(Gambling Basics continued)

Sports Book Example

     

Although sports books offer a fairer game than the lottery or the track, bettors still give up an initial 4.55% edge on straight bets (more on teasers and over/under, etc.). If you have never bet with a bookie, losing bets pay an additional 10% surcharge, called juice. In other words, if you bet $100 and lost, you would have to pay the bookie $110. This represents a 4.55% disadvantage to the bettor because the player is actually betting $110 to get 100; therefore, if you win one and lose one you are $10 in the hole and you risked a total of $220. 10/220 = .04545 or 4.55%.  A bettor just picking games out of thin air can expect to lose about $4.55 for every $100 bet over the long haul.

What a bookie would like is to have half the bets fall on one team and the other half on the opponent. This way, they gain more on the losers than they lose on the winners. This is where the spread comes in. The spread's sole purpose is to balance the bets between the two opponents. A perfect example of this situation is when Jimmy "The Greek" set the odds of Super Bowl III at 17 1/2 points. Everyone thought afterward that he made a big mistake. Actually, it was a perfect call. It spread the bets about evenly between the heavily favored Colts and Jets.