Jafuars NCAA Football Betting News

<< Rams make Brian Schottenheimer, Gregg Williams coordinators
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Rams have hired Gregg Williams as defensive coordinator and Brian Schottenheimer as offensive coordinator. Coming off a rocky season with the New York Jets, Schottenheimer was reporte

<< Kelly to remain the Ducks' head coach
Eugene, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chip Kelly is staying in school. The Oregon head coach said Monday he's flattered by the interest shown in him by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he will remain the Ducks' head coach. "I enjoyed meeting with

<< Most can't separate Penn State scandal, JoePa's legacy
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The thing about the water cooler is no one is wrong there. For some of us, it's still where we go for opinions - mostly to give ours, of course, but that doesn't mean our co-worker's thoughts are less vali

<< Balotelli charged with violent conduct
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has been charged with violent conduct by the FA and now faces a four-game ban. The incident occurred in Sunday's 3-2 win over Tottenham when Balotelli, who had

Villarreal tops Sporting Gijon to end winless skid >>
Villarreal, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Villarreal claimed three big points on Monday at the Madrigal with a 3-0 victory over Sporting Gijon which snaps a six-game winless streak for the club. Villarreal had dropped four of its last si

Benfica, FC Porto maintain unbeaten records >>
Benfica, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oscar Cardozo scored his Portuguese Liga- high 12th goal and unbeaten Benfica maintained its cushion atop the table over fellow unbeaten FC Porto with a 3-1 win Sunday over Gil Vicente. Cardozo opened the

Rangers sign Stetter, Green to minor league contracts >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers have signed pitchers Mitch Stetter and Sean Green to minor league contracts which include invitations to the club's spring training camp. Stetter, a 2003 draft pick of the Brewers, made

Selig unanimously awarded extension through 2014 >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - MLB club owners have completed a unanimous vote to extend commissioner Bud Selig's contract through the 2014 season. A 10-day voting period, which commenced at the quarterly owners meetings on January

Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.