If you find yourself looking at odds of 1.87/1.87 or -113/-113 or worse on the bulk of NFL, NHL, NBA or MLB handicap markets and you want to get decent value, simply back away from that betting site.
Odds near 5% are bang-average in terms of reasonably competitive betting sites. If you visit a sportsbook that has been touted as having the 'best odds' and you actually see a lot of games at 1.90/1.90 or -110/-110 or lower, you know that their puffery is just that - meaningless noise. See an example of how odds margin actually relates to the odds as associated to typical 2-way handicap betting markets at right, or below if viewed from your mobile. For some sportsbooks and certain sports, you may find odds margins in the 3% to 4% range. As a rule of thumb, competitive odds margins on these markets run in the 5% region. These markets are often the most visible ways that you may bet on any given event, like the point spread, the puckline, runline, moneyline (the winner of the event) or the over/under. Since these are the high-volume betting markets, the sportsbooks can afford to integrate lower margins. In general, the lowest margins will be in use on the most popular betting markets. Odds margin at a single betting site will actually vary across the hundreds of betting markets that are available within a given sporting event. Odds margin: what constitutes good value?
