Factors Involved in Deciding Sports Odds

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

The making of a good odds requires considerable expertise by the sports odds makers that must take into account not just the merits of the teams involved but also knowledge of the sport itself along with such sports handicapping factors such as coaches, players, injuries, incentive, motivation, revenge, weather, sites, history, standings, rumors, gossip and anything else that a sports bettor can think of as motivation to make a sports betting wager.

This fascinating battle of wits between the sports handicapping crowd and the sports odds makers brings up an inescapable conclusion. sports odds makers must have sports handicapping abilities, or to put it another way, they must be able to read the sports handicapping community. Conversely the sports handicapping community must be able to read the sports odds makers in order to determine the motivation and rationale behind the sports odds makers and what is posted at casino sports books and online sportsbooks. This mutual understanding and reading between the sports handicapping side and the sports odds making side is a clash that rivals anything that you can watch from a game on television. It may, in fact, be the ultimate poker game.

Both the sports odds maker and the sports handicapping community must take into account and factor every detail that can influence a sports betting wager at a sportsbook or online sports betting weebsite. When a odds face “lopsided” action, (an unequal or disproportionate amount of sports wagers on one side of a game), the sports odds will be quickly adjusted by the sportsbook or sports gambling house to try and encourage sports bettors to bet on the ignored side.

Sports handicapping and sports betting line / sports betting odds making takes into account personnel moves, statistical data, coaching, injuries, etc. and then calculates power ratings for each team based on these sports handicapping factors. One of the great challenges for the sports odds makers along with online sports bettors is to constantly adjust accurate power ratings.