There are many similarities between the gold rush and sports betting. H. W. Brands pointed out a very important issue on how gold rush lured and forced people to take risks in gambling over life more often than before. It made Americans crave for riches to the extent that they worked tirelessly and also in dangerous situations to acquire them as soon as possible. This did not work for everyone as some were unsuccessful.
Moving on to modern times, now most Americans developed a special interest in Las Vegas and took on risks to put up hotels and casinos all in the influence of the gold rush. After the war, America came back to be and capitalism took effect as professional sports spread its wings all over the country. A hundred years after the heat of California’s’ gold rush, gambling started with the state of Nevada by taking bets on sports in 1949.
Over time, a set of golden rules have been created in a effort to maximize your winning probabilities, they are therefore unbiased when it comes to betting. They are meant to cover the entire regular NFL season but may not apply for wagering on select games. This means the rules apply in a special order from the first rule through the 20th depending on how suitable the rule is.
The golden rules for betting against the spread are as follow:
Your bet should be on teams with a winning percentage of 750 on less than 6 days or against a team with worse records (success rated at 66.7%.)
Don’t bet on teams that have less than 350 straight-up winning percentage on less than 7 days or against one which has better records. (success rated at 61.2%)
Put your money on visitors who have less than 250 winning percentage against a team with a winning percentage that is at least 100 basis points higher.(success rated at 56.3%.)
Place your bets based on teams that have 16 game winning percentage. (success rated at 58.5%)
You can capitalize on underdogs when the point spread is at above 10. (success rated at 56.1%.)
Put your money on favorites on Thursdays. (success rated at 58.5%)
Cash in on visitors on Saturday. (success and rated at 58.5%)
Bet on teams with a straight-up winning percentage of 550 or better in less than 7 days or against a team with worse records. (success rated at 53.4%)
Bet on visitors on 6 days. (success rated at 55.0%)
Bet on favorites with less than 350 winning percentage against a team with a better or similar record. (success rated at 57.9%.)
Bet on underdogs with a winning percentage ranging from 350-649 against a team whose record lie within the same range. (success rated at 52.2%.)
Bet on teams looking at their 16-game straight-up winning percentage. (success rated at 54.1%)
Bet on teams with a winning percentage of 650 or against one which has a winning percentage of between 250-649. (success rated at 52.9%.)
Bet on a team that comes from a bye week against a team that is not coming from a bye week. (success rated at 54.6%.)
Bet on underdogs in September. (success rated at 50.3%.)
Bet on favorites on Monday. (success rated at 54.4%.)
Bet on visitors in November. (success rated at 53.3%.)
Bet on visitors in divisional games. (success rated at 52.2%.)
Bet on teams in certain divisional match-ups. (success rated at 61.3%.)
Bet on visitors. (success rated at 49.8%.)
If these rules are followed without any alterations they should perform against the spread in the regular games of the season. Happy betting!
