Most bookies use the spreads and lines issued by Las Vegas but online sports books handle things differently. The Las Vegas sports betting experts are widely known as the ultimate source for lines but Internet bookies will tweak the odds a bit in a way that favors the bettor. They do this because they compete with other sports books and they want to have the best lines. It generally doesn’t add up to much but half a point here and half a point there can really impact your bankroll over the long term. They cannot beat the Vegas lines for every game so each sportsbook will usually pick one or two games to adjust the spreads on.
Online sports bettors can do very well by holding different sports book accounts to take advantage of this. By shopping for lines you can usually increase your chances of making a profit by at least 5%.
Some online sports books offer a certain kind of wager called a teaser. These innovative bets are not available everyone but the best online sports books tend to offer them. On a teaser bet you can adjust the lines by a certain number of points. This ability comes at a price though. You will have to successfully pick the outcome on several different games or matches. If you get one wrong you will lose your entire bet. On the upside the payouts are usually pretty good. They are not quite as high as a parlay bet but being able to tweak the lines gives you a power that sports bettors have always dreamed of.
The trick to finding lines with value comes from years of research or an innate ability to predict outcomes. Some bettors, myself included, rely on hunches. Others will simply bet on their local or favorite team. For many type of wager it really doesn’t matter because the lines even things out. This includes point spreads, money lines and over-under bets.
If you are going to seriously bet on sports and you do not have the time or the ability to analyze the Las Vegas or online sports book lines you can always take the easy way out. There are hundreds of sports betting picks web sites and services that will tell you who to pick. Many of these people publish their results and accuracy rating so you can take a look at the historical pick ratings to find out if you want to risk your hard earned money on their advice.
I would suggest staying away from picks provided by news web sites and their sports reporters. Even major sites like ESPN tend to be fairly inaccurate. You are much better off searching Google for a sports betting site that has been praised on sports and betting forums. Paid picks services and sports betting systems can work well when it comes to finding bad lines and spreads but you also should use caution. If a service if charging a lot of money and guaranteeing great results I would avoid it.