NFL Gambling Shifting In Favor Of Sports Books

For the first month of this NFL season, it appeared that gamblers were going to have their best year ever against the sports books. To hear the insiders in Las Vegas tell it, it seemed that this season was going to break some of the smaller legal sports betting operations.

Now, a couple of weeks later, and the sports books are still having trouble with the lines, but they have received some help from the underdogs. The season now does not look as bad as it once did.

It is not that the underdogs are pulling upsets, but unlike earlier in the year, they are at least keeping games close. That is all the sports books could ask for after a first month that saw Las Vegas sports books lose millions of dollars.

The odds makers try to set a line that will get gamblers to bet on both teams, but that has been almost impossible to do this year. No matter how high the lines were set, the favorites kept winning by a larger margin.

Gamblers tend to go with the betting favorite more often than not. That is why it is critical for sports books that the underdogs win every once in a while, just to keep the balance sheet even.

It is a lot like a football team that needs to run the ball effectively even if they are pass oriented. By running the ball, it keeps the defense honest. The same thing goes for the sports books, they need an underdog to win just to put doubt in a gamblers mind.

There are still two undefeated teams in the NFL, and that never bodes well for the sports books this late in the season. Week eleven has arrived, and again Las Vegas sports books will be pulling for the Kansas City's and St. Louis' of the NFL world, hoping that if not win, at least these teams can keep games close.

November 21, 2009
Posted By Vincent Tapoglia III
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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