Mr. Bowling returns for Risen Star Stakes

Horseracing Betting Lines

02/19/2012 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lecomte Stakes winner Mr. Bowling heads a field of 11 three-year-olds for Saturday's $300,000 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course. The 1 1/6-mile race is a prelude to the $1 million Louisiana Derby on Sunday, April 1.

Mr. Bowling, trained by Larry Jones, will start from post three in the Risen Star with Robby Albarado again in the saddle. Owned by Brereton Jones, Mr. Bowling has earnings of $201,048 with three wins in five career starts.

Z Dager, second in the Lecomte, will break from post four with Shane Sellers riding. Trained by Steve Asmussen for Zayat Stables, Z Dager will go after his second career victory on Saturday.

Shared Property, who was third in the Lecomte, is also entered and will start from post 10 with Leandro Goncalves riding. The gelding is owned by Jerry Namy and trained by Tom Amoss. He won the Arlington-Washington Futurity last year at Arlington Park and was sixth in the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland in October. Shared Property has earnings of $89,300.

Here is the full field in post position order: Afford, Shaun Bridgmohan; Optimizer, Carlos Marquez Jr.; Mr. Bowling, Robby Albarado; Z Dager, Shane Sellers; Ted's Folly, Ramsey Zimmerman; Adena's Chance, Richard Eramia' Hero of Order, James Graham; El Padrino, Javier Castellano; Mark Valeski, Rosie Napravnik, Shared Property, Leandro Goncalves and Tizanexpense, Miguel Mena.

Post-time for the Risen Star Stakes will be 6 p.m. (et).

Nflventure Horseracing Betting News

<< Rivers, Curry lead Duke over Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Duke's starting backcourt of Austin Rivers and Seth Curry combined to score 34 points as No. 5 Duke routed Boston College, 75-50. Curry netted 18 while Rivers scored 16 to go with seven rebounds f

<< Raonic defends title in San Jose
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milos Raonic successfully defended his 2011 SAP Open title with a straight-set win over Denis Istomin in Sunday's finale. The third-seeded Canadian fired seven aces and never offered a break oppor

<< Yankees-Pirates finalize Burnett trade
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees have officially traded right-handed pitcher A.J. Burnett to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a pair of minor leaguers -- relief pitcher Diego Moreno and outfielder Exicardo Cayones. The

<< Drill masters San Vicente Stakes
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drill, ridden by Martin Garcia, held off American Act to win Sunday's $150,000 San Vicente Stakes for three-year-olds at Santa Anita Park. The colt covered the seven-furlongs in 1:21.28 on a fast track.

<< Haas wins thriller at Riviera
Pacific Palisades, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bill Haas holed an unlikely 43-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to defeat Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley and win the Northern Trust Open. After a pair of incredible birdie putts from Mic

Larsson advances in Memphis >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seventh-seeded Swede Johanna Larsson needed two hours, 14 minutes, but she escaped her opening-round match at the $220,000 Memphis International tennis event on Sunday. Larsson outlasted qualifier Irena

Iowa upsets No. 18 Indiana >>
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Gatens scored a career-high 30 points, including 7-of-10 from long range, as Iowa knocked off No. 18 Indiana 78-66 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday. Melsahn Basabe scored 13 points, pulled down s

Brodeur lifts Devils over Habs >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Brodeur made 21 saves as the New Jersey Devils downed the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, on Sunday. Zach Parise, David Clarkson and Matt Taormina each lit the lamp for the Devils, who won their third

Pistons knock off Celtics >>
Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Monroe led five Pistons in double figures with 17 points to go with 10 rebounds, leading Detroit past the Boston Celtics for the second time in five days, 96-81, at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Irving leads Cavs over Kings >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyrie Irving dropped one foul shot through the basket, then two. Nothing unusual there, except, with four tenths of a second to play, the first tied the game and the second won it. Irving scored 23 po

Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.