SuperBowl Point Spread

The Super Bowl point spread between the Rams and Patriots was set as soon as the Rams won. Rams favored by sixteen points. A short time later the point spread changed to 14 points. The Las Vegas experts had spoken. But does it really mean they believe the Rams will score 14 more points than the Patriots?

Well, yes and no. The point spread determines which team bettors will choose when betting on the Super Bowl. The bookies want to maintain a 50-50 split between bettors choosing the Rams or the Patriots. Whatever the spread, one team will obviously be declared the winner at the end of the game. The point spread's starting point and movement depends on how each individual bookie is doing in splitting the betting between each team.

So the point spread is actually based on bettors perception of each team's capabilities. If few bettors think the Patriots have a chance against a high powered Rams offense, the point spread has to bet set so as to assure half of them to believe that they will win the bet if they pick the Patriots.

01/28/02 ( 1928 )
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