so i was flpping through the paper today and i noticed that the line on the bulls / bucks game was 5 1/2. i also noticed that the bucks were sans mo williams, redd, bobby simmons, and chuck villanuava. i also noticed that the bulls had just blown out the spurs and probably were ready to string some wins together.

so i figured the spread should be more like 10, and that the bulls would likelier win by 20 than by only 5, and i put some money down.

turns out, i won, but only due to a huge 4th by the bulls.

so is sports gambling, especially pro basketball, legit? also, if enough people are interested, maybe we could form some sort of 'heads up' thread where if anyone thinks they spotted a good bet, like i would have mentioned this game, as an example.

diddy

quit now and never do it again, you have the game beat. and yes it is fixed, it is just a matter of what side of the fix you are on. impossible to win unless you get inside info or info before the bookies can adjust the line.

i would be all for forming that heads up thread, I think that is a great idea.

I try my luck with the thing on the website. I would never bet real money.

the thing about sports gambling is How Can You Make Money? I have tried starting with 200 in my account and bet 20 on 10 games. I have bet 200 hundred on a single game. I have tried making 3 team parlays. It is very difficult to win because once you start betting you want to be in action all the time. I was betting every night on every game, hell I even bet the WNBA. I remember my dad coming into to my room and asking why i was yelling and then he saw i was watching the wnba and was wondering why i was cheering that game as if it were a piston playoff game. My latest blowup was the U fo M game against USC, I bet everything I had in my account on U of M.

Diddy I am curious as to what website you are using. I use www.thegreek.com

there is a sure fire system of sports wagering with absolutely zero chance of losing money. i swear by it:

*cough*link (http://www.wtfdetroit.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=76)*cough*

;)

shamelessplugcarryon.

i use sportsbook.com.
but as far as i can remember, i've made three bets before tonight... i bet 50 on yugoslavia winning gold in the olympics (when yargs talked me out of taking argentina, the winner, at 6-1 in favor of darko at 10-1), i had 50 of UM beating buckeyes streight up this year ( i was getting 3-1 odds i believe), and then some other bet that i also lost. tonight was my first win on the site, but i have friends who use it all the time and im not worried at all about collecting. but right now i think i might parlay, or atleast keep my winnings in there. i've considered doing what you did, and spread around low bets. but im thinking maybe keep it to just a game or two a week would be fun, and stop when its gone.

i put a small bet on the lakers getting 9.5 tonight.

i liked it too diddy, dah well

Before you play with real money, just see how you do on the vbookie here. If you generally make some alpacas then go for it, but if you lose like most of us then you shouldnt make a habit of it. Also I know one guy was raised in poverty after the age of 5 because of his dads gambling habit which lost the house and then some, and sadly watched him do the same thing with hold 'em when he got to be 30 or so. He thought hold 'em was "different" but ended up in the same situation.

You know it's good that you guys actually care about people because I know what a small bet can turn in to. I have lost 10's of thousands of dollars gambling in my life and I am probably considered a gambling addict. I have never bet so much money that I have hurt my family or my financial situation but I have lied about my gambling. I just hate how negatively people look at gambling like I have some sort of problem that they can not relate to, EVERYONE HAS SOME SORT OF PROBLEM. I dont smoke weed, I dont drink so what if my vice is gambling, but at the same time it is very expensive and is contagious.

Unless you count the stock market as gambling, I don't gamble online. For the most part, I like to bet on things I feel like I have -some- control over, where it isn't totally luck. Gambling big on sports might as well be playing a slot machine, which holds no interest. The closest I get to "random" gambling is buying a $1 MegaMillions ticket once every other gas refill, and maybe a charity raffle once in a blue moon.

I'll gamble in somewhere like Las Vegas (especially the Hard Rock Casino), which appeals to me more than the local casinos. But, I have a hard daily cap on how much I'll gamble set aside in advance of the trip, usually about $100/day playing blackjack or (usually video) poker. Either I crank it to $200+ or it goes down to $0. Once I double it or lose it, it's over for the day, even if it happens before breakfast. There's no sense in pushing my luck.

I started gambling on the NBA back in 1995 on a site called intertops.com (not even sure it's still around).

I deposited $300 and made that last for about two years. I think the highest balance I ever got was about $650.

Once that $300 dried up, I never reloaded and haven't even thought about it twice since. Too many responsibilities in real life to worry about feeling guilty because I lost $50 last night that could have bought some books or educational toys for my kids.

It's fun if you are in college or have no other major responsibilities, though.

The vBookie thing on here has been a nice way to get some of those competitive juices going again. Which is really what gambling is IMO, a substitute for competitive sport.

That's a big reason why ubercompetitors like MJ and Barkley are in deep (in addition to having way more money than anybody really needs).

Yeah, I have never gambled on sports (aside from friendly wagers with buddies). I play poker with friends once and a while for 20 bucks or so and that's about it. I really hate resting any hopes on luck. I hate playing luck games (war, yatzee, whatever). There has to be an element of control for me to like it at all (like Poker, which is still largely luck). I like the sportsbook stuff we have on here because I suck at betting. That's a dangerous road to go down. The reason why gambling exists is because the people running it are profiting off you in the end.

Yeah, I have never gambled on sports (aside from friendly wagers with buddies). I play poker with friends once and a while for 20 bucks or so and that's about it. I really hate resting any hopes on luck. I hate playing luck games (war, yatzee, whatever). There has to be an element of control for me to like it at all (like Poker, which is still largely luck). I like the sportsbook stuff we have on here because I suck at betting. That's a dangerous road to go down. The reason why gambling exists is because the people running it are profiting off you in the end.

I'm also like Chris.

I make bets with close friends such as Brandon Roy for rookie of the year while my friend might say Morrison Rookie of the year.

Poker is big as gambling gets for me, and those with buy ins of less than 50 bucks

NBA is the toughest bet in Vegas. Too many FTs to end close games and scrubs allowed to shoot 3s at the end of games. I had a 5 team parlay broken up 2 years ago by Matt Bonner turning an 18 point lead into a 9 point lead with 3 3s in the last 2 minutes to bust my 11.5 points spread.

I like the Heat -2.5 at the sixers tonight.

I like the Heat -2.5 at the sixers tonight.

Sixers win by 3. Don't waste your money gambling because you'll never win.

I like the Heat -2.5 at the sixers tonight.
LMAO

im putting money on the over in the saints game tomorrow (43 is the over/under, i believe), unless there is 2 feet of snow on the ground.