The rules vary slightly from one casino to another, but the expected value of several bets is only slightly negative (the most favorable bets with the most favorable rules offer a house advantage of as little as 0.18%). All bets have a negative expectation except for the “free odds” bet that the player is allowed to make after a point is established on a flat (line) bet (this bet has a long-term expected value of 0). However, the “free odds” bet cannot be made independently, so the expected value of the entire bet, including odds, is still negative. Since there is no correlation between die rolls, there is no possible long-term winning strategy. While experienced blackjack players who learn to count cards can gain a small mathematical advantage over extended playing sessions by diligent study, there is no comparable strategy for craps.
Occasionally, players win several bets in a row; such players are said to be “on a roll.” Those who increase their bets during a winning series can rapidly win substantial sums. On the other hand, money can be lost back just as quickly, as there is no statistical likelihood of a “hot streak” continuing for any given duration. To counter this, experienced players take full advantage of “free odds” — bets on which there is zero house advantage. Maximizing the size of your odds bet in relation to your line bet will minimize but never eliminate the house edge. Many casinos have limitation on how large the odds bet can be in relation to the flat bet, with single, double, and five times odds common. Some casinos offer 3-4-5 odds, referring to the maximum multiple of the line bet a player can place in odds for the points of 4 and 10, 5 and 9, and 6 and 8, respectively. During promotional periods, a casino may even offer 100x odds bets, which renders the house edge to almost nothing but dramatically increases volatility. Horseshoe Casino founder Benny Binion once quipped that if every player took the 100x odds, the house “wouldn’t be able to keep the lights on,” referring to the overhead required to run casino games.
The only casino currently in Las Vegas to offer 100x odds is the Casino Royale located next to Harrah’s on the strip. The Stratosphere offers 10x odds and most of the other casinos such as MGM and Bellagio offer 3x4x5. Some casinos such as the Riviera, Orleans and Gold Coast offer 2x odds which is considered an anathema to craps players, in equal footing with 6:5 payouts on single-deck blackjack. Most downtown casinos offer 5x (Binions) or 10x odds (Plaza and Main Street Station, with the Golden Nugget offering the unusual 6x8x10 odds), while a handful of downtown casinos offer the horrible 2x odds (Sam Boyd’s Fremont).
There are numerous middle market casinos whose income from gaming is negligible due to minimal chip size, and whose business model focuses on generating revenue primarily through the sale of alcohol. At such institutions, craps will often be rigged mildly in favor of guests, allowing the house to serve drinks to the large number of onlookers a winning table generates. Low limit Craps is also known to be used as a loss leader via the same odds to give the impression that a casino which derives its profits from gambling (almost all in Las Vegas) is full of winners and fun place to be, causing guests to play other, house favored games.
Sportsbook at Wynn Las Vegas, during Super Bowl XLII, February 2008
A sportsbook (sometimes abbreviated as book) or a race and sports book is a place where a gambler can wager on various sports competitions, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, horse racing and boxing. The method of betting varies with the sport and the type of game. The more prominent the event, the more wagering options that are made available.
Winning bets are paid when the event finishes, or if not finished, when played long enough to becomes official; otherwise all bets are returned. This policy can cause some confusion since there can be a difference between what the sportsbook considers official and what the sports league consider official. Customers should carefully read the sportsbook rules before placing their bets.
The betting volume at sportsbooks varies throughout the year. Bettors have more interest in certain types of sports and increase the money wagered when those sports are in season. Likewise the interest in sports varies by country since the level of interest in the various sports is not constant the world over. Some major sporting events that don’t follow a specific schedule, like boxing, can create peaks of activity for the sportsbooks.
Word origin
A sportsbook is a portmanteau, French for “jacket holder,” meaning a suitcase with two storage spaces. Sportsbook combines two meanings into one word for a sports gambling operation, in this case SPORTS and BOOK which is short for bookmaking.
Odds
In the mid 1930s, Leo Hirschfield started a company in Minneapolis, Minnesota called Athletic Publications, Inc., that published and distributed odds to bookies across the country by telephone and telegraph. He had a team of handicappers analyzing the matchups who also studied newspapers across the country. The company was a major provider of odds and prices until it finally disbanded, under fear of prosecution from the Federal Wire Act of 1961.
Today most sportsbooks get their opening prices from other sportsbooks as well as private companies like Las Vegas Sports Consultants. They adjust prices based on the bets coming in, news, injury, and weather information, and the price movement by other sportsbooks.
Nevada sportsbooks
Today there are roughly 150 licensed sportsbooks in the United States, all located in Nevada casinos. Now that many casinos share the same parent company, they offer the exact same wagering choices and odds, which is a disadvantage to the astute gambler who in the past could do more shopping for better prices.
In the 1950s the first Nevada sportsbooks, called turf clubs, opened. They were independent from the casinos, and had an informal agreement with the hotels that they would stay out of the casino business as long as the hotels stayed out of the sportsbook business. The sportsbooks had to pay a 10% tax so they charged a high vigorish to gamblers, but they still brought in a lot of business.
In 1974 the tax was lowered to 2%, (and in 1983 lowered to 0.25%), and in 1975 Lefty Rosenthal, who ran the Stardust Casino, convinced legislators to allow them in the casinos, and soon nearly all of the casinos added them. The turf clubs were no longer able to compete and eventually all closed.
In Nevada casino sportsbooks you will find:
Betting Windows
Numerous big screen televisions
Places to sit and watch
Interactive betting stations
Odds boards, usually computerized
UK sportsbooks
Betting shops are common in the United Kingdom. Companies like Ladbrokes and William Hill have offered walk-in betting shops for decades.
Players can place or buy individual numbers (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) by placing their wager in the come area and telling the dealer, “place the 6″ or “buy the 8″. Both are bets that the number will be rolled before a 7. Place bets are paid at odds slightly worse than true odds for the 6 or 8, but significantly worse for the 4, 5, 9 or 10.
Buying the number results in a payoff at the true odds, but requires a 5% commission to be paid to the casino. Traditionally, the buy bet commission is paid no matter what, but in recent years a number of casinos have changed their policy to charge the commission only when the buy bet wins. This change significantly reduces the house advantage, especially on the 4 and 10, where the effective advantage is reduced by two-thirds because the bet wins one third of the time; this reduces the house advantage to 1.67%, making the buy-4 or buy-10 one of the game’s better bets. This policy is in effect at most casinos in Mississippi, and an increasing number in Las Vegas.
The commission is paid at the rate of a $1 chip for every $20 wagered, but casinos usually charge only $1 for a $25 green-chip bet, or $2 for $50 (two green chips), reducing the house advantage a bit more. Where commission is charged only on wins, the commission is sometimes deducted from the winning payoff — a winning $25 buy bet on the 10 would pay $49, for instance.
A lay bet is the opposite of a buy bet, where a player bets on a 7 to roll before the number that is “laid.” Bets are made in increments of $24 when laying the 6 or 8, $30 when laying the 5 or 9, and $40 when laying the 4 or 10; a $1 commission is charged for each of these increments. Again, the tradition is to charge this commission win or lose, but casinos may opt to charge it only when the bet wins; this is less of an advantage for the player, since the bet wins more often than it loses. Most lay bets are on the 4 or 10.
Number
Place Payoff
Buy Payoff
Lay Payoff
6 or 8
7-6
6-5
5-6
5 or 9
7-5
3-2
2-3
4 or 10
9-5
2-1
1-2
Examples of basic play
Example 1:
Let’s say you put $10 on the pass line. On your come-out roll you get an 11, so you win $10. The game now starts over, with a new come-out roll. You roll a 9, which becomes the point. You decide to bet $10 on the come line before your next roll. On your next roll you get a 6, which is now the point you need to hit in order to win your $10 come bet. Your next roll is a 9, which is the point you needed to hit to win your pass line bet, meaning you just won another $10. You bet $10 on the pass line again, and your new come-out roll is a 7. You win $10 for your pass line bet, but lost the $10 you had previously bet on the come line.
Example 2:
This time you decide to bet on the don’t pass line. You roll a 4, which becomes the point. You bet $10 on the don’t come line, and your next roll is a 7. You lose your don’t come bet, and win your don’t pass bet, so you just broke even. Since you just sevened-out, the player to your left becomes the new shooter.
Note: Individual casinos may pay some of these bets at different odds than those listed below. The payoff odds listed are the most common throughout North American casinos. Actual odds, of course, do not vary.
Proposition bets are generally located in the center of a craps table, and often pay off at high odds but with a significantly higher house advantage.
One roll bets that the shooter will make an 11, or “yo” (pays 15-1, actual odds 17-1); 3, or “ace-deuce” (15-1, actual 17-1); 2, or “snake eyes” (30-1, actual 35-1); and 12, “box cars” or “midnight” (30-1, actual 35-1). A “hi-lo” is a combination bet on 2 or 12, paying 15-1 (actual odds 17-1); the stickman places this bet on the line dividing the 2 and 12 bets.
Bets that a shooter will make a hardway number such as 4-4 (before throwing a 7 or an 8 the easy way such as 6-2 or 5-3). The hard 4 (2-2) and hard 10 (5-5) pay off at 7-1 odds (actual odds 8-1), and the hard 6 (3-3) and hard 8 (4-4) pay off at 9-1 odds (actual odds 10-1).
The Horn is a bet that involves betting on 1 unit each for 2, 3, 11 and 12 at the same time for the next roll. The bet is actually four separate bets, and pays off depending on which number is actually rolled, minus three units for the other three losing bets. Most players do a “Horn High” bet which involves betting an additional $1 on one of the 4 choices, with the most frequent being a $5 “horn high yo” bet (which means $2 on the 11, $1 each on 2, 3 & 12).
A hop bet is a bet on any combination of the dice on the next roll. For example, hard 8 on the hop pays 30-1 (actual odds 35-1) if two fours appear on the dice on the next roll only. “Easy” combinations may also be bet, such as a 3-5 or 4-6, paying off at 15-1 odds (actual odds 17-1). On most craps tables, hop bets do not have a designated space on the layout; instead, they are kept in front of the boxman, often with a “hop” marker placed on top of the chips.
Craps is a bet that the shooter will roll 2, 3 or 12 on the next roll. The true odds are 8-1 and the casino pays 7-1.
C & E is actually two bets. A player is betting one unit on craps and another unit on 11. One of the two bets will always lose, and the other will pay off as above.
Any Seven is a bet that the shooter will roll a seven on the next roll. The true odds are 5-1 and the casino pays 4-1. This bet is also nicknamed “Big Red,” since the “7″ on its betting space on the layout is usually large and red.
A whirl or world bet is a five-unit bet that is a combination of a horn and any-seven bet. The bet is effectively a push if a 7 rolls, since the 4-1 payoff on the any-seven bet is offset by the other four losing bets.
The field bet is a wager that one of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12 will appear on the next roll of the dice. This bet pays 2-1 on the 2 or 12 and even money on the others; many casinos will instead pay 3-1 on the 2 or 12. The house advantage is slightly more than 5%, reduced to 2.7% when the 2 or 12 pays 3-1. This bet is located in a box between the don’t pass line and the come box. Unlike the other proposition bets which are handled by the dealers or stickman, the field bet is placed directly by the player.
The Big 6 and Big 8 wagers are considered by craps players as sucker bets because they pay even money while a player can bet on the same proposition (a 6 will be rolled before a 7) by placing the 6 or the 8, which pays 7-6 (true odds are 6-5). Veteran craps players avoid these bets, and some casinos (particularly those in Atlantic City) do not even offer them. These are located in the corners behind the pass line, and bets are placed directly by players.
Most of these bets are very costly and disadvantageous to the player, because the house percentage on these bets can be 11.1% and up. Knowledgeable craps players often restrict their action to either the pass line or don’t pass line with full odds. More aggressive players can also bet on the Come/Don’t Come with full odds which is statistically identical to the pass/don’t pass bet.
The fundamental bet in craps is the pass line bet, in which one bets that the dice will pass (that is, roll the point number before rolling a 7). A pass line bet is also won if the come-out roll is a 7 or 11. The following discussion assumes that the shooter, as is usually the case, is betting on the pass line.
If a 4,5,6,8,9, or 10 is thrown on the come-out roll (i.e., if a point is set), most casinos allow pass line bettors to take odds by placing from one to five times (and at some casinos, up to 100 times) the pass line bet behind the line. This additional bet wins if the point is rolled again before a 7 is rolled (the point is made) and pays at the true odds, 2-to-1 if 4 or 10 is the point, 3-to-2 if 5 or 9 is the point, and 6-to-5 if 6 or 8 is the point. While the house has a small (1.4%) advantage on pass line bets, the house has no advantage at all on odds bets. Therefore, taking the maximum odds (which vary by casino) can lower the house percentage for any given bet down to as low as 0.5%.
Odds bets in craps are one of the few bets offered at a casino that are completely free of any house advantage. Another such bet is the “double-up” option offered to the player in some forms of video poker after winning a hand.
Let’s see why that is. There are 36 possible permutations (ways to roll a pair of 6-sided dice):
1-1 = 1 way to make a 2
1-2 2-1 = 2 ways to make a 3
1-3 2-2 3-1 = 3 ways to make a 4, true odds pays 2-1
1-4 2-3 3-2 4-1 = 4 ways to make a 5, true odds pays 3-2
1-5 2-4 3-3 4-2 5-1 = 5 ways to make a 6, true odds pays 6-5
1-6 2-5 3-4 4-3 5-2 6-1 = 6 ways to make a 7
2-6 3-5 4-4 5-3 6-2 = 5 ways to make an 8, true odds pays 6-5
3-6 4-5 5-4 6-3 = 4 ways to make a 9, true odds pays 3-2
4-6 5-5 6-4 = 3 ways to make a 10, true odds pays 2-1
5-6 6-5 = 2 ways to make an 11
6-6 = 1 way to make a 12
There are a total of 36 possible combinations. So on the come-out roll there are 8 ways to win, 4 ways to lose and (36-12=) 24 ways to start a point.
The odds of making the point are the ratio of the number of ways to make a 7 to the number of ways to make the point. For example, there are five ways to make a 6 or 8, so the odds of making a point of 6 or 8 are 6-5. Therefore an odds bet of $5 on 6 or 8 pays out $6.
Many experienced craps players only make pass line and odds bets since the odds are much more favorable to the player than any other bets in craps, and in fact most casino games. The pass line and odds bet is one of the best wagers you can make in gambling, and a lot of the excitement and fortunes of craps can be experienced with this simple bet.
The rules for the come wagers are the same as for the pass line except that they can only be made after the come-out roll. Effectively, they represent starting a new game using the same stream of numbers being generated by the existing (pass line) game.
Because of the come bet, if the shooter makes their point, a player can find themselves in the situation where they have a come bet with odds on it, and yet be rooting for the shooter to roll a 7 on their next come-out roll. Because of this, it is usual that odds bets on come wagers are presumed to be not working. That means that if the shooter rolls a 7 on the come-out roll, any players with active come bets lose their initial wager but will have their odds money returned to them, unless they tell the dealer that they want their odds working. Conversely, if the shooter rolls a number that matches an active come bet, the original bet is paid off at even money and the odds money is returned to the player (unless they told the dealer that they wanted their odds working, in which case they are paid at the true odds).
There is also a don’t come box in which one can place bets that the dice will not pass on the next sequence starting with the immediate roll as a virtual come-out roll; even the shooter may bet that he or she will miss out. Don’t pass and don’t come bets are basically the opposite of pass and come bets; the player is betting that a 7 will be rolled before the point. On the come-out roll a 7 or an 11 is a loss, whereas a 2, 3, or 12 is a win. Casino craps layouts bar either 2 or 12 on the don’t pass and don’t come bets. This means that if 2 is barred and the shooter rolls a 2 on the come-out roll, the wager is a stand off and the player’s money is returned.
When betting against the shooter, the bettor must put up the long side of the bet. Thus a don’t pass bettor who bets $10 when the point is a 4 could place an odds bet of $20 behind the line. If the shooter rolls a 7 before achieving their point, the bettor would receive $10 for the don’t pass bet plus $10 for their odds bet. Even though the house advantage on the don’t pass and don’t come bets are almost identical to the pass line and come bets, for most players the disadvantage of putting up the long side of the bet makes the don’t pass line less desirable. Additionally, many craps players consider don’t pass and don’t come bets to be in poor taste, or even “taboo”.
The Nassau bet is a type of bet in golf that is essentially three separate bets. Money is wagered on the best score in the front 9, back 9, and total 18 holes. The Nassau is one of golf’s most classic and most popular wagers.The amount of the bet is established — often $2 or $5 — for each nine with a third bet for the overall 18-hole match. Points are calculated by scoring each hole as a separate match. The player with the lowest score on a hole wins a point. If the scores tie for a hole, this results in a “push,” or no points won or lost.
Nassau Presses
This is a side bet offered during a Nassau match by the side that is losing in an effort to even their money for either the front or back nine. If the player who presses then beats his opponent over the remaining holes on that nine, he wins the press bet. In effect it is a double or nothing proposition. When a side is two or more points down in the match, they may request a press. The opposition has the option to accept or reject the press, although it is usually accepted.
The press bet runs for the remaining holes to be played on either the front or back nine holes only. Press bets can be re-pressed if the player falls two more points behind. The amount of the press bet is the same as the original match bet. For example, in a $2 Nassau, presses are for $2.
As with any golf game, players of greatly different abilities can compete. Handicaps are used to determine how many strokes one player must give another.
Cho-Han Bakuchi (or Cho Ka Han Ka, or simply Cho-Han) is a traditional Japanese gambling game using dice.The game uses two standard six-sided dice, which are shaken in a bamboo cup or bowl by a dealer. The cup is then overturned onto the floor. Players then place their wagers on whether the sum total of numbers showing on the two dice will be “Cho” (even) or “Han” (odd). The dealer then removes the cup, displaying the dice. The winners collect their money.
Depending on the situation, the dealer will sometimes act as the house, collecting all losing bets. But more often, the players will bet against each other (this requires an equal number of players betting on odd and even) and the house will collect a set percentage off winning bets.
The game was a mainstay of the bakuto, itinerant gamblers in old Japan, and is still played by the modern yakuza. In a traditional Cho-Han setting, players sit on a tatami floor. The dealer sits in the formal seiza position and is often shirtless (to prevent accusations of cheating), exposing his elaborate tattoos.
Many Japanese films, especially chambara and yakuza movies, have Cho-Han scenes. The character Zatoichi is a noted fan of the game.
Kelly gambling is an application of information theory to gambling and (with some ethical and legal reservations) investing. An important but simple relation exists between the amount of side information a gambler obtains and the expected exponential growth of his capital (Kelly). The so-called equation of ill-gotten gains can be expressed in logarithmic form as
for an optimal betting strategy, where K0 is the initial capital, Kt is the capital after the tth bet, and Hi is the amount of side information obtained concerning the ith bet (in particular, the mutual information relative to the outcome of each betable event). This equation applies in the absence of any transaction costs or minimum bets. When these constraints apply (as they invariably do in real life), another important gambling concept comes into play: the gambler (or unscrupulous investor) must face a certain probability of ultimate ruin, which is known as the gambler’s ruin scenario. Note that even food, clothing, and shelter can be considered fixed transaction costs and thus contribute to the gambler’s probability of ultimate ruin.
This equation was the first application of Shannon’s theory of information outside its prevailing paradigm of data communications (Pierce).
A croupier (in European usage) or dealer (in American usage) is a person who takes and pays out bets or otherwise assists at a gambling table, often in a casino. In American usage, dealer may imply a card game, but this is not always the case. For example it is common to refer to a craps dealer[1].In general, the croupier works only for their salary (and tips) and does not have a personal interest in the outcome of the game.
In gambling a Dutch book or lock is a set of odds and bets which guarantees a profit, no matter what the outcome of the gamble. It is associated with probabilities implied by the odds not being coherent.In economics a Dutch book usually refers to a sequence of trades that would leave one party strictly worse off and another strictly better off. Typical assumptions in consumer choice theory rule out the possibility that anyone can be Dutch-booked.
Gambling
In one example, a bookmaker has offered odds and attracted bets that make the result irrelevant; in this case the implied probabilities will add up to a number greater than 1.
Horse number
Offered odds:
Bets:
Implied
probability:
1
Evens
100
0.5
2
3 to 1 against
50
0.25
3
4 to 1 against
40
0.2
4
9 to 1 against
20
0.1
Total
10
.05
In this case, whichever horse wins, the bookmaker will pay out 200 (including returning the winning stake) and so make a profit of 10.
If for some reason Horse 4 was withdrawn and the bookmaker was foolish enough not to adjust the other odds, the implied probabilities would add up to 0.95 and a gambler could lock in a profit of 10, by betting 100, 50 and 40 on the remaining three horses respectively.
Other forms of Dutch books can exist when incoherent odds are offered on exotic bets such as forecasting the order in which horses will finish. With competitive fixed-odds gambling being offered electronically, gamblers can sometimes create a Dutch book by selecting the best odds from different bookmakers, in effect by undertaking an arbitrage operation. The bookmakers should react by adjusting the offered odds in the light of demand, so as to remove the potential profit.
In Bayesian probability, Frank P. Ramsey and Bruno de Finetti required personal degrees of belief to be coherent so that a Dutch book could not be made against them, whichever way bets were made. Necessary and sufficient conditions for this are that their degrees of belief satisfy the axioms of probability.
Economics
In economics the classic example of a situation in which a consumer X can be Dutch-booked is if he or she has intransitive preferences. Suppose that for this consumer, A is preferred to B, B is preferred to C, and C is preferred to A. Then suppose that someone else in the population, Y, has one of these goods. Without loss of generality, suppose Y has good A. Then Y can first sell A to X for B + ε; then sell B to X for C + ε; then sell C to X for A + ε, where ε is some small amount of the numeraire. After this sequence of trades, X has given 3·ε to Y for nothing in return. Y will have exploited an arbitrage opportunity by taking advantage of X’s intransitive preferences.
Economists usually argue that people with preferences like X’s will have all their wealth taken from them in the market. If this is the case, we won’t observe preferences with intransitivities or other features that allow people to be Dutch-booked. However, if people are somewhat sophisticated about their intransitivities and/or if competition by arbitrageurs drives epsilon to zero, non-”standard” preferences may still be observable.
Gambling advertising is the promotion of gambling by casinos, lotteries, bookmakers or other organisations that provide the opportunity to make bets. It is usually conducted through a variety of media or through sponsorship deals, particularly with sporting events or people.
Although not as highly regulated as tobacco advertising and alcohol advertising, in many countries there are strict laws about the way in which such services can be marketed.
Gaming operators often sponsor sporting events, sportspeople or television coverage. For example, Bet365 sponsor snooker players and the Channel 4 coverage of The 2005 Ashes was sponsored by Betfair, both being online betting sites.
Boxcars is the outcome of rolling the dice in a game of craps and getting a 6 on each die. The pair of 6 pips resembles a pair of box cars on a freight train. In modern parlance, it refers to such a roll in any game involving 6 sided dice which are marked with pips. The probability of this roll is 1 in 36, or about 2.8%. One of the 4 bets on any common craps table. It is on the ‘high side’ of the horn bet in which the player can either bet on the 2,3,11, or 12. When the player throws in money and calls out “midnight” or “Boxcars”, the dealer will usually ‘book’ the bet as a bet on the 12, so as to not create confusion.Also called Midnight.
Related terminology
In some role-playing games, especially ones where a roll of 3 six-sided dice is a standard action-resolution mechanism, a roll of three “six”s is often referred to as a freight train. In roll-low systems (such as GURPS), where a roll of 18 represents a critical failure, or in In Nomine, where a roll of 6 6 6 represents infernal influence on events, it is referred to as a “Freight Train from Hell.”
Video: Craps (Craps (previously known as crabs) is a casino dice game. Craps is a simplification of the Old English game hazard. The game involves predicting what numbers will be rolled on a pair of dice. The objective is to bet whether the Shooter will roll a winning combination. The Shooter is a person who throws the dice. The first roll of the dice in a craps round is called the “come out roll”. The opening bet in craps, which is placed just before the come out roll, is called the “pass line bet.” Pass line bets win if the shooter’s come out roll is 7 or 11, and lose when the come out roll is 2 (snake eyes), 3 (cross eyes), or 12 (box cars). If 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 are rolled on the come out roll then that number becomes “the point”. Once the point has been established a plastic disc (the puck) is placed on the table over the box for the number rolled as the point is “4, 5, six, 8, nine, or 10″. )
An Asian Handicap is a sports betting term used to describe spread betting in football (soccer). Described as Asian because of its Eastern origins, the phrase has little else to do with the region. This form of soccer betting has gained increased popularity over the last few years and is now offered by a variety of mainstream bookmakers.Football bets can be made using a few different formats. From a gambler’s standpoint, Asian handicap odds provide many benefits. For starters, the Asian handicap system eliminates any chance for loss due to a tie, which increases the gamblers chances of success. Secondly, bookmakers typically charge less Vigorish than with other bets.
Description
Soccer is one of the few sports in the world where a tie is a fairly common outcome. With traditional fixed odds, ties are treated as an additional outcome to the game. In other words, bettors lose when they place a wager on either team to win and the game ties. With Asian Handicaps, however, the chance for a tie is eliminated by use of a handicap that forces a winner. This creates a situation where each team has a 50-50 chance of winning; similar to the odds for a basketball or baseball game where a tie is impossible.
This system works in a straight-forward manner. The bookmakers’s goal is to create a handicap or “line” that will make the chance of either team winning (considering the handicap) as close to 50% as possible. Since the odds are as close to 50% as possible, bookmakers offer payouts close to even money, or 1.90 to 2.00. Asian Handicaps start at a quarter goal and can go as high as 2.5 or 3 goals in matches with a huge disparity in ability. What makes Asian Handicaps most interesting is the use of quarter goals to get the “line” as close as possible. Taken in conjunction with the posted total for the game, the handicap essentially predicts the game’s final score. Take a look at this example:
Example
Match: Everton vs. Newcastle United
Handicap: 0 : 1 1/2
Explained: This handicap states that Everton is “giving” Newcastle one and one half goal for the match.
This means is that Newcastle is starting the game with a 1.5-0 lead. If the final score of the game is 2-1, then a bet on Newcastle wins the with the final score (considering handicap) as 2-2.5.
Quarter Handicaps
Subsequently, many matches are handicapped in 1/2 and 1/4 intervals; both of which eliminate the possibility of a tie since no one can score a half-goal. Quarter (1/4) handicaps split the bet between the two next closest 1/4 intervals. For instance, a $1000 bet with a handicap of 1 3/4 is the same as betting $500 at 1 1/2 and $500 at 2. With 1/4 handicap bets, you can win and tie (win 1/2 of wager) or lose and tie (lose 1/2 wager).
Whole Handicaps and Ties
Handicaps that are whole numbers still allow for the possibility of a tie. Sportsbooks will refund both bets in the event of a game tied by the handicap.
Reference & Payout Charts
Asian Handicap Betting Article from DragonBets.com
The blinds is a term used to describe the two forced bets posted by players to the left of the dealer in flop-style poker games.
The blinds exist because Omaha and Texas hold ‘em are generally played without antes, allowing a player to fold his hand without placing a bet. The blind bets introduce a regular cost to partake in the game, thus inducing a player enter pots in an attempt to compensate for the expense.
Generally, the “big blind” is equal to the minimum bet, and is twice as much as the “small blind”. The small blind is posted by the player to the left of the dealer button while the big blind is posted by the player two to the left of the dealer button. After the cards are dealt, the player to the left of the big blind is the first to act during the first betting round.
Big and small is a dice game of pure luck. It is a popular gambling game in China and is still offered in some casinos in Asia, notably in Macau. A variation is the common casino game Sic bo.
Rules
The game is played with three dice. Traditionally, the dice are placed on a plate, covered with an inverted bowl and the plate and bowl are then shaken together. After gamblers place their bets, the banker uncovers the bowl, pays the winners and the game continues on to the next round. In modern casinos the dice are shaken mechanically, and the outcome is keyed into a computer which automatically lights up the winning zones on the table.
The game is called “Big and Small” because the main bets are on “high points” (big) or “low points” (small). Other bets are also offered:
Name of Bet
Winning Criterion
Dividend
Odds of Occurrence
House Advantage
Big (大)
Dice Total: 11 to 17 Player loses if “Alls”
1 to 1
48.61%
2.78%
Small (小)
Dice Total: 4 to 10 Player lose if “Alls”
1 to 1
48.61%
2.78%
All 1 (圍一)
All 1
1 to 180
0.46%
16.7%
All 2 (圍二)
All 2
1 to 180
0.46%
16.7%
All 3 (圍三)
All 3
1 to 180
0.46%
16.7%
All 4 (圍四)
All 4
1 to 180
0.46%
16.7%
All 5 (圍五)
All 5
1 to 180
0.46%
16.7%
All 6 (圍六)
All 6
1 to 180
0.46%
16.7%
Any Alls (全圍)
All x
1 to 30
2.78%
16.7%
This is a game in which no skill is required on the players’ part, and the house always has an advantage.
Jueteng (pronounced wet-teng) is an illegal numbers game played in the Philippines. Jueteng came from China and it means flower (jue) and bet (teng). Although illegal, it is a widely popular game with participation that crosses most, if not all social and economic boundaries, played by rich and poor alike. With long odds and no limits on minimum or maximum bets, the lure of quick riches through a lucrative payout is by far its strongest appeal.The game relies heavily on having a large number of wagers, and there is no limit to the amount of the bet(s). Usually the gambler selects two numbers from 1 through 37, and the winning number is determined by selecting a pair of numbers from a set of 37 numbered balls. Thus the theoretical odds of winning on any one play are one in 37C2, or 1/666. This is unlike the numbers games in the U.S. during the early part of the 20th century, where the last digit of the winning pay out or the number of the winning horse for three consecutive races determined the winning combination.
Although much has been done to curtail or eradicate this form of unregulated gambling by government and community leaders, it appears that such efforts have fallen by the wayside due to its vast popularity, and the poverty which cripples the country.
Scandals
Jueteng was brought to notoriety in 2000 during the impeachment proceedings of deposed Philippine President Joseph Estrada, who was accused of receiving illegal payoffs from gambling profits. Another political scandal erupted in June 2005 involving allegations that relatives of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo received payouts from jueteng operators.
Originally, martingale referred to a class of betting strategies popular in 18th century France. The simplest of these strategies was designed for a game in which the gambler wins his stake if a coin comes up heads and loses it if the coin comes up tails. The strategy had the gambler double his bet after every loss, so that the first win would recover all previous losses plus win a profit equal to the original stake. Since a gambler with infinite wealth is guaranteed to eventually flip heads, the martingale betting strategy was seen as a sure thing by those who practiced it. Unfortunately, none of these practitioners in fact possessed infinite wealth, and the exponential growth of the bets would quickly bankrupt those foolish enough to use the martingale after even a moderately long run of bad luck.
Analysis
Suppose that someone applies the martingale betting system at an American roulette table, with 0 and 00 values; a bet on either red or black will win 18 times out of each 38. If the player’s initial bankroll is $160 and the betting unit is $10, the player will make a win in approximately 96% of sessions, gaining an average of $4.30 from each winning session. In the remaining 4% of sessions, the player will “bust”, exhausting his bankroll, for a loss of $160. It follows then that the average session losses of a gambler employing this strategy are $2.27. Given a larger bankroll, the odds of making a win before running out of cash increase; however, the average winnings grow more slowly than the average losses, so the game remains a losing proposition.
Modern casinos generally have table minimums and maximums to prevent players from doubling their bets more than five or six times, rendering the martingale system obsolete.
Roulette is a casino and gambling game (Roulette is a French word meaning “small wheel”). A croupier turns a round roulette wheel which has 37 or 38 separately numbered pockets in which a ball must land. The main pockets are numbered from 1 to 36 and alternate between red and black, with number 1 being red. There is also a green pocket numbered 0. In most roulette wheels in the United States but not in Europe, there is a second zero compartment marked 00, also colored green.If a player bets on a single number and wins, the payout is 35 to 1. The bet itself is returned, so in total it is multiplied by 36. (In a lottery one would say ‘the prize is 36 times the cost of the ticket’, because in a lottery the cost of the ticket is not returned additionally.)
A player can bet on numbers, combinations, ranges, odds/evens, and colors.
History of Roulette
Early roulette table, ca. 1800
The first form of roulette was first devised in 17th century France, by the mathematician Blaise Pascal, who was supposedly inspired by his fascination with perpetual motion devices. In 1842, fellow Frenchmen François and Louis Blanc added the “0″ to the roulette wheel in order to increase house odds. Roulette was brought into the U.S. in the early 1800s, and again in order to increase house odds a second zero, “00″, was introduced – although in some forms of early American roulette the double-zero was replaced by an American Eagle. In the 1800s, roulette spread all over both Europe and the U.S., becoming one of the most famous and most popular casino games. Some call roulette the “King of Casino Games”, probably because it was associated with the glamour of the casinos in Monte Carlo. (François Blanc actually established the first casinos there).
A legend tells about François Blanc, who supposedly bargained with the devil to obtain the secrets of roulette. The legend is based on the fact that if you add up all the numbers on the roulette wheel (from 1 to 36), the resulting total is “666″, which is the “Number of the Beast” and represents the devil.
Types of Roulette
There are two types of roulette, American roulette and European roulette. The difference between the two types is the number of 0′s on the wheel. American roulette wheels have two “0′s”, zero and double-zero, which increases the house advantage to 5.3%. In European roulette there is only one zero, giving the house an advantage of 2.7%.
The two versions also use chips differently. American roulette uses so-called “non-value” chips, meaning that all chips belonging to the same player are of the same value determined at the time of the purchase, and the player cashes in the chips at the roulette table. European roulette uses standard casino chips of differing values as bets, which can make the game more confusing for both the croupier and the players.
A traditional European roulette table is also much larger than an American roulette table, and the croupier uses a long tool called a rake to clear out the chips and to distribute winnings. In American roulette the croupier collects and distributes chips by hand.
There is actually a third type of roulette wheel in use. It is a hybrid of the two versions described above, and is the only kind of wheel that is legal in the United Kingdom. This wheel has an American (English language) layout and a single zero. When a single-zero wheel is used in the United States, it is almost always this type.
Board depiction (American Roulette)
↔
0
-
18
st
12
←
←
odd
←
0
1
2
←
red
nd
12
3
4
5
←
6
7
8
←
blk
9
0
1
←
2
3
4
←
even
rd
12
5
6
7
←
8
9
0
←
9-
36
1
2
3
←
4
5
6
←
↑
↑
↑
Bet odds table (American Roulette)
(in addition to the mentioned payout the bet is returned)
Note also that 0 and 00 are neither odd nor even in this game.
House Edge
The house average or house edge is the amount the player loses relative to a bet, on average. If a player bets on a single number in the American game there is a probability of 1/38 that the player receives 36 times the bet (35 times the bet plus the return of the bet itself), so the player ends up, on average, losing 5.26% on each bet:
( (probability * payout) / bet ) – 1 = expected value as fraction of bet
For example, betting $10 on a single number on an American wheel:
( ((1/38) * 360) / 10 ) – 1 = -0.0526
The house has the same edge on all of the other kinds of bets, except for the five number bet where the house edge is considerably higher (7.89% on an American wheel).
The house edge should not be confused with the hold. The hold is the total amount that the house wins from a player. While the house might have an edge of 5.26%, if a player keeps playing until his or her bankroll is exhausted, the house will enjoy a hold of 100%.
Called Bets
Traditional roulette wheel sectors
There are a number of series in roulette that have special names attached to them. These are placed by betting a set amount per series (or multiples of that amount). They are based on the way in which certain numbers lie next to each other on the roulette wheel. Not all casinos offer these bets.
Voisins (“Neighbors”)
This is a name for the numbers which lie between 22 and 25 on the wheel including 22 and 25 themselves. The series is 22,18,29,7,28,12,35,3,26,0,32,15,19,4,21,2,25 (on a single zero wheel).
9 chips or multiples thereof are bet.
Tiers (“The third”)
This is the name for the numbers which lie on the opposite side of the wheel between 27 and 33 including 27 and 33 themselves. The series is 27,13,26,11,30,8,23,20,5,24,16,33 (on a single zero wheel).
6 chips or multipes thereof are bet.
Orphelins (“Orphans”)
These numbers make up the two slices of the wheel outside the Tiers and Voisins. They contain a total of eight numbers, the Orphans comprising 17,34,6 and the Orphelins being 1,20,14,31,9.
A betting exchange is a p2p gambling website acting as a broker between parties for the placement of bets. The concept is similar to that of a stock exchange or a futures exchange, where in this case the commodity being traded is a bet, rather than a stock or futures contract. Most betting on a betting exchange is a form of fixed odds gambling.
History
The concept was first brought to the public by the UK website Flutter.com in May 2000 in person-to-person betting form, followed closely by UK-based Betfair in June 2000. Betfair embraced a pure exchange model – one Flutter later adopted and even improved upon in places – but first-mover advantage proved decisive for Betfair. Though Flutter managed to climb to a reported 30% market share, Flutter’s backers were content to broker a merger which left Betfair the dominant partner by a reported ratio of 84:16. Post merger, Flutter’s customers were transferred to Betfair’s system, which was later upgraded to embrace some of Flutter’s functionality. Betfair went from strength to strength and controls a reported 90% of global exchange activity today. In late 2004, Betfair announced a rescue package which resulted in it absorbing the customers of Sporting Options, which had gone into administration with debts in excess of £5 million.
As with other types of exchanges, betting exchanges thrive on liquidity and customers tend to focus on the exchange where they are confident their bet can be paired up with a matching counterbet. Breaking with British tradition, Betfair uses decimal odds instead of fractional (traditional) odds because they are more popular globally. Some of its competitors allow customers to use fractional odds if they prefer.
Exchanges make their money by charging a commission which is calculated as a percentage of net winnings for each customer on each event, or market. Gamblers whose betting activities have traditionally been restricted by bookmakers (normally for winning too much money) have found these sites a boon since they are now able to place bets of a size unrestricted by the exchange – the only restriction is that one or more opposing customers need to be willing match their bets. Moreover, the odds available on a betting exchange are usually better than those offered by bookmakers in spite of the commission charged.
Exchanges have their limitations. Exchanges are not suited to unrestricted multiple parlay betting. Betfair does offer accumulators of their own content management construction, but these are limited in number. Users cannot determine the outcomes contained in accumulators themselves. Exchanges also tend to restrict the odds that can be offered to between 1.01 (1/100) and 1000 (999/1).
Unsurprisingly, Betfair’s success has attracted a number of rivals.
“Laying” an outcome
Exchanges also offer the opportunity to lay outcomes, which is to bet that a particular participant in an event will lose. This is the position bookmakers take when offering a bet for somebody to back that the participant will win.
For example, if someone thinks Team A will win a competition, he may wish to back that selection. A bookmaker offering the punter that bet would be laying that selection. The two parties will agree the backer’s stake and the odds. If the team loses, the layer/bookmaker keeps the backer’s stake. If the team wins, the layer will pay the backer winnings based on the odds agreed.
As every bet transacted requires a backer and a layer, and the betting exchange is not a party to the bets transacted on it, any betting exchange requires both backers and layers. Of course, the distinction is moot: A layer is always simply backing the opposite outcome. Laying the home team is the same as backing the visiting team to win or draw. Laying one horse in a race is just the same as backing all of the other horses to win.
Controversy
The fact gamblers can now lay outcomes on the exchanges has resulted in criticism from traditional bookmakers including the UK’s “Big Three” – Coral, Ladbrokes and William Hill. These firms argue that granting “anonymous” punters the ability to bet that an outcome will not happen is causing corruption in sports such as horse racing since it is much easier to ensure a horse will lose a race.
Exchanges counter that, while corruption is possible on any gambling platform, the bookies’ arguments are motivated not by concern for the integrity of sport but by commercial interests. Exchanges also assert they are well aware of who their customers are and some have signed agreements with governing bodies of sport including the Jockey Club, with whom they insist they will co-operate with fully if the latter suspects corruption to have taken place. In the summer of 2004, Betfair provided data to investigators, including the City of London Police which on September 1 lead to 16 arrests on charges related to race fixing. Among those arrested was champion jockey Kieren Fallon, whose case remains before the courts.
A bookmaker, bookie or turf accountant, is an organisation or a person that takes bets and may pay winnings depending upon results and, depending on the nature of the bet, the odds. Bookmaking may be legal or illegal, and may be regulated; in the United Kingdom it was at times both regulated and illegal, in that licences were required but no debts arising from gambling could be enforced through the courts. Bookmaking is generally illegal in the United States, with Nevada being a notable exception.
In some countries, such as Singapore and Canada, the only legal bookmaker is state-owned and operated. In Canada, this is part of the lottery program and is known as Sport Select.
Most bookmakers in the USA bet on college and professional sports, though in the UK they offer a wider range of bets, notably on political elections. The probability that it will snow on Christmas day is another common event for betting in the UK.
By adjusting the odds in his favour or by having a point spread, the bookmaker will aim to guarantee a profit by achieving a ‘balanced book’, either by getting an equal number of bets for each outcome, or (when he is offering odds) by getting the amounts wagered on each outcome to reflect the odds. When a large bet comes in, a bookmaker can also try to lay off the risk by buying bets from other bookmakers. The bookmaker does not generally attempt to make money from the bets themselves, but rather profiting from the event regardless of the outcome.
Traditionally, bookmakers have been located at the racecourse, but improved TV coverage and laxer laws have allowed betting in shops and casinos in most countries. In the UK, bookies still chalk up the odds on boards beside the race course and use tic-tac to signal the odds between their staff and to other bookies.
In 1961, Harold Macmillan’s Conservative Government legalized betting shops and tough measures were enacted to ensure that bookmakers remained honest. A large and respectable industry has grown since. At one time there were over 15,000 betting shops in the U.K. Now, through consolidation, they have been reduced to about 8,500. Currently there are four major bookmakers in the United Kingdom: William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral, and state-owned ToteSport.
Increasingly, gamblers are turning to the use of betting exchanges which automatically match Back and Lay bets between different bettors, thus effectively cutting out the bookmaker’s traditional profit margin. Some bookmakers have even taken to using betting exchanges as a way of laying off unfavourable bets and thus reducing their overall exposure.
Sometimes, savvy individuals set up an illegal book in an attempt to make money – a scene often seen in films, sitcoms and so on. One of the most infamous real-life illegal bookmakers was Robert Angleton of Houston, Texas. Not only was he a bookie, but he also was a police informant about his smaller rivals. When they were shuttered, he took their business. His bookmaking scheme ended with the death of his wife, Doris Angleton.
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The rules vary slightly from one casino to another, but the expected value of several bets is only slightly negative (the most favorable bets with the most favorable rules offer a house advantage of as little as 0.18%). All bets have a negative expectation except for the “free odds” bet that the player is allowed to make after a point is established on a flat (line) bet (this bet has a long-term expected value of 0). However, the “free odds” bet cannot be made independently, so the expected value of the entire bet, including odds, is still negative. Since there is no correlation between die rolls, there is no possible long-term winning strategy. While experienced blackjack players who learn to count cards can gain a small mathematical advantage over extended playing sessions by diligent study, there is no comparable strategy for craps.
Early roulette table, ca. 1800
Traditional roulette wheel sectors
