We have our sportsbook account set-up, we’ve covered bankroll management, and we know how to read odds. Now, we’re going to learn the importance of finding the best odds available. This is better known as line shopping, and we’ll go over why it’s so valuable for sports betting as well as my favorite resources to help with the process.
The Basics
Although line shopping may sound like an advanced term, it is an easy concept to grasp. As much as I wish I had minions to do this (big syndicates certainly do), it’s not a difficult task. Line shopping is simply searching for the best odds among different sportsbooks before placing your wager. The best way to explain this is with an example.
Let’s say you want to bet the spread on the Blazers vs. Wizards game tonight. Washington is the favorite and listed as 5.5-point favorites at most sportsbooks. However, one book has the Wizards favored by just 5 points. If you like the Wizards winning by six or more, you want to have access to the sportsbook with the Wizards at -5. However, if you like the Blazers to win or lose by less than 6, than you would want to bet with the sportsbook that has San Antonio at +5.5.
Obviously, you should do this with other kinds of bets including Totals and Money Line bets as well. If you want to bet the Over on a game, you will try to find the lowest total listed – and the opposite for an Under bet. The same can be said for Money Lines. Betting these are most common for baseball and hockey, and are commonly referenced in dollars and cents. For example, a two-dollar favorite has a -200 Money Line, while an underdog moving from +150 to +140 is said to have moved ten cents. This ten-cent difference probably seems insignificant, especially if you’re betting small amounts ($10 wins $14 instead of $15), but that is a 6.7% difference! Line shopping for Money Line wagers is just as important, and can easily be the difference between a profitable and losing bettor in the long run.
Sports Insights has also done research on the value of line shopping. Their findings indicate that continually getting an extra 0.5 to 1.0 point every time you bet will increase your win percentage by 1-3%. How many times can you remember losing a bet by a half point? Well, over time that can be the difference between a winning and losing season, and is why I strive to always get the best line. When you combine getting the best lines available with beating the closing line on a consistent basis, your edge will grow immensely and likely turn you into a successful sports bettor.
Multiple Sportsbooks
So now that we understand what line shopping is, how do we do it? First off, you need to have access to multiple sportsbooks. For the large majority of you, that means having accounts with several online books. My most important advice in this regard is to vet each sportsbook before joining. I can write a whole article about this process alone, but in general read reviews, ask for recommendations, and most importantly, read the fine print.
Another key item to consider when choosing a sportsbook is whether they cater to professionals or not. Books like Pinnacle and CRIS are considered very sharp because they welcome large bettors, and thus have more efficient lines. Conversely, sites like Bovada are much more geared towards average Joes that want to bet $10-100 on a game for entertainment. This can cause notable differences in odds, especially for highly bet games like Ohio State/Michigan and Alabama/Auburn.
It may not seem like it, but there are advantages to using both kinds of books if you’re not worried about bet limits. The average bettor would rather bet favorites and overs, while professionals (i.e. sharps) invest in underdogs and unders more frequently. Knowing this, you can typically get better odds on underdogs at public books like Bovada (since they will have more money on the favorite), while lines for favorites are typically more attractive at the sharper books like Pinnacle.
It’s actually happening as I write this. Below is an odds screen showing a few college football match-ups the day of writing. Check out the game at the bottom, which will be one of the most bet games of the day - Ohio State vs. Michigan. The Buckeyes are currently 13.5-point favorites at Bovada, and just 12.5-point favorites at Pinnacle and even lower at CRIS (12 points). From this, it’s safe to assume the sharp money is on the Wolverines while the public loves the Buckeyes at the moment.
This is a perfect example for showing how and why lines can vary among sportsbooks. This doesn’t happen every time, but it’s certainly worth considering. There are plenty of other factors I could go over, but the main point is you need multiple options at your disposal if you are going to shop for the best odds available.
Betting Tools
Constantly searching your sportsbook accounts for the best odds sounds pretty damn tedious, right? Luckily, we have plenty of smart people in this industry that have developed some great tools to help us out. Here are my favorites, and they’re all free!
Sports Insights
Sports Insights has a great odds screen to help you compare betting lines at all the major online sportsbooks, which I use daily. If you are able to check it routinely, this will be a huge help for not only finding the best lines but also to see which way lines might move in the future. If you cannot invest the time to do this, you can subscribe to their Sportsbook Insider tool. You will receive notifications for line moves, where the sharp money is going, injury updates, and more. I haven’t personally used it since I can do this on my own, but I’ve heard good things about it.
Another nice feature for their free odds screen is the betting percentage data they show on the left side of the table. It’s important to remember that these percentage simply represent the percentage of overall bets, regardless of size. If you subscribe to Sportsbook Insider, you can also see the money percentages – which is more valuable to know. However, if you watch line movement enough you can typically pick out when sharp money is on a certain side.
They also have a sleek app that I love. This was not always the case, but they (FINALLY) gave their app a facelift a few months ago. I highly recommend it as you can look up odds, set alerts for when a line drops to a desired price, receive score updates, and much more.
Sports Action App
Another great app that is a must have. Sports Action and Sports Insights are actually owned by the same company as of October 2017 (along with FantasyLabs), and is the best overall app for sports bettors. It has similar features as Sports Insights, but also allows you to track you bets. You can even edit your stake amount and the odds you bet at. There are also premium features that allow you to receive alerts for line movements hitting set thresholds, middles, and hedge opportunities. With that said, you can also set general alerts for any line movements and when odds open (including second halfs). All in all, it’s an incredible app for line shopping and in general.
Sportsbook Review
This site is great for exactly what it’s named for – reviews of sportsbooks! They have in-depth write-ups and grades for just about every online book, and for the most part does a good job separating the best from the rest. Additionally, an under-rated feature of their site is their own odds screen, which is why I’m mentioning this here. I mentioned the benefits of Sports Insights’ version, but I actually prefer SBR’s for three main reasons. First, it is customizable. In Sports Insights, you are stuck viewing the books they list (for their free version, which I’m referencing). SBR allows you to customize the order, which is perfect for sorting the books you have accounts at to line shop! The odds screen I used as an example above was from Sportsbook Review.
Another added benefit is that you can view lines by half and quarter. As someone that has a first half NBA model, this is vital for me. You can simply adjust by half or quarter with the dropdown menu at the top. They also have many more sport and league options compared to Sports Insights. Lastly, the overall design is much cleaner in my opinion. The color scheme is easier to browse through, sorting by time or rotation number works better, and simply has a cleaner look.
Wrap-Up
So there you have it. Although I would consider this topic a step above the basics, this is definitely something you need to understand once you begin betting regularly. If you have any questions about line shopping or sports betting in general, feel free to send me a message!
Lastly, if you want to start making money betting on sports, you can subscribe to my MVP service here! I offer the best guarantee in the industry so you have nothing to lose! I strive to offer the best sports picks on the web, and do my best to make you a better
Best of luck,
Stephen