Sports betting, anyone do it?

by miles on Sep 23, 2008 2:39 PM CDT

Is anyone into Sports betting?

I never gave it really much thought until this week.

My roomate just started and bet on a few games for NFL this weekend. He made 50 dollars off of the games.

Then last night he bet on The Cubs winning and the two teams scoring over 9 runs. At the same time he bet on the Phillies beating Atlanta and the two teams scoring under 9 runs.

It was funny, because in the 9th inning, a guy hit what looked like a home run that would have made it go over 9 runs. They called it a HR and my roommate flipped out and I thought he was going to kill himself. The umpires then got together and took back the HR call.

He won 250 dollars.

So anyone bet on any types of sports?

Care to share any stories on winning or losing money on games?

2 recs | Comment 37 comments

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I bet

This post has 5 recs by the end of the hour.

I am the motherfucking shore patrol, motherfucker! I am the motherfucking shore patrol! Give this man a beer.

by TheBZA on Sep 23, 2008 2:45 PM CDT 0 recs

Sports betting

Yes, I’m sure someone does it.

In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, love.

by t ball on Sep 23, 2008 2:52 PM CDT 0 recs

No, No, Never, Never!

I have enough addictions already…

"...my balls are really like a veiny flesh color" blueballlefty on Jun 4, 2008 7:44 PM EDT
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2

by Rodney on Sep 23, 2008 3:04 PM CDT 0 recs

+1

Did Ben survive the hurricane?

by Chase Irwin on Sep 23, 2008 7:11 PM CDT up 0 recs

+1

Except for a 2 trips to Lone Star, never in my life.

by Droopydave on Sep 23, 2008 7:39 PM CDT up 0 recs

+ 420

Steal Home R.I.P. 9/10/08

by LAMuscleFag on Sep 24, 2008 11:47 AM CDT up 0 recs

Nah.

Go Strangers.

by hightowersmith on Sep 23, 2008 3:08 PM CDT 0 recs

I have zero interest in sports betting. Save your money.

by gr7070 on Sep 23, 2008 3:16 PM CDT 0 recs

Your friend may have won a little...

…but you should probably advise him to quit while he’s ahead.

by Black Francis on Sep 23, 2008 3:21 PM CDT 0 recs

I pretty much can't watch a game

Without betting on it.

by SaltyGoesYard on Sep 23, 2008 3:39 PM CDT 0 recs

That's weird

I can’t watch one if I do have money on it. And that goes for everything from straight bets to pools to fantasy leagues. That’s why I haven’t been in a fantasy league of any kind for several years. It all kills my enjoyment of the actual games.

"Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states" - Barack Obama

by DaheelzCM on Sep 23, 2008 10:43 PM CDT up 0 recs

If you want to make money on sports betting

then you need to take bets, rather than make them.

"So he tore it up in AA. Yippee. ...Max Ramirez be damned." - bigsteve

by tricer on Sep 23, 2008 4:04 PM CDT 0 recs

yep

When me and all my friends got into betting on NFL games in college, I quickly lost my shorts but I was the only one with an account to the site we were gambling on. So they would all come to me to place their bets and instead of actually gambling on the site, I’d just keep track of the odds and ‘bookie’ them myself. I would have been in trouble if one of them had hit on a big one early but after a couple of weeks, I had enough to cover just about any bet.

Revenge of the Birds

by cgolden on Sep 24, 2008 6:50 AM CDT up 0 recs

For that to work, you'd have to have a few hundred friends coming to you

Even then, that story makes no sense. It sounds like the plot of a really bad movie.

Last week I took a pleasure trip. I drove my wife to the airport.

by Brian Thomas on Sep 24, 2008 7:10 AM CDT up 0 recs

How does it not make any sense?

We were college students putting $10 or $15 bucks on games each weekend. It’s not like people were laying a grand. The only thing I had to worry about not be able to cover was a three or four team parlay, but since it’s extremely hard to hit multiple games it never happened.

Revenge of the Birds

by cgolden on Sep 24, 2008 9:59 AM CDT up 0 recs

So, every time your friends wanted to place a bet, you took the opposing team?

Bookies make money on the volume of action, not somehow winning more bets than losing straight up against their customers. Sure, sometimes they let the money play uneven, but mostly (like 95% of the time) they lay it off.

Is that what you did, just took the opposing team every time your friends wanted to lay down a bet? Because if you did, you were one lucky mofo.

Last week I took a pleasure trip. I drove my wife to the airport.

by Brian Thomas on Sep 24, 2008 10:19 AM CDT up 0 recs

I just took their bets exactly like they would have placed them online. I gave them the exact same odds they would have gotten online. Obviously I didn’t take a lot of teams who were heavy favorites to win straight up. Most of the bets were against the spread or over/under bets. What helped the most is that nearly everyone would have at least one ‘hail mary’ bet that would be a four or five team parlay that would have paid some crazy odds but they never hit on them.

Revenge of the Birds

by cgolden on Sep 24, 2008 10:47 AM CDT up 0 recs

+1

watch the movie “bookies”

has the guy from ’big bang theory" in it

"I don’t know of a single thing Obama’s done except talk and write." - Newt Gingrich

by knockoutking on Sep 24, 2008 8:04 AM CDT up 0 recs

That movie was idiotically unrealistic

Last week I took a pleasure trip. I drove my wife to the airport.

by Brian Thomas on Sep 24, 2008 10:15 AM CDT up 0 recs

yes

thats a given

"I don’t know of a single thing Obama’s done except talk and write." - Newt Gingrich

by knockoutking on Sep 24, 2008 12:18 PM CDT up 0 recs

Here's another total bullshit movie about bookmaking

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309059/synopsis

Garbage.

Last week I took a pleasure trip. I drove my wife to the airport.

by Brian Thomas on Sep 24, 2008 10:29 AM CDT up 0 recs

Jeez, Sauce

You seem a bit touchy about this whole thing.

Something bad in your tomato-based past? Or just a lot of knowledge on the subject and you don’t like it when the lesser folks get their facts wrong?

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Sep 26, 2008 5:16 AM CDT up 0 recs

I'm guessing

he bet on Million Dollar Baby and lost.

In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, love.

by t ball on Sep 26, 2008 9:28 AM CDT up 0 recs

I use

sportsbook.com te key is to never get in over your head. Throwing down a few dollars on the games though does make it a lot more interesting. Also never bet on college teams, too much emotion in those games.

by phina on Sep 23, 2008 4:36 PM CDT 0 recs

i think

college football is one of the easier sports to bet on.

by selppuc on Sep 23, 2008 7:53 PM CDT up 0 recs

maybe

I always stay away from it, I think NFL is easier, players more consistent and so on..Last week i won some good money on Miami over New England because it is clear that Matt Cassel is scared/can’t throw the deep ball

by phina on Sep 23, 2008 10:16 PM CDT up 0 recs

If you are gonna bet, stay the hell away from the NFL

Pick an obscure college football conference and focus all your energy on those teams.

Better advice: don’t do it at all.

Last week I took a pleasure trip. I drove my wife to the airport.

by Brian Thomas on Sep 23, 2008 4:45 PM CDT 0 recs

why stay away from teh NFL

thats what i dont understand

there is MUCH more info in the NFL (i dont bet btw)

if you focus a lot of energy on 1 or 2 games a week you should be able to make some cash but thats difficult do to lol

"I don’t know of a single thing Obama’s done except talk and write." - Newt Gingrich

by knockoutking on Sep 24, 2008 8:05 AM CDT up 0 recs

It is a well established fact among gambling circles that the hardest bet in the industry is an NFL game.

Because there is so much widely distributed information is the primary reason. Even the best pro sports betters come out at around 53% on NFL games. We’re talking about people that have spent 15 hours a day for a couple of decades, for the most part.

However, if you focus on, say the WAC, for example, you have a better chance at success. There are over a 100 teams that you can place a bet on in college ball (basketball even more, which is one reason why college basketball is probably a sports better’s best path), and the media coverage is much, much less, while the possibility for discrete inside information is much better. It is a good deal harder for the Stardust guys to keep a handle on Montana State than it is the 49ers.

Last week I took a pleasure trip. I drove my wife to the airport.

by Brian Thomas on Sep 24, 2008 10:14 AM CDT up 0 recs

heh guess this is one MORE reason i will continue to stay away from betting lol

"I don’t know of a single thing Obama’s done except talk and write." - Newt Gingrich

by knockoutking on Sep 24, 2008 12:19 PM CDT up 0 recs

One of the first

business writing contracts that I ever got was for writing content for a company that referred new signups to various casinos and sportsbooks. It was VERY lucrative and she paid me $20/hr, so I was definitely in.

In my research and subsequent writings, I can tell you that sportsbooks online are complicated and fraught with archaic rules and potential problems that could keep you separated from your money, even if you “win.” I put win in quotations because when it comes to gambling with these companies (many of whom are not regulated or have “regulation” from places like Gibraltar that just want the money and don’t oversee anything) in the end you will lose, even if you win more than you lose. If that sentence doesn’t make sense to you, then you obviously don’t know enough about gambling and should avoid it altogether.

If you are gonna try it though, just remember to treat it as a form of entertainment, and do it in moderation. Gambling is NOT a form of income, and if you treat it as such you will either become addicted, get in over your head, or both before you can blink.

by Melmart1 on Sep 23, 2008 6:33 PM CDT 0 recs

over-reacting

I know plenty of people who bet sports and plenty of people who make a living off gambling. Just because you can’t afford to take the risk doesn’t mean other people can’t. Just because you don’t know the edges, doesn’t mean others don’t.

by jplata on Sep 23, 2008 7:15 PM CDT 0 recs

I don't know

if you are responding to me or not, but I will respond anyways.

I know I am not overreacting. Just giving him some precautions to think about before he goes betting. The problem with a situation like Miles’ is that he has only seen the positive side of gambling, i.e. winning. He hasn’t seen his friend bet big money or lose much if anything. There is another, seedy side to gambling that he needs to be aware of. And the fact that these sportsbooks are overseas with little or no outside regulation means that he can easily have trouble withdrawing his winnings.

Also be aware that most of the people who make money off of gambling are PROFESSIONALS, Miles is teenager. Most also win from things like Blackjack or Poker, things that they have some control over. You have no control over a football or baseball game. Anyone can win on any given Sunday, any pitcher with an 8+ ERA can throw a shutout against the hottest hitting team in the league under the right conditions. And don’t get me started on the allegations of tanking and game fixing, either in sports betting across the world. You have ZERO control over these things but can lose an awful lot of money as a result. This is not overreacting, it is fact and something that a teenager needs to consider before he starts placing bets.

by Melmart1 on Sep 23, 2008 7:49 PM CDT up 0 recs