Broncos re-sign DL Smith; cut LB Davis

Football Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos on Thursday re-signed defensive lineman Le Kevin Smith and released linebacker Andra Davis.

Smith was acquired by Denver in a trade with New England last August. He played in 13 games for the Broncos in 2009, recording 10 tackles and his first career sack.

Davis finished third on the team with 72 tackles while appearing in all 16 games last season.

Denver also cut ties with defensive lineman J'Vonne Parker.

Mysportbook Football Betting News

<< Ganassi, Penske drivers set to battle for 2010 IndyCar title
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The IndyCar Series -- with new title sponsor IZOD -- kicks off its 2010 season this weekend in Brazil, marking the first time the series competes in a South American country. With 17 races on the schedule, t

<< Clark found guilty in murder of Broncos CB Darrent Williams
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Willie Clark has been found guilty in the fatal drive-by shooting of Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams. A Denver jury convicted Clark of the crime Thursday. He was convicted on all 21 charges, inclu

<< Schwartzel finds himself alone in front at Doral
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South Africa's Charl Schwartzel posted a brilliant, bogey-free, five-under 67 on Thursday to take the first-round lead of the WGC-CA Championship. Schwartzel braved tough, windy conditions at the TPC Bl

<< Raiders cut ties with DT Warren
Alameda, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Raiders released defensive tackle Gerard Warren on Thursday. The Raiders acquired Warren from the Broncos prior to the 2007 season, but the 6-foot-4, 330-pounder registered just 97 tackles and 10

<< Bears re-sign S Bullocks
Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears signed safety Josh Bullocks to a one-year tender offer on Thursday. The 40th pick by New Orleans in the 2005 draft, Bullocks has recorded 327 tackles, six interceptions, 28 p

Big buzz on Amen Corner: Woods reportedly to return at Masters >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Masters truly will be a tradition unlike any other this April, as several media outlets have reported that Tiger Woods will make his highly anticipated return to competitive golf at the season's first m

Report: Calhoun, Huskies close to contract extension >>
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Connecticut and men's head basketball coach Jim Calhoun are reportedly close to a contract extension. The New Haven Register, citing a source with knowledge of the situation, stated T

Heat's Wright charged with DUI >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami Heat forward Dorell Wright has been charged with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. The Miami Herald reported Wright was arrested in South Beach and was stopped early Thurs

Bulls' Rose leaves with sprained wrist >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Bulls All-Star point guard Derrick Rose left Thursday's game against the Magic with a left wrist injury. Rose was driving the lane in the first quarter and ran into Orlando center Dwight Howard

UC Irvine hoops coach will not return >>
Irvine, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of California-Irvine announced on Thursday that head men's basketball coach Pat Douglass will not return next season. Douglass, who had been at the helm of the Anteaters for the last 13 seaso

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.