vig both sides of the book stay profitable even when the estimated odds are off.

Then all sportbooks operate within the same market (because they offer lines for the same games). In order to get action your vig must be low - implying good estimates - otherwise your book will get exploited in the market by those with better estimates.

Pinnacle is usually believed to be a very strong book. The low vig, the high limits and the limited selection of bets usually support it.

I completely forgot I posted this.

So I guess Pinnacle's a decent estimate of the odds? (Minus a small edge) Looking at Pinnacle's lines, I'm honestly completely confused. I don't understand how to read their betting options.... For example...
Spread Moneyline O/U

Sun 2/3 101 Baltimore Ravens +3.5 1.917 2.600 Over 47.5 2.020
03:30 PM 102 San Francisco 49ers -3.5 2.010 1.562 Under 47.5 1.885


So, if I place a moneybet line on the 49ers, what am I wagering? Obviously I'm betting the 49ers to win, but I mean what's my payout, based on the 1.562?

On the Spread? Am I betting 2.01 to win 2?


Sorry if that's dumb. I thought I understood how to read sport bets, but looking at Pinnacle confused the hell out of me.

The (european) odds 1.562 means, for every $1 you put as the stake, you will get returned $1.562 if your team wins (and thus win $0.562 in total) - or lose the $1 stake. Thus for an even payout bet, european odds would be 2.0.

Gotcha.

Thanks, I was getting so confused.