NFL Inactives (Saturday, December 23, 2006)

Football Betting Lines

12/24/2006 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is a list of the players placed on the inactive squad for this week's NFL games.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS AT OAKLAND RAIDERS, 8:00 P.M. (ET)

Chiefs - 3rd QB Brodie Croyle, RB Michael Bennett, CB Marcus Maxey, LB Rich Scanlon, G Tre Stallings, DT Tim Sandidge, OT Kyle Turley, DE Jimmy Wilkerson

Raiders - 3rd QB Aaron Brooks, WR Randy Moss, RB LaMont Jordan, CB Tyrone Poole, G Brad Badger, G Corey Hulsey, WR Jerry Porter, TE James Adkisson

Socceronlinegamble Football Betting News

<< Knight ties Dean Smith for most wins
Lubbock, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight tied the legendary Dean Smith for most career wins in NCAA Division I history after notching No. 879 in a 72-60 triumph over Bucknell on Saturday. Knight now has the

<< No. 10 Crimson Tide rolls over Coppin State
Tuscaloosa, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alonzo Gee scored a game-high 26 points and added nine rebounds as 10th-ranked Alabama hammered Coppin State, 99-49, at Coleman Coliseum. Gee was 12-of-14 shooting, including 2-of-2 from three-point

<< No. 21 Oregon stomps Mercer
Eugene, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Brooks scored a game-high 27 points as 21st-ranked Oregon defeated Mercer, 84-64, at McArthur Court. Brooks was 10-of-20 shooting, but only 1-of-6 from three-point range. Maarty Leunen chipped in w

<< Brother Derek big name in Malibu
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The $250,000 Malibu Stakes for three-year- olds is the opening feature at Santa Anita Park on Tuesday. This is the last chance for these thoroughbreds to race in 2006 before turning four on New Year's

<< Florida crushes Ohio State
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The defending champs gave Greg Oden a lesson, as Corey Brewer played overwhelming defense and Taurean Green scored a game-high 24 points in fifth-ranked Florida's 86-60 rout of third- ranked

Leafs' Peca out indefinitely >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Maple Leafs got some bad news on Saturday when they learned that center Michael Peca will be out indefinitely with a broken right leg and torn ligaments in his right knee. Peca suffered the in

Wilhelm signs extension with Chargers >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Chargers signed linebacker Matt Wilhelm to a five-year contract extension Saturday. The deal will keep Wilhelm with the Chargers through the 2011 season. He was due to become an unrestric

San Jose State tops New Mexico in New Mexico Bowl >>
Albuquerque, NM (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Tafralis threw three touchdown passes to lead San Jose State to a 20-12 victory over New Mexico in the inaugural New Mexico Bowl at University Stadium. Tafralis completed 11-of-18 passes for 209 yards

UIC's Collins takes personal leave >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - University of Illinois-Chicago head coach Jimmy Collins has taken a personal leave of absence. No timetable or reason for the leave were given. Associate head coach Mark Coomes will take over the F

Thrashers down Devils >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kari Lehtonen stopped 36 shots as the Atlanta Thrashers downed the New Jersey Devils, 5-2, at Philips Arena. Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and an assist and Steve McCarthy, Bobby Holik, Shane Hnidy and Slava Koz

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

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