SportsInsights.com Article -- Betting The NHL on Sports Betting Exchanges (Oct 2007)

The National Hockey League has just started a new season.  Previously, SportsInsights reviewed sports betting exchanges and had good things to say in this article.  Here, we give an update on sports betting exchanges and zero in on how exchanges can help you in the NHL.  The information on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only.  Use of this information in violation of any federal, state, or local laws is prohibited.

Sports Betting Exchanges

For moneyline sports such as hockey and baseball, most sports bettors are happy to have "dimelines" -- where the bid-ask spreads are 10 points apart (for example, -130 for the favorite, +120 for the underdog).  Some low-vig books offer 8 point bid-ask spreads (-130/+122).  The great thing about a good exchange is that the bid-ask spreads sometimes become 1 points apart (-130/+129)!  One thing to remember, however, is that some of these exchanges charge separate commission ranging from 1%-2%.  

Nevertheless, a spread of 1 or 2 pts PLUS a commission of 1% or 2% still beats a dimeline -- and even low-vig books!  

National Hockey League

With the NHL Season opening -- we took a peak at how our favorite Sports Betting Exchange, Matchbook, performed in terms of liquidity.  At the end of last season, SportsInsights' staff noticed that the best odds often seemed to be at the exchanges.  Matchbook currently is one of the leaders in the exchanges and NHL liquidity and odds remains tight -- which is great for the sports investor.  For the opening night in the NHL, as game times approached, the bid-ask spreads for Matchbook were mostly in the 1-2 point range.   

Value and Liquidity

Again, please take a look at our article on Sports Betting Exchanges for more information.  Here, we highlight one of the sections from that article.  We cannot stress enough the importance of value, liquidity and "line shopping."

Betting exchanges look like they will be "the wave of the future."  Why pay -110 vig when you can deal with a fellow sports bettor and get -103, +100, perhaps even +105??!!  As sports bettors become more informed shoppers, an increasing number of players will migrate to the exchanges.  This will lead to increased liquidity, improved pricing for players -- and a self-fulfilling cycle of increased business for the exchanges (even better pricing for bettors, and so on).  We believe that the movement to sports exchanges will snowball.

One important point to note is that you can use sports exchanges in a variety of ways.  Some players will shop the lines offered (called "offers") on the exchanges and then "buy up an offer."  If the pricing isn't great, the player might just use their regular sportsbook.  Other players will put out bids and try to see if other players will accept their offer.  In either case, it's a great way to shop around for the best price. 

Matchbook

Matchbook is one of the largest and best sports exchanges and is now positioned to be one of the largest players in the entire industry.  Indeed, it appears that the bid-ask spreads at Matchbook have tightened tremendously (as in HUGE value for Matchbook members).  

• Commissions are 2% on winning plays.  Thus, odds of -103 are roughly equivalent to -105.
• Good liquidity and good lines. 
• For an average sports investor, if you price your plays around, Matchbook will get a large percentage of your plays.
• Does not offer Totals on many College Hoops games.
• Particularly good, tight, spreads for NHL plays.
• When there are many games in a sport, the website layout is not particularly efficient.  There are multiple pages so that you have to click to the correct page to find your game.

Disclaimer
We do not guarantee that the trends and biases we’ve found will continue to exist. It is impossible to predict the future. Any serious academic research in the field of “market efficiencies” recognizes that inefficiencies may disappear over time. Once inefficiencies are discovered, it is only a matter of time before the market corrects itself. We do not guarantee our data is error-free. However, we’ve tried our best to make sure every score and percentage is correct.