Preventing Losses

In order to achieve this he has to artificially lower the coefficient for the favourite. The bookmaker does not know in advance how the bets will be spread, but the thing he knows for sure is that the players will put the ‘load’ on the favourite; therefore, he exaggerates the favourite’s chance to win to stay on the safe side. Here two kinds of options are possible: either raise the win probability, so that it would turn out to be a greater percentage than that of the bets on the favourite, or make the win probability smaller on the contrary. Let us assume that the bookmaker has decided to place the following coefficients: Continue reading »

The Revenue Generator

Bookmakers operate with a sole purpose – to generate revenue. Actually, in spite of the common opinion, a bookmaker’s gain does not depend on the number of lost bets, but on how well the coefficients are chosen. What is meant by “well”? It means that every, even the most unexpected outcome of an event has to leave the bookmaker better off. Continue reading »

Betting For and Against

When you place a bet For the event’s outcome for the chosen participant of a tournament (a person, a team, a horse, a dog etc.), you are betting in favour of the event happening. That should remind you of placing a standard bet at a bookie’s office.

On the other hand, when you place a bet Against the outcome for the chosen participant, you need the opposite to happen in order to win. For instance, you can place a bet against Chelsea FC. In this case you are claiming that Chelsea will not win the upcoming match. In other words, your bet wins, if they lose or the match results in a draw. That is also more or less what traditional bookies do. Continue reading »