The sportsbook is a business venture. The owners, managers, linesmakers and employees all want that business to be profitable so they can get paid. Nothing wrong with that - just some good old fashioned capitalism at work.

How does a sportsbook make money? One way is by volume. Because a sportsbook charges juice on a every bet, the more bets they take in, the more profitable they are likely to be. (The exception being a mismanaged sportsbook that ends up going bust - but that is not the point of this article.)

Sportsbooks Encourage Bettors to Make Bad Bets

Another way that sportsbooks make money is by getting their customers to make bets where the book has the advantage. In other words, the sportsbooks find it profitable to encourage their customers to make bad bets. While that may seem unfair at first hearing, it really isn't. If a bettor does not understand his disadvantage it is not the books fault. And let's face it - if we knew we could find an endless stream of ignorant bettors to take whatever garbage bets we were offering, our butts would be on the next flight to Costa Rica to set up a sportsbook.

Sometimes Those Bad Bet Offers Create Other Opportunities

While there are a variety of offers the book can make to disadvantage their bettors, one, at least, has a useful side effect - it produces a reciprocal bet that gives the savvy bettor an advantage. This refers to moneyline bets where the action is favoring one team. Usually this is a team with a large public following. A broad fan base that will put money on their team no matter what. Sportsbooks love those guys. They can offer poor odds on their games and still get lots of action. Action where the book has an advantage. However, as the odds on the public team worsen, the odds on their opponents improve. Frequently those odds will improve to the point that they provide an advantage to the bettor who can see it.

OSBS is all about seizing those advantaged moneyline betting opportunities when they arise.