Off Shore Gaming Association

Another weekend of football approaches and the New England Patriots are giving another ‘victim’ 20+ points. This week it is the Baltimore Ravens who are currently a 20 point underdog…..at home. This is the first time that any bookmaker we had spoken to has seen a 20 plus pointspread in pro football from a team two weeks in a row.

We got the question this week in email, on the phone, at the lunch cart, the water cooler, you name it…….we got the question; “So the bookmakers must have made a killing with the Eagles playing so well”, or “How ‘Bout Those Eagles! I bet the books made a ton of money on that game.” We did not necessarily agree, so early in the week, we took an informal poll amongst a handful of offshore operators.

This game actually evened out for most off the operators. Once it got to 24 there was good amount of action on the Eagles. The positive plays for the sportsbooks were ANY teaser or parlay that had the Patriots in the play.

Example - One play that had been killing books all season was teasing the Patriots. For the Eagles match up, the play was to bet early and put the Pats -12 in a 10 point teaser. Ouch! In addition, there were a large amount of players, a number which grew in the last few weeks, who put the Patriots were into parlays to cash the extra payout on a 2 or three teamer. Again, the public got smoked here.

So the books made a ton then? Not so fast . . . the total still went over 51+ points. This was the true equalizer. Every book we spoke to needed the Under in a big way. Though some books still made money on the Eagles, a final total score of under 51 points would have made the day a HUGE success for the sportsbooks.

Early indications are that the majority of the bets are again on the Patriots – giving away 20 – down from 20.5 at Bookmaker and The Greek and down from an opening 21 at several Las Vegas sportsbooks. We hope that gamblers out there look at last week and history in general with these big point spreads. The last six times the point spread has been over 20 points in the NFL the underdog has covered 5 times. In addition, the public has already bet the total down to 49 from 51.5.

Did the public sour on the Patriots after just one game to fade the Patriots and the over? Don’t forget, over the total was the downfall of the books last week……

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Here it is Wednesday and there are still several sportsbooks that have no line on this weekends’ Sunday Night match
up where the Philadelphia Eagles travel to Gillette Stadium to play the New England Patriots.

We had put a poll out on Monday, when no offshore books had a line up yet. We asked OSGA visitors should the line be 15, 16.5, 18 or over 25. The majority of respondents took 18 or less points. Late on Tuesday, several offshore books opened the line at 22. Meanwhile Vegas opened the line at either 20 or 20.5 and these shops are now booking bets at 23 or 23.5.

Is this where the line is going? Should players who like New England immediately find a book that is offering 22?

A bookmaker in Costa Rica told us that they feel they could put any number out there and the public would still bet the Patriots. But, he also felt that waiting until tomorrow may be the best thing for his shop. He was waiting for the Eagles to update McNabb’s status adding that even when the games get posted late, they are posted on Thursday. His outfit may also take advantage of the enormous amount of traffic generated over the Thanksgiving weekend to get some additional volume on the game. Believe
it or not, it is much easier to move a line when there is high volume and most of the shaper shops these days all write a large amount of tickets, especially on the Sunday night game.

We were told, “Either way, we are going to be Super Loaded on this game. It will most likely be the largest decision we have this week.”

In looking across the board at who has the Patriots game active, one could start by making a list starting with the most sharp books (Pinnacle, CRIS, theGreek, etc) down to the most recreational (WagerWeb, BetMania, bodog, etc). Then draw a line right after the last book offering the game. You will be left with only square outs who have yet to put a line out on the Pats.

So, the larger and sharper shops have a number up already and all opened at New England -22. We were told that though McNabb is a huge part of the Eagles game, it would not have much affect on the overall line. One wise shop told us, “Look at last year, the team (Eagles) did better with Garcia in there. We would probably be holding the game if it were Brady that was questionable.”

We mentioned that two-thirds of the respondents on our poll had the line below what they were offering and asked if the opening number was too high. One old school bookmaker told us, “you would hate to be the guy that has the game listed to high and the Pats only cover by 10. But the way the public has been betting the Patriots, we are hoping to keep the decision under 6 figures.”

So if you are looking for the Patriots, eventually it will become available everywhere. But for now, check out the big dogs offshore and Vegas. They seem to be confident that the number is right, though it does appear to be on the rise……..

This leads us to the next question. How high will it go?  The Gold Sheet reports that there have been 23 games where the spread was 20 points or more. Below are some of the biggest spreads ever in the NFL. Please note that four of the five largest spreads were not covered by the favorite.

• 1976 - Steelers -24 over Bucs.
  Steelers cover, 42-0.
• 1993 - 49ers -23 over Bengals.
  49ers did not cover the 23 points but won, 21-8.
• 1975 - Raiders -22 over
  Browns.  The Raiders did not cover the closing line winning by three
  touchdowns, 38-17.
• 1977 - Cowboys -22 over Bucs. The
  Cowboys wind but do not cover, 23-7.
• 1987 - 49ers -23 over Falcons
  (strike game). Strike season does not count in our records keeping,  but
  the Niners did not cover winning, 25-17.

This is the largest spread since many of the offshore operators and lines makers began in the industry. Many have never seen lines as big as they are in general this year. One operator did note to us that this is the first time he has seen a team favored by more than two touchdowns three weeks in a row.

Perhaps, if you are a trend player, this is the week where the Pats ‘only’ win by two touchdowns.

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Ever since BETonSPORTS PLC had their most recent trial date pushed back to June 2008, we have been diligently attempting to get players’ questions answered.

A third party was being employed to finalize the liquidation of the company and disperse assets to players and creditors alike. The company is Vantis, plc and can be found on the web at http://www.vantisplc.com. Today, they gave us a Press Release that will be distributed to all of the major news outlets later this week. View the orginal Press Release here.

Vantis is located in England with over a dozen offices. The St. Albans branch in Alderney in the Channel Islands appears to be spearheading the BETonSPORTS liquidation. So hopefully, this will go the way of NeTeller and depositors will now finally get something.

BETonSPORTS players please note that there are no longer any BETonSPORTS employees. Their toll free number no longer is answered and the same goes for their customer service email.

We have opened a dialogue with Vantis and did get several answers from them.

1) Will Vantis contact players or should players contact Vantis?

We will be contacting player-creditors shortly, hopefully over the next few weeks once the company records have been properly collated.

2) What method of contact will be used?

We will be contacting players by email.

3) What should payers do next?

The players should do nothing further.

We do not yet know what will happen to depositors who have no email address or have changed/deleted their email address. We also have no timetable for when players can expect to receive any payments. Please check back in the coming days as we continue to keep on top of this story.

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