How To Start A Sports Book
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With the NFL and College Football seasons hitting their stride, and the NBA and NHL seasons spinning up, one may have noticed a certain part of the typical Las Vegas casino being a bit busier than normal, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.
With more and more states moving to legalize sports betting, a lot of people are interested in starting a sports book website. This provides people a platform where they can place bets on their favorite sports. If you want to build a sports book website, keep on reading and we’ll briefly talk about the things that can influence its success. HOW TO BET ON SPORTS. A guide for first-time players who are totally new to the world of online sports betting. Learn everything you need to know to have the best chance to cash out from your. If you need a starting point, start with the sites we’ve recommended at the top of the page. If none of these work for you, check out our sportsbook ranking page.
Many of us are quite familiar with this part of the casino, often spending whole days in or involved with it. For those that only curiously look into the casino sports book to try to catch a glimpse of the score of a game, or for those who only make a futures bet once a year, hopefully, this can serve as a primer for how it all works.
The first thing that most everyone notices in a sports book is the sheer number of screens. There are TVs and monitors everywhere. Usually, there is the main set of screens that are larger than the rest, acting as the central focal point and displaying a single game that also has the audio being piped through the entire sports book. Other TVs and monitors will be tuned to various other games, and depending on the day of the week, some horse races.
The view of the boards, screens, and betting stations from VIP
Beyond that, the next major item that people will notice in the sports book are the big boards with all of the various lines that are available for betting in all of the different leagues. This time of the year there will be lines up for the daily games for the NBA and NHL, as well as the upcoming games for NCAA Football and the NFL.
A line for a football game will typically have a format like this up on the board:
Good Sports Book
The first column is simply an identifier for the side to bet. The second column lists the two teams that are associated with each side, the Colts for 275 and the Panthers for 276. The third and fourth columns are where things get interesting, as this is where the betting action is described.
The top number of the third column is a value that is called the total. This represents the total number of points that both teams combined will score, and a bet can be made on the actual result of the game being either over or under that value.
The bottom number of the third column is what is known as “the spread.” This number is on the bottom because it is associated with the Carolina Panthers. When a bet is made against the spread (ATS), the bettor will choose a side and will either be laying the points, meaning that they are betting the favorite to win even if the spread value is subtracted from their final score. Or, getting the points, meaning that they are betting the underdog to win if the spread value is added to their final score. In this example, an ATS bet on the Panthers would win if they won the football game by 7 points or more, but the bet would lose if they won the football game by 6 points or less.
In the case for both total bets and ATS bets, the standard odds are -110, which means that the bettor must lay $110 to win $100. The nuances as to why this is so will be covered in a follow-up article. This example also lists the spread (typically known as “the line”) as -6.5 (-115), which means that instead of the usual -110 odds, a bettor must lay $115 to win $100.
Finally, the fourth column is what is typically called a money line (ML) bet. This is simply a listing of odds that the given side will win the game outright, or in betting terms, straight up (SU). One can see that the odds are much different, and much more reflective of who the favorite is and who the underdog is. In this case, the Colts, since they are the underdog, have odds to win straight up of +235. This means that for every $100 bet, a bettor would win $235. Conversely, the favored Panthers have odds of -300, which means that a bettor would have to bet $300 to win $100.
There is sometimes a third outcome other than a winning or losing ticket. If, in the case of a money line bet, the game ends in a tie, or if, in an ATS bet or total bet, the value ends up exactly on the spread or total number, then the game will result in a push and the bettor would get their money back. It is for this reason that sometimes the spread and total lines (like they do in this case) have an extra half point tacked on. This extra element, called, “the hook” prevents those pushes from happening.
The lines to place bets around game start times, especially during March Madness, can get pretty crazy
How To Start A Sports Booking Website
The betting elements described above hold true for standard football, basketball, hockey, and baseball games. There are many more types of bets to be made, but we’ll save those for another article as well. With this basic knowledge, the next thing one could do is go make a bet. Some basic etiquette to follow, which will also endear a bettor both to the workers who are writing the tickets as well as to your fellow bettors in line, is to have the side number, the type of bet to make, and for what amount, all ready by the time one is up at the window.
What this means is that, in our example, if one wanted to bet Carolina against the spread to win $100, when up at the window, one would be ready to say 276 for $115. In most cases, one could also say Carolina minus the points for $115 since with the NFL they will have most numbers readily available. However, when betting lesser known games or during busy times, it is often simpler all around to use the bet identifier.
One other thing to note is that unless one explicitly states otherwise, the ticket will be written for the amount specified as the “to bet” value. That means if one says 276 for $100, the ticket will be written to win $86.96. If one is ever unsure about the correct amount to bet, but the amount to win is known, simply make it clear during the bet that the amount is to win. An example would be saying 276 to win $200. The ticket writer would then state that the bet will cost $230 (115 x 2).
Most books will take a rewards card although the utility of this is dubious at best at the moment. Other than some general tracking of amounts, it is currently an underutilized metric within most rewards programs from what I can tell, but it can’t hurt to have it being tracked in the hopes that it becomes more fully developed regarding rewards going forward. The rewards card should be ready and presented before any bets are made to keep things running smoothly.
Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for drink tickets. Some books will have certain betting minimums, but if one is friendly and asks politely one or two can be easily had. Besides, it can never hurt to ask. Usually, those tickets are good for the day and can be redeemed by anyone with the ticket, so they can be passed around and shared with friends.
The updated PH sports book with integrated restaurant
How To Start A Sports Book
One recent trend in sports books in Las Vegas is the cross-monetization of some of the space. In many places, at least some areas of the book are being incorporated or associated with a restaurant, and not just the traditional bar and lounge setup. To me, this seems like a way to try to make additional non-gambling revenue within what was probably considered an under-utilized area. I’m still waiting to see how this plays out in some of the other books, but for the PH sports book at least, it does seem to have turned out well and has had the added benefit of drawing more people into the sports book area that may not have stopped in before.
If you are one of those people, I hope that this article has helped give you some insight into how things work within the sports book. Perhaps between the newfound knowledge, and the lure of some good food and drinks, you will step into a sports book and hopefully have a winning experience.
[Images: gennadius]