Who are the people that set the odds?

Question

who are the people that set the odds for sports betting?

Answer 1

Well, it depends from sporting event to sporting event. I beleive, though, there is a main group in Vegas that usually comes up with the original odd. Then, the odd changes based on people placing bets on either side of the odd.

It is a complex deal, though. Let me know if you find out forsure!

Answer 2

If you knew you would have to die.

Answer 3

The oddsmakers.

Answer 4

They are specialist that follow every match, they have tables for form, tired players and etc and etc...

Answer 5

I can tell you how the betting line is set for NFL Football.

First, there are oddsmakers who set what is called the starting line, sometimes called the outlaw line, which is the statistically calculated probability of one team or the other winning a game, and by how many points. The formulas used to do this are based on the NFL team statistics package, the programs use many factors to perform the calculation, and these programs and the calculations used are highly guarded secrets, lol.

Here is an example of an outlaw line.

http://www.football-free-picks.com/outla...

This outlaw line shows both the original calculated spread and the final "vegas" spread.

This line is then adjusted by the bookies based on the early action of the big betters to reflect the amount of bets on the teams. Points are added to the favorite if there is a lot of betting action on them, or subtracted if there is a lot of betting action on the underdog.

The bookies then adjust the point spread up or down for other factors such as weather, injuries, rumors, and information from "insiders".

The final betting line is then offered to the general public.

Here is an example of the same week after the line has been adjusted, (this is actually a betting system results page).

http://www.football-free-picks.com/2007-...

Hope I explained it, and I suspect there is a similar system for other sports lines odds.