How Online Gambling Sites do Sports Betting

When it comes down to betting on sports, it seems easy enough. There are two teams and the better must pick the one he believes is going to win. Its not always that easy though. Each individual site has an oddsmaker that will come up with a point spread to make the game as difficult to pick as possible. For instance, the Colts are clearly the favorite to win this weekend against the Tennessee Titans, so instead of just winning, they have to win by more than 7 points, according to Bodog.com. Doing it this way makes it more even (and difficult) for the better to choose the correct winner. Still, it does not change the fact that there are two teams, and the better must pick one. Virtually a 50% chance. This is where "the juice" comes into play. "The juice" is what makes these sites the vast majority of their profits. For instance, for the majority of gambling sites, the better must bet $110 in order to win $100. This means that the better must pay 9.09% more then he will get back if he wins. That $10 dollars is considered "the juice." Now, $10 is not a lot of money, but lets say a gambling site has roughly $100,000 put on each team in a particular game, they make roughly $9,090 regardless of who the winner is. The truth of the matter is, usually there is a lot more than $100,000 on a game. That can be a single bet for some rich guy looking for some action. Now lets look at a scenario where, for some reason, the majority of the bets are going with the Colts to win by more then 7 points. The gambling site has two options here; to increase "the juice" on betting with the Colts and decrease it for betting on the Titans, or they can make increase the point spread and make it so the Colts have to win by more than 8 points. The goal is to keep equal number of bets on each team, so the gambling site has minimal chance of losing any money.