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| For many years the company Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) has been making and selling their lines for sporting events to sportsbooks. This group of professional oddsmakers are still active in the industry and provide a valuable service. However, in the last five years, the sportsbook Costa Rica International Sports (CRIS) has been the place where the first betting lines are produced. CRIS is the industry’s first offshore sportsbook and today most offshore sportsbooks get their lines from CRIS. Their slogan is true….CRIS is where the betting line originates. The methods that LVSC and CRIS use to create their lines are essentially the same, so let us examine precisely how betting lines are made. It is a common misconception that a point spread is meant to show how many points the oddsmakers think a favorite will win by. Not true. What they are really trying to do is create an equal amount of betting on both sides of the line. They want to create a line where the betting public finds the underdog just as attractive a bet as the favorite. Splitting the money evenly on both sides is the ultimate goal. Why? Because when this happens the sportsbook is assured of making money off the juice. There is an enormous amount of time and research involved in the process and these oddsmakers tend to be very accurate. They have to be - there are millions of dollars at stake every day for the sportsbooks and they need the most “accurate” lines they can formulate in order to be successful. Typically, the people making the lines have “power ratings” of all the teams in any particular sport that are updated after every game. This allows them to assign a preliminary line based on how the two teams compare in their fluid and current rankings. This is just a starting point and the oddsmakers then begin to look at many other factors. After establishing a preliminary line, the oddsmakers will fine-tune the number. They look at the games that both the teams have played with added emphasis on the most recent games. They will look at how well these two teams match-up with each other and take into account any past meetings, again with emphasis on their latest meetings. Local papers and team websites are commonly used and interviews with players and coaches are a valuable resource for the oddsmakers when refining their lines. Injuries, trades or new personnel, as well as weather conditions all play a role in the evolution of the betting line. As you can see, there is a great deal of work involved in this process, but there is still more to it. Remember, the goal is to divide the public’s money, so in a sense the oddsmakers are looking to divide the public’s consciousness, or the public’s overall perception of the game and betting line. What do we mean by this? Well, take Notre Dame, for example. For decades Notre Dame has been one of the most popular (and hated) teams in NCAA football. They have a huge national following and many people like to bet on the Irish, particularly when they are a strong team. The people that make the betting lines know this, and will inflate the Notre Dame side of the line in order to counter this public bias. For example, oddsmakers may take all above factors and methods into account and have a preliminary line of Notre Dame –3, but will adjust that line to Notre Dame –3 1/2 or –4 to counter the public bias toward the Irish. The final step in developing an accurate point spread involves the individuals in the line making process coming together as a group to finalize the official lines that will be released. Typically, each of those working on a particular sport will report what they think the opening line should be for each game. While these people all use the same basic techniques, they also bring their own unique perspective and “feel” for a game and what a line should be. Often there is discussion amongst the group until they come to an agreement, but the Odds Director has the final say and will make the decision when there is not a consensus between them. The main objective is to get an equal amount of money bet on both sides of the betting line. A “perfect” line for the oddsmakers would be a line that never moves off of the initial number. While the perfect number that never moves is rare, the professionals at CRIS and LVSC do a remarkable job of creating lines that polarize the public money on a day to day basis. |
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