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Message: [QUOTE="visitingcock, post: 4421611, member: 6872"] as [USER=10677]@Skeets[/USER] and [USER=4]@HuskyNan[/USER] pointed out, bookies are not experts who analyze teams and choose who they think is gonna win a game - in any sport - even ones they might follow like NFL. They make book on hundreds of different sports some of which they no absolutely nothing about. There is no team of experts about anything except money. The point spread is initaiily set at a number that they believe will encourage people on both sides to bet the max. Their goal is to get as much money bet on the games as possible - not to pick a winner. They get 10% of the top of all money that is bet. However, they don't want all the dollars bet on either side. If the betting is one sided and that team wins, the bookie has to go in his pocket to pay off the winners. Ideally, both teams in the competition have the same amount of money backing them. That way all the money from the losers will be used to pay the winners and the bookie merely takes his 10% . When they see most money being bet heavily on one side, they adjust the spread to encourage betting on the other side. They are not changing their opinion, the are merely attempting to cover the risk of loss. As skeets indicated, it is the betting public that decides the spread. "Credit the gamblers" - not Vegas. [/QUOTE]