Question for Gary

[DenverSooner]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/auburn-bettors-sitting-pretty-1-142258328.html

This article is about a few Auburn fans that bet Auburn to win the NC at 1000 to 1.

The best money line I saw was Auburn -255. Would you take some of that to assure yourself a big win? I didn't mess with the math but it seems to me there is a set amount you could wager to maximize the guaranteed payout regardless of the result of the game.

 

[garyeb2]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/auburn-bettors-sitting-pretty-1-142258328.html

This article is about a few Auburn fans that bet Auburn to win the NC at 1000 to 1.

The best money line I saw was Auburn -255. Would you take some of that to assure yourself a big win? I didn't mess with the math but it seems to me there is a set amount you could wager to maximize the guaranteed payout regardless of the result of the game.

Of course, gambling is a risky business. If one has a chance to take a for sure profit, you take it. A real life example would be an observation from my misspent youth.

Years ago I used to make an occasional visit to the rooster fights in SW Oklahoma. The format for example might be that each of the handlers would have maybe 10 roosters. There would be an entry fee of let's say $200 per handler. Mayby 100 entries for a prize pool of $20,000. There would be a random draw matching each of the handler's 10 roosters against an opponent. The handler that won the most fights got the money.

When they got down to the last fight that determined the winner of the "derby," the handler's of the two rooster would bet someone in the crowd an amount of money of say for example $1000 AGAINST themselves.

If the handler won the determining match, they would get the $20,000, but, lose the $1000 side bet. A profit of $19,000 minus the original $200 entry fee. If they lost the determining match, they would have lost their $200 entry fee, but, won the $1000 side bet. A marginal profit one way and a tidy profit the other.

Probably more information than you requested. But, that example just popped into my head.