Milan With United Hands

Soccer Betting Lines

Manchester United has lost two straight Premier League contests to help Tottenham climb back into the title race, entering the weekend tied with Spurs on 45 points apiece. United will aim to keep the pressure on City as the Red Devils host Bolton at Old Trafford on Saturday.

 

Chelsea has its hands full with a Saturday clash against Sunderland at Stamford Bridge. Under new manager Martin O'Neill, the Black Cats have won four of six Premier League games to improve to 24 points on the year. The Blues, meanwhile, have taken just six points from their last five games and are quickly fading away from the title picture.

 

Wolfsburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wolfsburg signed Switzerland defender Ricardo Rodriguez from FC Zurich on Friday on a 4 1/2-year contract. Rodriguez, 19, becomes the 10th new signing for Wolfsburg manager Felix Magath this winter. He debuted for Switzerland last year, and has already appeared in four matches.

 

Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlo Ancelotti has led three European giants in Italy and England, and the Italian now has the task of developing a fourth in France. Ancelotti was named PSG's new coach late last month, and he inherits a team at the top of the Ligue 1 standings after the first half of the season. But, the former Juventus, AC Milan and Chelsea boss needs to produce better results.

 

Although PSG, which spent more than $100 million on offseason transfers, is at the summit, that was not enough to save former coach Antoine Kombouare.

 

PSG sporting director Leonardo turned to fellow countryman Ancelotti, who is no stranger to pressure as Juve, AC Milan and Chelsea were all clubs that were not interested in just being among the best.

 

"We have to work hard to improve and I don't know how long that will take," he said.

 

Like Ancelotti, Javier Pastore will continue to shoulder a lot of pressure - only on the field. Pastore has six goals, but as the most expensive offseason addition at around $50 million, he has still disappeared at times.

 

PSG had already been eliminated from the Europa League, so the French Cup and Ligue 1 title are both targets for Ancelotti. The first step is a victory this week, or his tenure will be off to a rocky start.

 

In Saturday's other matches, Ajaccio hosts Auxerre, Brest hosts Nice, Bordeaux hosts Valenciennes, Caen hosts Rennes, Dijon hosts Evian, Nancy hosts Lorient, and St Etienne hosts Sochaux.

 

Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jurgen Klinsmann called up midfielder Jermaine Jones to the U.S. national team January training camp Friday. Jones will join the roster Saturday, as the U.S. prepares for matches against Venezuela and Panama later this month. He is currently serving an eight-week suspension at German club Schalke.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.