Re:The rising human cost of sports betting
by HWR_14 on Monday January 31, 2022 @09:39PM
(#30157955)
> Why would bookmakers ever take bets from someone they don't expect to make money from?
Well, bookmakers like to minimize their risk. So, suppose Person X is going to bet on team A, but most people have already bet on team B. The bookmaker thinks team A is far more likely to win, but he still takes the bet. Then he goes from being a gambler to having a balanced book and making a known profit regardless of who wins.
Re:The rising human cost of sports betting
by sidewndr46 on Tuesday February 01, 2022 @11:55AM
(#30165420)
But if my goal is to minimize risk and I consistently see a single person making winning bets, why would I take that bet? It's just bad business.
Most sportsbooks do eventually limit the bets sizes for consistent winners. But if word gets out, all you do is ban winning bettors and take on losing bettors. No one would want to play with you, and your business suffers. So it's a balancing act.
This is why the popular sportsbooks still allow big bets for reputation's sake.
Re:The rising human cost of sports betting
by crubier on Monday January 31, 2022 @05:56PM
(#30155967)
There is actually a difference in expected outcomes at lottery if you choose different numbers. Commonly played number will be shared among all winners, so your share will be less than with rare numbers.
The less used numbers still have a negative expected value, but you are correct in that numbers 1-12 and 13-31 do have lower payouts because people commonly bet on dates like birthdays.
Re:The rising human cost of sports betting
by sidewndr46 on Monday January 31, 2022 @07:43PM
(#30157071)
The problem with this is it presupposes you have some actual chance of winning. You don't, no one splits $0.
Why would bookmakers ever take bets from someone they don't expect to make money from?