Yahoo tracks where the bets are going. The goal of a spread -- in theory -- is to accurately assess the true handicap of one team over another. In reality, of course, it's to create as much betting on both teams as possible. The exception, also of course, being if the casino thinks the majority of the betting is by suckers. For example, Giants and Jets fans will bet on their team at +7.5 even when the spread should be +10.5.
That being said, every game below is crazy unbalanced. So I guess we assume the sum total of all this craziness has to benefit the casino? By way of example, with a 96% to 4% imbalance, this doesn't even out when each one happens over time:
Underdog wins -$1,792,640 loss
Favorite wins +$923,636 profit
- Jeff |
