BYU beat the spread!

To anyone smart enough to put a little money on the game in Vegas you should be pretty happy. BYU ended up beating the spread.

Rule #1 of sports gambling is never bet on the teams you love/hate.

So how exactly would that work? If I put $100 on BYU how much would I have gotten back?

CAFB_04-12 wrote:
So how exactly would that work? If I put $100 on BYU how much would I have gotten back?

I've never gambled on sports in my life, so I have no idea how it works. Anyone care to enlighten us?

I think you doubled your money.

You probably would have won $115 if you bet $100.

SpiffCoug wrote:
You probably would have won $115 if you bet $100.

And if BYU didn't beat the spread?

declocoug wrote:

You probably would have won $115 if you bet $100.

And if BYU didn't beat the spread?

You would have lost $100

Correct me if I'm wrong, but USC's last second TD allowed the to cover the spread as well.

SpiffCoug wrote:

SpiffCoug wrote:
You probably would have won $115 if you bet $100.

And if BYU didn't beat the spread?

You would have lost $100

no deal.

scott715 wrote:
I think you doubled your money.

This is my understanding as well. The bookmaker sets the spread such that the favorite and the underdog have the same amount of bets, thus allowing the bookmaker to take from the losers to pay the winners. I assume the house makes money on the commissions.



From an economics perspective, spreads are almost like a market pricing mechanism, indicating economic actors expectation regarding sports teams. Teams that systematically beat the spread can be characterized as underrated and teams that systematically don't cover the spread are overrated.