Reeling Magic welcome Pacers to Central Florida

Basketball Betting Lines

01/29/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Eastern Conference playoff contenders meet in Central Florida on Sunday when a struggling Orlando team plays host to the Indiana Pacers in the Magic Kingdom.

Orlando has dropped three of four and is coming off a bad loss in the Big Easy on Friday when Carl Landry netted a team-high 17 points and the New Orleans Hornets rolled over the Magic, 93-67, to snap a nine-game losing streak.

Dwight Howard scored 28 points and pulled down 16 rebounds, his 15th double- double of the season, for Orlando, which continued to struggle offensively, shooting just 39.3 percent from the floor and turning the ball over 23 times.

"We were just awful," said Magic head coach Stan Van Gaudy. "It didn't matter what we called. We had no energy coming off of screens, the ball didn't move, guys didn't want to shoot the ball. It's very, very bad right now."

Earlier in the week Orlando set a franchise record for fewest points in an 87-56 road loss to Boston and followed that up blowing a 27-point lead against those same Celtics three says later.

"The three worst losses I think we've had since I've been here and it's in the matter of five days," Van Gundy said. "It's tough to take."

About the only thing that went well for Orlando over the past week was a 102-83 triumph in Indiana between the two Boston contests. Ryan Anderson scored a game-high 24 in that one but was forced to sit out in New Orleans with a strained left calf and remains questionable for tonight.

Also the Magic's starting point guard, Jameer Nelson, left Friday's game against the Hornets in the second quarter after being hit in the jaw but expects to play tonight.

The Pacers, meanwhile, are also coming in off a tough shooting night during a 94-87 setback in Boston on Friday. Danny Granger netted 21 points in that one to lead Indiana, which went a dismal 1-of-19 from beyond the arc.

Center Roy Hibbert was forced to leave the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury, but returned in the third and ended with 11 points and seven rebounds. Paul George contributed 16 points and nine boards while David West has 14 and 8 in the loss.

"We had a lot of great looks that didn't go down," Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said. "Some of that was their defense. You have to credit their defense, they shut Orlando down twice, they shut us down tonight. We didn't play a good game and you have to play a good game to beat this basketball team in their building."

Orlando has won six straight over the Pacers, including last Tuesday's win in Indy.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

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.