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10/06/2009 - Fontana, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday, October 10. Race: Copart 300. Site: Auto Club Speedway. Track: two-mile oval. Start Time: 4:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 150. Miles: 300. Last year's winner: Kyle Busch. Television: ESPN 2. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS XM Satellite.
Kyle Busch is looking to widen his points lead over Carl Edwards this Saturday at California.
Busch put on a dominating performance last week at Kansas, but after a late- race restart, Joey Logano passed Busch for the lead with four laps remaining. It was the fourth time this season that Logano has taken the lead away from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate with less than 10 laps to go and then go on to victory.
With his second-place finish, Busch stretched his points lead to 245 with six races to go.
Logano, a four-time Nationwide Series race winner so far this year, will compete at California. The 19-year-old driver has finished third and sixth in his first two races there.
Busch, meanwhile, has won the last two races at California. He was simply unstoppable in last year's fall event there, leading all but six of the 150 laps. Busch briefly gave up the lead on two separate green-flag pit stops. He easily held off Carl Edwards in the final laps for his seventh win of the season.
In February, Busch won the Nationwide race at California several hours after he took the checkered flag for the Camping World Truck Series race there. He became the first driver in NASCAR history to win two national touring races on the same day.
Greg Biffle is the only other driver to win back-to-back Nationwide races at California. Biffle won there twice in 2004.
Matt Kenseth has the most victories at California with four, while Biffle and Busch have won there three times each. Kenseth is not competing in this weekend's race.
"I love this place; I always have," Biffle said. "This weekend is my last Nationwide Series race of the season, and I really want to go out on top."
Fifty teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Copart 300.
<< 49ers meet with Crabtree
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco 49ers and holdout wide
receiver Michael Crabtree met on Tuesday, trying to end a long impasse.
The 10th overall draft pick from this year was reportedly offered a $20
million co
<< AFC West: Raiders' Russell should be benched
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It doesn't necessarily mean a team is giving up on the
season when the backup quarterback gets promoted because of an ineffective
starter. If Oakland Raiders head coach Tom Cable elects to bench JaMarcus
Russell in favor of B
<< Bobcats pick up option on Augustin
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Charlotte Bobcats have picked up the
third-year contract option on point guard D.J. Augustin.
The team had until the end of the month to exercise the option. Because of
this, the team will pay Au
<< Medalists reach third round at Mid Amateur
Kiawah Island, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael McCoy and Nathan Smith, the
stroke-play co-medalists, won two matches on Tuesday to move into the third
round of the U.S. Mid Amateur.
McCoy cruised to a 4 & 3 win in the first ro
NFC West: Once again, injuries keeping Seahawks grounded >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's hard to blame members of the Seattle Seahawks for
believing they're experiencing a bad case of deja vu.
An extensive rash of injuries was the driving force behind Seattle's 4-12
record in 2008, a precipitous fall from
NFC South: QB switch doesn't change Bucs' fortunes >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Johnson's first career NFL start couldn't have gotten
off to a more perfect beginning for the young quarterback. The end result,
however, turned out to be more of the same for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Johnson's initi
Yankees choose to open playoffs Wednesday; will face Twins >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees chose to select the
eight-day American League Division Series and will open the playoffs at home
Wednesday against the Central Division champion Twins.
Minnesota beat Detroit, 6-
Alfredsson leads Senators past Leafs >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daniel Alfredsson's goal in the second period
proved to be the difference, as the Ottawa Senators held on to edge the
Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1, at Air Canada Centre.
Shean Donovan scored the other g
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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