I'm missing something about sports odds. The books try to find a number that evens the betting, right? Say todays game, they wanted half the money under 5.5, and half over. If they get too lopsided they lay it off.

If all that worked out perfectly, the loser money would pay the winner...where does the house make any money from that?

Juice. You'd have to lay 110 to win 100 for example.

well im sure zach will move this but... but its because sportsbooks charge juice. I bet 10 bucks on the game to get 9.09 back. (i know im a high roller)

ask and ye shall receive.

Sports books do enough volume, that if they set the lines properly, they make money off the juice ( plus, if it's a brick and mortar sports book, it attracts the action junkies to the casino in general).


Now, how an average bookie makes money.. he doesn't really so much have the volume that a sports book has, and balancing lines can be a tricky thing. Besides old standards, like giving the local teams bad lines, most bookies make the bulk of their prophet, not from the bets themselves, but from getting the bettors into debt, and then working out paymentplans, with serious juice. It's the interest on the debts that most ( successful) bookies make their money on.