How do Sportsbook make money on the favorite for moneyline bets?

[leskahuna]

Hi,

Sorry for the dumb question. I am new at this. For a moneyline bet on baseball for example, how does the book make money if they have equal bets on each side with a dime line for example? If the underdog wins, I understand they make the dime. But if the favorite wins, don't they just break even?

It may be beginner's luck, but so far, I am 3 and 0. I picked the Red Sox will beat the Yankees in Game 6. Then the Marlins in Game 1 of the WS, then Yanks in Game 2. I am going for the Yanks in Game 3 and betting on the Raiders tonight on the money line as well.

Thanks

Lester

 

[leskahuna]

If anyone knows, please take a moment to reply. I would very much appreciate it.

 

[anywaves]

Rarely

Rarely

Are the books completely balanced but if they are totally balanced, same amount on both teams, then the book makes the 10 cent juice on the bases if the dog wins. In most cases, the favorite gets more action and over the time the books make the money when big favs. lose!

Baseball, btw, is the toughest sport for the books to win!

 

[leskahuna]

Thanks for taking the time to answer. What's your rationale for baseball being the toughest sport for them to win?

 

[Nosigar]

Thanks for taking the time to answer. What's your rationale for baseball being the toughest sport for them to win?

To win in basesball you have to have a balance of faves and dogs. No way you'll consistently win on one of the two exclusively.

I try to avoid -200 faves when possible. They may win at a high percentage, but when they lose they kill a couple of even money wins.

Why is bases tough for books? Probably becasue there are so many games and there's no spread involved. The spread kills you cause you have to cover, regardless of who wins. In bases you only have have a dozen or so games everyday. You can pick and choose your spots, you don't have to chase cause there's a game later on or there are 15 or so games tommorow. Plus, the best team may win 60+% of the time while the worst team loses 40% of the time (unless you're talking Detroit). So right there you know even a bad team is gonna get some wins and they are playable. Also, the goods teams aren;t always gonna win, so you can go against them.

Books win a lot because people chase losses. In football you have to wait a whole week to try to get back so if you're not disciplined (and i ain't) you tend to go a little overboard and make something out of nothing just so the week can be either "even" or "even better". Remember, next NFL game after Monday nite is next Sunday. Let's unload on that second half play :nono:

I dunno, just my thoughts.

 

[anywaves]

No spreads

No spreads

Bookies love spreads! They make it much more difficult to cap.

Baseball is long with many trends and winning streaks and/or losing streaks!

Baseball is the easiest to cap.

The books are happy just to break even on the bases!

And way less action, the more action the more juice, the less action , obviously the less juice.