Reason #1 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

Excellent customer support

The thing that separates Bovada from the rest is its customer support. Many other online gaming companies outsource their support. It can be difficult getting a response from them, and if you do it is often slow and handled by somebody with little understanding of gambling or even of English. But Bovada’s support is handled by Bovada, and their support staff is actually knowledgeable and helpful.

I’m so confident that you’ll have a good experience with Bovada that if you have a problem getting paid and you can’t resolve it with them on your own, I’ll talk to them myself. I personally have known the Bovada management for about three years and always found them to be professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. I have also personally visited one of their call centers so I could see first-hand how they handle customer issues. (More on my mediation service.)

If you have a problem with any other casino besides Bovada, I can’t help you. I get complaints from players of other online casinos every day who have difficulty getting paid. However that isn’t my job nor my problem. If you play at Bovada after clicking through my site I’ll stand behind you 100%. Any place else and you’re on your own.

Visit Bovada

Sports Futures

Last Update: Dec 15, 2003

Propostion bets usually pay long odds that a specified team will win the playoffsor the season championship. For example before the beginning of the 2000 baseballseason a bet that the Baltimore Orioles winning the world series paid 35 to 1 odds.

To calculate the house edge on a set of futures bets follow these steps to

Convert all winning odds to a fair probability of winnings. For example if the Orioles paid 35 to 1 odds then a fair probability of winning would be 1/36. In general if the odds pay x to y then the probability of winning is y/(x+y).
Add all the probabilities form step 1. Call this total t.
The overall house edge on all futures bets is 1-(1/t).

Lets look at an example. The Suncoast casino in Las Vegas offered the following odds to win the Pontiac Excitement 400, which ran on May 5, 2001. The following table shows total probability of 135.04%. The house edge is 1-1/1.3504=0.259496714, or 25.95%.

Odds to Win Pontiac Excitement 400
Driver	Pays	Fair Probability
Dale Jarrett	4 to 1	20.00%
Dale Earnhardt Jr.	7 to 1	12.50%
Bobby Labonte	7 to 1	12.50%
Tony Stewart	6 to 1	14.29%
Mark Martin	10 to 1	9.09%
Jeff Burton	9 to 1	10.00%
Rusty Wallace	5 to 1	16.67%
Field (all others)	3 to 2	40.00%
Total		135.04%

Using this method the following list presents the house edge on futures bets on the Superbowl XXXVI at various casinos.

House Edge on Superbowl Futures
Casino	House Edge
Imperial Palace	28.09%
Palms	32.1%
Frontier	32.93%
Venetian	33.57%
Rio	33.78%
MGM Grand	34.72%
Bellagio	34.72%
Golden Nugget	34.72%
Holiday	34.72%
Stratosphere	36.64%
Arizona Charlie's	36.64%
Aladdin	36.82%
Hard Rock	37.09%
Suncoast	38.3%
Regent	40.35%
Ballys	41.74%
Paris	41.74%
Flamingo	41.74%
Hilton	41.74%
Caesars Palace	41.74%
Mandalay Bay	42.49%
Santa Fe Station	43.66%
Plaza	53.36%
Stardust	53.57%
California	53.57%
Luxor	55.41%
Excalibur	56.74%
Monte Carlo	56.74%
Tropicana	57.1%
Gold Coast	57.33%
Circus Circus	57.54%
Harrah's	58.41%
San Remo	59.09%
Fitzgeralds	61.2%
Lady Luck	61.2%
Binion's Horseshoe	61.6%
Sahara	68.69%

Many groups of sportsbooks share the same odds on futures with each other. For example Ballys, the Paris, and the Flamingo Hilton all offer the same odds, which are all owned by Park Place Entertainment. There is not always an obvious connection among sportbooks. For example the futures at the Rio are much more competitive than at the Las Vegas Harrah's, despite the Rio being owned by Harrah's. The MGM Grand offers the same odds on futures as the Bellagio. The Monte Carlo offers the same futures as the Excalibur.