Help me understand these numbers...

El Sapo brings up an interesting point. But can we really take sportsbook.com's numbers as being 100% acccurate? Why should we believe sportsbook.com's numbers to be the absolute truth? Is it not possible that they are posting percentages incorrectly in oreder to encourage action on a side that they prefer that bettor's take?

For instance I see currently on sportsbook that the Bengals have "89%" of the action. Yet sportsbook opend the line at -10 and subsequently moved it DOWN to -9.5. It seems that sportsbook is either encouraging extremely lopsided action on the Bengals or is being disengenuous about the percentage of action they are receiving on the Bengals.

I may be dumb but i dont understand the numbers at all heh, lets use the cowboys raider game as an example. 85/15 under side with oakland, so 85% of votes are going with oakland with the spread, and the money line its 52/48, so 52% of people bet the raiders with the money or is it 52% of the total money bet. Then the total is 87/13 with dallas, wtfffff, maybe the total is what causes the spread to change so when it gets to 100 it changes? lolz

[Taciturn]

I don't think sportsbook's numbers are accurate. Try wagerline, the numbers are substantially closer to 50/50:

http://www.wagerline.com/3/consensus...&Day=38625

[ElSapo]

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I don't think sportsbook's numbers are accurate. Try wagerline, the numbers are substantially closer to 50/50:

http://www.wagerline.com/3/consensus...&Day=38625

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Wow, those are really different. Substantially. I'm lost.

[Slacker13]

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It has always pretty much been a myth that the bookies want even action on each side. They want to make money.

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I completely agree.


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There are some very square shops that double deal lines. They are willing to take tons of action on the "square" side and then they limit the sharp action on that side by dealing a different line to pros (or setting the maximums low). This to me is proof that the sportsbooks are willing to "gamble".

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I know for 100% fact that offshores have different lines for different bettors. They are called "sucker lines" and "sharpie lines". And I can tell you that if you show any signs of being a sharp bettor you will be on the sharpie line real quick. The sharpie lines are very tight and will rarely favor the dog bettor. Also you will be laying extra juice on the sharpie lines alot of times. This is to discourage your action on certain games.