"shading lines" what does it mean?

October 17, 2005 5:57 PM

what does "shading lines" mean in terms of sportsbooks and sports betting?
posted by specialk420 to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

Best answer: Shading a line usually refers to the tendancy (or rather, the certainty) that a sports book with alter, or "shade" the betting line to reflect the popular favourite. It happens a lot with popular teams, or overwhelming favourites, especially in high-profile games. For example, the Indy game tonight will probably feature shading in the form of adding points to Indy's line, making it harder for the general public to win on a bet on Indianopolis. In the long run, this really adds up for the book, and it basicall amounts to exploit people's tendancy to bet the favourite, and especially betting on the over. So in theory, always bet on the underdog in high profile games, and always bet on the under, and you'll profit along with the house. In theory. I feel like I explained that badly, but that's the jist of it.
posted by loquax at 6:34 PM on October 17, 2005

When a book(ie) adds points to the line. This takes advantage of the squares love for the favorites.
posted by poodlemouthe at 6:34 PM on October 17, 2005

The form of this is the sucker line [self-link], where an underdog is shaded positive against a perennial favorite, leading rubes to think that they've got an even better chance of winning bank with the favorite--yet in this case the book agent has properly shaded the underdog because of better team knowledge or superior stat analysis.
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:46 PM on October 17, 2005

Response by poster: right on thanks you guys.
posted by specialk420 at 7:56 PM on October 17, 2005