Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
06/13/2010 - Sparta, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joey Logano outran Carl Edwards in the closing laps and beat the weather to win Saturday's Meijer 300 Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway.
Logano passed Brendan Gaughan and took the lead for good with less than 25 laps remaining. Edwards then chased down Logano within the last 10 laps, but he held off Edwards by 0.67 seconds for his first victory of the season and the seventh of his Nationwide career.
His last win came in October 2009 at Fontana, CA.
Logano became the first driver in series history to win three consecutive races at the same track after starting on the pole for each one of those events. When Logano won his first Nationwide race at Kentucky in 2008, he became the youngest winner at age 18 years and 21 days.
"Oh man, I don't know what feels better, getting three-for-three here or finally getting a win this year," said Logano, who led a race-high 106 laps. "We've had quite a few stolen, and with Carl running right up there at the end, I was saying, 'I don't want to lose another one this way'."
The 300-mile race featured a track record-tying 10 cautions for 51 laps. Logano lost the lead after several late-race restarts, but managed to reclaim the top position shortly after.
"On my restarts, for at least on the first lap, I wasn't up to speed that good, and after that, I was able to make something of this car," he added.
Logano pulled into victory lane just before a severe thunderstorm moved over the 1.5-mile track. Teams were preparing pit strategies in the late-stages of the race in anticipation of the rain shortening the scheduled 200-lap distance.
Edwards finished in the runner-up spot for the second week in a row, while points leader Brad Keselowski overcame a 25th starting position to finish third.
"I'm sure Joey has had a long week, and he deserves that win," Edwards said. "I had him on that high line. I was up there, and I thought, 'Man, I hope they don't tell him what I am doing,' but I knew they were, and he got back up there."
Keselowski now holds a comfortable 272-point advantage over Edwards.
"It was one of those days, but we came away and brought home a solid finish for [this team]," Keselowski said.
Logano, Edwards and Keselowski are pulling the Kentucky-Michigan combo this weekend. The Sprint Cup Series will race at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick missed out on the Nationwide race for the second week in a row to concentrate on their Sprint Cup efforts.
Gaughan, who was looking for his first Nationwide win, wound up finishing fourth, and Reed Sorenson took the fifth spot.
Steve Wallace, Scott Wimmer, Justin Allgaier, Scott Riggs and rookie Colin Braun completed the top-10.
<< Salazar and LeBlanc lead Padres past Mariners
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oscar Salazar hit a three-run home run to
help the San Diego Padres dominate the Seattle Mariners, 7-1, in the second of
a three-game interleague set.
Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run home run and scored
<< Guillen's 10th-inning homer lifts Tigers over Pirates
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Guillen's homer to start the bottom of
the 10th inning gave the Detroit Tigers a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates
in the second of a three-game interleague set.
With Brendan Donnelly (2-1) on the
<< Hamilton homers, Rangers hang on to beat Brewers
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Smoak hit a two-run double and Josh
Hamilton blasted a solo home run, as the Texas Rangers held on to beat the
Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3, in the middle portion of a three-game interleague
series
<< Hammel impressive on the mound as Rockies shut out Jays
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Hammel and Manuel Corpas combined on a
four-hitter in Colorado's 1-0 victory over Toronto in the middle meeting of a
three-game interleague set at Coors Field.
Hammel (4-3) yielded only three hits,
Florida downs Miami, advances to CWS >>
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Austin Maddox's RBI double in the top of
the 10th inning lifted Florida over Miami-Florida, 4-3, sending the Gators to
the College World Series.
Florida, which won 7-2 in the opener of this best-of-t
UCLA coach Howland has surgery >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - UCLA head men's basketball coach Ben
Howland underwent successful surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles
tendon.
The procedure was performed on Friday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medi
Rivera homers as Angels edge Dodgers >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juan Rivera clubbed a two-run homer to help
the Angels defeat the Dodgers, 4-2, in the middle contest of a three-game
interleague series at Chavez Ravine.
Howie Kendrick and Torii Hunter each had an
Robben ruled out of Dutch opener >>
Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arjen Robben has been ruled out
of the Netherlands' World Cup opener against Denmark on Monday due to a
hamstring injury.
Dutch manager Bert van Marwijk said that it was too risky to pl
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting