Book Making and Point Spreads

So I grasp the basic concept of book making, taking bets on sports games, taking a percentage and then paying the winners.

However that's about it, I'm not too sure on exactly how it works in full, let alone how a point spread is used and/or determined. Is there anyone who would be able to enlighten me, provide detailed information or make a post for dummies to help me out? Appreciate it fellas.

I don't know exactly what you're looking for but..
So you know that a bookie takes the action and the winners pay the losers (aka bet 110 to win 100). Bookie keeps his, for all intents and purposes, commission for brokering the deal.

It is the bookie's goal to have just as much money on one side of a game as the other. Depending how big his operation is, he can weather a little money on one side over the other. But if too much dough goes to 1 team, he devolves to essentially a gambler. If too much money is getting bet to one team over another, a bookie has a couple of recourses. Some will move their own line on the game a point or two such that people start betting the other team. Smarter bookies operate in networks, knowing the other dogs in town (very very common with mafia and "connected" bookies). That way they can "lay off" the excess money that their customers have placed on 1 team or another to even out some of the action.

Why do you have to bet 110 to make 100? Is it because of the 10% Broker Fee the bookie takes or?

You mentioned moving their line a point or two, what does that exactly mean?

Also, so if too much money goes on the other team do they often put their own money at stake by putting some on the other team.

The 10% is called the vig .

If you lose you pay 10% extra. Bookies will try to have even action on both sides and not have to worry about the outcome because they'll make 10% of the total bets. Often times this doesn't happen and it will be one-sided. They either take the risk or lay some of it off to another book.

The two most common bets are point spreads and over/under for football and basketball. For example, say the Bears are playing the Packers and are -7 (I wish), this means that the Bears are favored to win by 7 points. If they win by anything less than 7, the Packers would win in betting terms. Over/Under is betting the total score. So if the over/under is 51 that means that the predicted score is 51 so you either bet over 51 or under 51.

For sports like baseball and hockey the scores are too low for spreads. Say the Hawks are playing the Sabres, if you bet the Hawks you will bet 230 to win 100 (hypothetical).

Hope that helps, I'm sure there are others on here who can go into greater detail.

Good post, Nicky kid. But baseball and hockey offer run lines and puck lines respectively. You just have to know where to get down.

They work the same way. If a game has a puck or run line of, say, 1 1/2 - 2, that means that if you bet the favorite you're laying 2. But if you're on the short end you're only getting 1 and 1/2. There's typically no vig unless it's a flat line. But now I'm getting a little too technical. Anyway, the lack of vig makes it appealing to most suckers.

Thanks PB.

You have to be crazy to bet on hockey, way too unpredictable in my opinion.

Same principle as baseball. You ride a hot goalie or a hot pitcher. But then you're laying two to one. Tough sports to beat if you're a sports bettor, no doubt.

You want to make money from betting on sports? Don't bet at all. Wise words I was told.

How'd you like that Hawks/Rangers game earlier?

I'm an Islanders fan .

Didn't know that! They are starting to become a real solid team.

So if you're an Islanders fan, how'd you like last nights game

What exactly is a teaser bet and what exactly is a parlay? Are they only available in football?

Teaser bet is betting on two different teams. You have 6 points to move the spread in what any way you want. But both teams have to win and you usually pay more if you lose.

Is Mafia bookmaking still conducted over the phone (or face to face) today like in the old days, or is it all done over the computer/gambling sites?

Sure, HK. There are still a few dinosaurs running wire rooms and taking horse action face-to-face out of gin mills. But they're getting fewer and farther between. That's how it is in the outer boroughs, anyway.

Thanks for the response. Sounds like the old fashioned bookmaker is the last of a dying breed.

The only guys who make a real living betting sports are the people who embrace analytics.

Vegas has embraced them too.

A good example is Bob Voulgaris, probably the most successful sports gambler in the world.

Hard to win consistently on football. Small sample size. NBA is probably the easiest.

is that big bookie down philly still alive he was found with a million buried in his back yard joe I think. he had cancer looked bad did he make it threw his bid and I forgot how long.

Ya, I was just trying to give a macro explanation of what a bookie does. OP sounded like he needed that kind of description.

Well shit, this blew up fast lol. I really do appreciate the answers I've received here so I'm gonna make up a scenario.

March 21st Baylor and Notre Dame are playing a Game in the NCAA tourny. So assuming there's a 10% vig, I need to put $1,100 down if I want to win $1,000. So say I win I get a total of $2,000 back because of the 10% Vig.

Now say I'm a bookie playing the same game and I've got bets on both teams. $2,000 on Baylor and $4,500 on Notre Dame. I'd contact another Bookie and send him some of that $4,500 so that I won't be having to pay out of pocket.

On the aspect of losing and paying an extra 10% is that collected in person after the game or taken from the original bet? Like for example guy A bets $1,100 on one team and guy B bets $1,100 on the other team. Guy A loses his bet so he gets another $100 taken off his original $1,100 making it $900 in total and the $900 goes to Guy B?

people i bet through who are conected in some way but have a site so im laying the $1100 right from the start from my acct then if i win they credit me whatever it is... you can get some good bets on the money line... ohio state in the bowl game was a great moneyline bet

?

I can't believe you got roped into this one. I only posted because I was bored and Nicky Eyes is a good kid. It was the middle of the night and he was the only other person online at that hour .

It was almost 90 down here today. I saw the news. I told you a few days ago you'd get one more snow, didn't I?

i wasnt gonna...see how long I waited?

you did. cant see my lawn again...smh

Is it common to see a spread of 10+ on Basketball games Professional and College due to them easily getting up to 90-100+ points a game?

I assume an average for the NFL would be anywhere between 3-7 commonly?

Yes, all the large scale bookmaking operations at least here in Jersey are all still LCN connected. I'm not saying that every single bookie is connected because you will see Dominicans in a Dominican neighborhood, Albanians in an Albanian neighborhood, Mexicans in a Mexican neighborhood, etc, etc with small scale bookmaking operations catering exclusively to their neighborhood with most bets on the sports they love back in their perspective countries that are most likely totally independent of LCN. The large scale bookmaking on NFL, NCAA, MLB, NHL, NBA, etc that span states in the US and cities throughout Jersey will almost always be LCN connected with a web site that's hosted out of Costa Rica that you will be provided a user name and password to bet through. You will have to meet weekly with an agent of the bookmaking operation to settle up or get paid in cash. I am 30 and have never in my lifetime witnessed the guy running a book out of a bar, I believe I missed that boat. But that is a general run down of the sports betting scene here in Jersey for those of you who were asking.

This time of year (March Madness) and the SuperBowl are when Law Enforcement usually make their gambling raids to be able to put large amounts of "cash on the table" for the media so keep your eyes peeled to the newspapers here in Jersey/NY/Philly- if you're going to see a gambling bust this time of year is when its gonna happen.

Hampton was +35 against Kentucky. You'll only see spreads like that in college, highest nba spread was 20 or 21.

I never said it was for basketball

wasnt talking to u