Kings agree to terms with D Mitchell

Hockey Betting Lines

08/25/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings have agreed to terms with free-agent defenseman Willie Mitchell on a two-year contract worth $3.5 million per season.

Mitchell's 2009-10 season was derailed by a concussion, limiting him to 48 games where he posted four goals and 12 points.

The former eighth-round pick of the New Jersey Devils in 1996, the 33-year-old has compiled 19 goals, 119 points and 621 penalty minutes in 586 NHL games with the Devils, Wild, Stars and Canucks.

Footballbettinggamble Hockey Betting News

<< White Sox place Putz, Thornton on DL
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox have placed relievers J.J. Putz and Matt Thornton on the 15-day disabled list. Putz left Tuesday's 7-5 win over Baltimore after throwing three pitches and has been diagnosed with ri

<< Bower named McNeese State's starting QB
Lake Charles, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - McNeese State has named Jacob Bower as its starting quarterback for the 2010 season. The Idaho native and former Tulsa quarterback is a 25-year-old graduate student at McNeese State. He will see action

<< Rays activate Niemann from DL
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays have reinstated pitcher Jeff Niemann from the 15-day disabled list to start Wednesday's game versus the Angels. Niemann, who is 10-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 22 games this season, was on the

<< CFL West: Stamps and Riders to battle for first
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The West Division returns to play this week after a bye, with the two basement dwellers set to host the top teams. The Edmonton Eskimos and BC Lions have a lot of work cut out for them to get back into the swi

<< For golf, it's the Summer of Rules
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - I know the feeling. You wake up in the morning and realize one of three things has happened: 1) You have forgotten to set your alarm; 2) You have set your alarm, but woke up and turned it off; or 3) You set your alarm, whi

Benitez faces unenviable task at Inter >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Rafael Benitez era at Inter Milan got off to a good start this past Saturday, as the Spaniard claimed his first piece of silverware in a 3-1 win over Roma in the Italian Super Cup. Benitez will have

Ohlendorf placed on DL >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates placed Ross Ohlendorf on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday. Ohlendorf was diagnosed with a strained lat muscle behind his right shoulder after an MRI was taken

Twins claim Flores off waivers >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins have claimed pitcher Randy Flores off waivers from the Colorado Rockies. The left-hander was 2-0 with a 2.96 earned-run average in 47 appearances for the Rockies this season. To

Pittsburgh Steelers 2010 Season Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers enter the 2010 campaign intent on re-establishing their identity in the wake of a season of unfulfilled expectations, followed by an offseason embroiled in turmoil. It's been a long and arduous 18 m

No superstars just good horses in Pacific Classic >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The $1 million Pacific Classic guarantees the victor a spot in this year's Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. It's unlikely that the horse will the favorite for the end-of-year race, but he will

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.