Can you beat the Sportsbooks?

The house edge increases dramatically for those who bet a parlay of 4 or more teams. For 1 team they pay 10-11 on 1-1 odds; for 2 teams they pay 2.6-1 on 3-1 odds; for 3 teams they pay 6-1 on 7-1 odds; and for 4 teams they only pay 10-1 on 15-1 odds. This assumes that spreads are accurate enough to give you a 50/50 chance of winning. I didn't realize how much the house edge jumped when parlaying 4 teams. Since so many people play parlays, I'm sure casinos make a killing off them.

 

Parlays and teasers will always be money makers for the book.

They simply can't worry about a bad season. The numbers don't lie, and the books know this. The Average Joe bets favorites and overs. When favorites and overs hit, the book will generally be paying out. Books had a few EXTREMELY bad weeks this season. The playoffs have offered up "free money" if you placed teaser bets. That simply isn't the norm. As you stated, the more teams you play in your parlay/teaser, the worse your odds become. Still, most people don't care about the odds as long as they are getting paid.

Plenty of guys think they discovered electricity this season. They will probably be electrocuted next year.

 

Other people tackled what I have to say.

Its not you vs the book. The book does not care whether an individual wins or losses. They just want to avoid the wrong side of one way action. If all the bets split down the middle they still win.

So it is a bit like poker. The point is not simply winning, but winning enough to beat "the rake". And I don't doubt that it is possible. But it is tough enough that most who try will fail.

 

You can spread it around but usually those prop bets are capped at a very low bet amount. I've not been in Vegas for the SB but I'm not sure Vegas books even take those kinds of bets.

Want to win money at the book? Have an uncle or a cousin who is a ref/ump/linesman/pt guard/QB. Donaghy, Shoeless Joe, Pete Rose and my BC Eagles are just the ones who got caught. I'd wager way more games are fixed than folks imagine. Happens in the USA certainly but especially overseas and in particular, soccer. Leagues have very little incentive to publicize or even investigate irregular betting, shady characters etc. Hell, the ref who Donaghy was pumping for inside info on other games 30 times a day for 30 seconds at a time is still an NBA ref!

Any MLB fans? Remember the Taiwanese little league teams used to win the LLWS every yr? They love baseball. Google Taiwanese Major League Baseball. TLDR - folded bc it was taken over by betting syndicates.

 

I guess the one positive about the ridiculous salaries these guys make for playing games is the fact that there is not enough money out there to get them to throw games anymore!

 

True, but the refs don't.

 

true dat!

 

Yea and those bastards definitely control the o/u in basketball.

 

Yes indeed - discipline is key. I'm guilty of throwing money on a shit game just to have something to cheer for.

 

remind me to kick you in the head if you do that in front of me?:confused2:

 

Wow I didn't know that about the Taiwanese team. That's crazy.

I've waffled over the years as to how much, if any, fixing goes on. If you read betting forums they scream the fix is in on every bad call. But I'm sure it happens and I'd say probably college hoops more than anything. Playing for free and that allure of money is strong.

 

Haha I will for sure

Or if you see me saunter up to the book and bet money on a Tuesday night college football game with shitty weather just smack me

 

I used to throw shit on any game.

Then I stopped betting sports entirely.

In the last 5 years I've made 3 bets.
1 dime - won
1 dime - lost
5 dimes - won

 

my best friend has a 97 percent winning ratio on nba games and is 116 for 122 in nfl picks he is awesome

 

my best friend has a 97 percent win on nba and has almost a 100 percent on nfl hes the best

 

Please get outta here with that bs percentage unless he has only made 1-3 plays period.

 

To consistently beat the books, you need to hit 54-56% year after year to also beat the vig without big bets.

 

Yeah...the bullshit is deep on that one.

 

Child, please!

 

Tons of other sites for touts out there. We are smarter than that here.