Expert Bet

Some players seem to find the most ingenious ways to lose money. One of the most popular bad-bets involves teasers. A “square” teaser is where someone teases two teams in the same game. Consider the game Detroit (+2.5) at Cleveland (-2.5). If you tease both teams by six points, you have “Detroit +8.5 and Cleveland +3.5″. The problem is that these two plays are anti-correlated. If you believe that Detroit +8.5 will cover, Cleveland +3.5 is much less likely to cover. Where most two-team teasers will win at a rate close to 50%, by teasing two teams in the same game a player will reduce their hit rate down closer to 40%.What you’ll also find is that newer players will often sign-up at a book just for a bonus. They play for a while and then move onto another high juice recreational book to chase another bonus. But how much of these bonuses does a player really keep and how does the rollover work? If you post up $1,000 for a 10% deposit bonus worth $100, you will be credited with $1,100. The sports book will then expect you to “rollover” that deposit plus the amount of bonus a set number of times. If a book has a “3x rollover” requirement, you are expected to make $3,300 in bets (your deposit of $1,000 plus the $100 bonus, multiplied by 3) before you can earn your bonus. Until you do that, the bonus is “unearned” and withdrawing money typically forfeits that bonus. A traditional sports book can offer a bonus because they expect to win a lot of it back. If you made $50 bets on NFL sides until you met your rollover requirement (risking $55 to win $50), you would expect to win 33 wagers and lose another 33 wagers. You would be down the $5 vigorish on each of these 33 bets or $165 (33 * $5). Even after earning your $100 bonus you’re still down $65! New customers at Pinnacle Sports also receive a 10% sign-up bonus but if you made those same bets at Pinnacle, our reduced juice means you are only risking $52 to win $50. Making the same 66 bets, you would still be in profit on the bonus and paying just $66 (33 * $2) in juice instead of it costing you $165. Bonus chasing at books doesn’t make sense. While the bonus may help pay for the extra juice, not only are you out of pocket after fulfilling your rollover requirements at a traditional bookmaker, but do you really want the hassle of jumping from one book to the next? By playing at a reduced juice book like Pinnacle Sports you’ll receive a sign-up bonus that is actually worth something and our reduced juice lines offer up to 60% better value on NFL sides than other books, regardless of your rollover.   ( by Simon Noble from Pinnacle Sports Book )

If a player consistently beats our closing price at Pinnacle Sports, he is likely to be a long-term winner – period. Interestingly, we have found that this test is more reflective of a player’s future winning potential than their historical win/loss record with the company. For example, if our closing price on the Eagles was -3@-104 (1.96) and a customer played -3@+105 (2.05) earlier in the week - that was a sharp bet. When a player can anticipate the line movement and does this consistently over a series of 100 bets or more, that player is conclusively sharp and will be up substantially in the long run.What’s the quickest way to identify a player that needs to adjust their style of betting? One who pays a bad price? If other online sports books offer the Eagles at -3@-120 (1.83) and a player wagers there instead when a better price was available elsewhere such as -3@-104 (1.96) at Pinnacle Sports, he is almost certainly not sharp. Even if he has been winning thus far, that player will probably lose over time.How can you use this information to your advantage? By adopting the process known as “comparison shopping”. Not only is it second nature to sharp players, but it is one of the easiest ways for any player to increase their potential winnings by playing at the best available price. This is done by having accounts at multiple sports books so that you no longer remain a captive to the 20-cent line of a single book.The objective when comparison shopping is to shrink the margins on both sides of any given match-up to around six cents or better wherever possible. This is when you are in a position where you can lay -104 (1.96) on the favorite at one sports book or take back +100 (2.00) (even money) at another book on the underdog for example.Once convinced of the benefits of applying comparison shopping to your own personal betting, it’s worth conducting some Internet research to find a selection of sports books to use. Ideally in addition to your existing bookmaker, you should be looking to hold accounts at one or two reduced juice bookmakers such as Pinnacle Sports together with a couple of recreational books, where you’ll find inflated favorite prices and most likely attractive odds on the underdog. If you are having difficulties comparing the prices between books that offer different lines simply request a free user name/password and log into www.PinnacleSports.com. You can then check the buy/sell feature which is available on the member’s section of the site. This will allow you to determine the difference in price between playing the Colts at -14@-110 (1.91) or -15@+100 (2.00) at different books and allows you to equalize the lines.

Still not convinced about comparative shopping? If you don’t have an account yet at Pinnacle Sports, try taking the “Pinnacle Challenge”. Whenever you place a bet for the week ahead, check the odds on that wager at www.PinnacleSports.com compared to the price you played at. Don’t be surprised at how much money you may be missing out on by not having an account at Pinnacle Sports.

Source: PinnacleSports

January 01, 2008 TURFTV pulled off its biggest coup when, within hours of launching its full service, the new betting shop picture provider signed a five-year contract with Ladbrokes.

The agreement, which comes hot on the heels of a similar deal with Coral, took the number of shops in Britain and Ireland taking TurfTV to more than 6,500.

It also means that, of the major bookmaking chains, only William Hill and Betfred remain out in the cold, and discussions are continuing with both firms.

The deal with Ladbrokes, who have more than 2,300 shops in the UK and Ireland, was welcomed by Alan Morcombe, chief executive of TurfTV.

Earlier, the broadcaster switched on its full service with exclusive coverage of the non-Channel 4-televised races from both Cheltenham and Catterick.

Morcombe said: “I’m delighted Ladbrokes have decided to come on board and welcome them to TurfTV with open arms.

“We were always confident bookmakers would take the service, it was just a question of when, and we are very pleased Ladbrokes have signed a deal.

“The message is clear: what we promise, we deliver. Our promise now to our clients is that TurfTV will do everything it can to raise the standards of picture provision and enhance the betting shop experience, to the benefit of everyone.”

Source: The Financial Times Limited

NEW YORK, December 2007

Scientific Games (Nasdaq:SGMS) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary The Global Draw Ltd. hasbeen awarded a four year contract to supply multi-game server-based gaming terminals to William Hill (LSE: WMH.L) betting shops. This contract establishes Global Draw as the supplier of gaming machines to a minimum of 548 William Hill betting shops, which will house approximately 2,100 terminals. William Hill has over 2,250 betting shops across the UnitedKingdom and Ireland, with an installed base of over 8,300 gaming machines.

This new contract follows the recent change in British gaming law in September 2007, which allows betting shops to have up to a total of four of either Category B2 (formerly FOBTs) or Category B3 (Jackpot Machines)gaming machines. Global Draw upgraded all of its gaming machines to Nevada(TM) dual screen terminals which can offer either Category B2 or B3 content on the same machines. The contract award follows a trial of these new machines in a limited number of William Hill shops. William Hill will be replacing all of the machines in each of the 548 shops following the conclusion of its current supplier’s contract in January with up to four Global Draw Nevadas(TM). The machines should all be fully installed during the first quarter of 2008.

“William Hill is the largest betting shop operator in the UK and one of the best known names in the betting industry and we are proud to become a part of their family,” said Lorne Weil, Chairman and CEO of Scientific Games. “Global Draw has worked extremely hard to create a new standard for gaming machines following the recent changes in British gaming laws and we are extremely encouraged by this contract award.”

Ian Chuter, Group Director, Gaming of William Hill stated, “We have been very impressed with the performance of Global Draw’s new Nevada(TM)terminals and level of service we have received during our trial period.The Global Draw dual purpose machines, server- based gaming technology and in-house content should ensure greater choice and flexibility for William Hill’s betting shop customers and we are looking forward to rolling out these machines in approximately one-quarter of our estate.”

“We would like to thank William Hill for their display of confidence and we look forward to expanding our relationship with them,” said Steve Frater, Managing Director for The Global Draw Ltd. “We have been extremely pleased with the performance of our new Nevada(TM) terminals and this is a further endorsement of the dual purpose B2/B3 machine strategy pioneered by Global Draw. This order will expand our installed base of Nevadas(TM) to over 11,400 machines and will make us the leading supplier of B2/B3 machines to the UK LBO market.”