Did 5Dimes Learn a Hard Lesson About FCS?

[93henfan]

Note: 5dimes.com is an offshore betting website that offers odds on FCS games.

Last week, 5dimes opened the Delaware-JMU game with JMU as a 9-point favorite, which raised a ton of eyebrows, particularly on the GoHens message board. Many people laid money on Delaware. By the end of the week, the line had dropped to JMU -3.

Methinks 5dimes lost money on the game, perhaps significant money, though I have no way to verify this. Just a hunch.

The odd thing I noticed was that 5dimes hadn't put up odds for any FCS games on Monday or Tuesday this week, and this morning they only have up one FCS game (PVA&M/ArkPB) and one D2 game (WCUPA/Shippensburg).

Have they shied away from bold early lines? You'd think they would have some knowledgable FCS people in their line-setting operation. That UD-JMU line was very puzzling.

[mcveyrl]

Note: 5dimes.com is an offshore betting website that offers odds on FCS games.

Last week, 5dimes opened the Delaware-JMU game with JMU as a 9-point favorite, which raised a ton of eyebrows, particularly on the GoHens message board. Many people laid money on Delaware. By the end of the week, the line had dropped to JMU -3.

Methinks 5dimes lost money on the game, perhaps significant money, though I have no way to verify this. Just a hunch.

The odd thing I noticed was that 5dimes hadn't put up odds for any FCS games on Monday or Tuesday this week, and this morning they only have up one FCS game (PVA&M/ArkPB) and one D2 game (WCUPA/Shippensburg).

Have they shied away from bold early lines? You'd think they would have some knowledgable FCS people in their line-setting operation. That UD-JMU line was very puzzling.

I think JMU probably burned them two weeks in a row. I think JMU-Liberty opened at JMU -17.

I would've bet both LU plus the points and UD plus the points (UD +9 was a no-brainer!).

My guess is that you're probably right. They took a bath on at least the UD game. It would stink if they stopped putting out lines, though. I always enjoyed seeing them and speculating.

[bandl]

5dimes doesn't give a shit about FCS match-ups. This is so miniscule to them that it doesn't matter to their bottom line. An FCS-FBS matchup yes, simply because of the upset factor.

[mcveyrl]

5dimes doesn't give a **** about FCS match-ups. This is so miniscule to them that it doesn't matter to their bottom line. An FCS-FBS matchup yes, simply because of the upset factor.

If they lost almost every bet made on a particular game (which I'm guessing they did this weekend), no matter how many bets or the amount, they took notice. They have to track percentage of wins vs. losses and I'm guessing that game was up there. It at least made them take a look at how they're setting those lines and may have made them decide not to do many FCS lines anymore.

[bandl]

5dimes doesn't give a **** about FCS match-ups. This is so miniscule to them that it doesn't matter to their bottom line. An FCS-FBS matchup yes, simply because of the upset factor.

If they lost almost every bet made on a particular game (which I'm guessing they did this weekend), no matter how many bets or the amount, they took notice. They have to track percentage of wins vs. losses and I'm guessing that game was up there. It at least made them take a look at how they're setting those lines and may have made them decide not to do many FCS lines anymore.

If. The nature of betting.

[ChickenMan]

5dimes doesn't give a shit about FCS match-ups. This is so miniscule to them that it doesn't matter to their bottom line. An FCS-FBS matchup yes, simply because of the upset factor.

True.. there wouldn't be enough action on any FCS game to ever cause a 5dimes type bookmaker any concern at all.

[PenthouseClosedEnd]

They probably also took a bath on the UR/UD game, where I think they had UR as a 4 or 5 point favorite.

[93henfan]

5dimes doesn't give a shit about FCS match-ups. This is so miniscule to them that it doesn't matter to their bottom line. An FCS-FBS matchup yes, simply because of the upset factor.

True.. there wouldn't be enough action on any FCS game to ever cause a 5dimes type bookmaker any concern at all.

None of us can say for certain how it impacted 5dimes, because we obviously do not work for them. I will say that you shouldn't get hung up on the football subclassification. Bettors will bet on anything, and if they see an obvious bet, like a #3 giving 10 points to a #5, they immediately get out their credit card. The house goal is always to get 50% action on each side and it's clear they failed when the line slid 7 POINTS! Trust me, they lost significant bank on this game. Can I prove it? Of course not, but it doesn't take a genius to discern what happened.

[bandl]

True.. there wouldn't be enough action on any FCS game to ever cause a 5dimes type bookmaker any concern at all.

None of us can say for certain how it impacted 5dimes, because we obviously do not work for them. I will say that you shouldn't get hung up on the football subclassification. Bettors will bet on anything, and if they see an obvious bet, like a #3 giving 10 points to a #5, they immediately get out their credit card. The house goal is always to get 50% action on each side and it's clear they failed when the line slid 7 POINTS! Trust me, they lost significant bank on this game. Can I prove it? Of course not, but it doesn't take a genius to discern what happened.

I will not trust you. Ever.

But that's besides the fact. 5dimes revenue is 7 figures a month (last time I read about it, which was several years ago), meaning their revenue is in the billions annually. An FCS game is so small in the grand scheme of things that it doesn't mean squat to them. Yes, they might have seen they lost a little money because of this game. Anything compared to any of the meaningful FBS, NFL or MLB matchups? Not a chance. Some shmo' at 5dimes, the 'account manager' for FCS if you will (read - intern) , saw the figures, hit a hey or two on his keyboard to adjust some stats and variables, and he moved on without a second thought. To think that an FCS game amounts to more than a single bean in a pile of a thousand beans is absurd. If bettors will bet on anything, and they do, they will put more money down on Boise State only scoring two safeties last week than they will on a JMU/DE matchup. Can I prove it? Of course not, but it doesn't take a genius to make shit up to back up my made up facts.

[93henfan]

5dimes revenue is 7 figures a month (last time I read about it, which was several years ago), meaning their revenue is in the billions annually.

JMU education at work I see.

Seven figures a month, huh? So, $9,999,999 (the biggest seven figure there is) a month times twelve months equals $120M a year. That's far from a billion. And if the seven figures is only $1M, then you're down to $12M.

At any rate, they took a bath on this game is all I'm saying. I'm guessing there was some type of review of their FCS line-setting, as evidenced by the fact there have been no lines for two and half days, when they usually have lines out for FCS games. Maybe they just decided to get lazy this week? None of us know for sure.

[State Line Liquors]

5dimes revenue is 7 figures a month (last time I read about it, which was several years ago), meaning their revenue is in the billions annually.

JMU education at work I see.

Seven figures a month, huh? So, $9,999,999 (the biggest seven figure there is) a month times twelve months equals $120M a year. That's far from a billion. And if the seven figures is only $1M, then you're down to $12M.

At any rate, they took a bath on this game is all I'm saying. I'm guessing there was some type of review of their FCS line-setting, as evidenced by the fact there have been no lines for two and half days, when they usually have lines out for FCS games. Maybe they just decided to get lazy this week? None of us know for sure.

Are we 100% sure 5Dimes doesn't have duke dog as bookmaker?

[bandl]

5dimes revenue is 7 figures a month (last time I read about it, which was several years ago), meaning their revenue is in the billions annually.

JMU education at work I see.

Seven figures a month, huh? So, $9,999,999 (the biggest seven figure there is) a month times twelve months equals $120M a year. That's far from a billion. And if the seven figures is only $1M, then you're down to $12M.

At any rate, they took a bath on this game is all I'm saying. I'm guessing there was some type of review of their FCS line-setting, as evidenced by the fact there have been no lines for two and half days, when they usually have lines out for FCS games. Maybe they just decided to get lazy this week? None of us know for sure.

Suck it. that's what I get for trying to type this crap out while on a conference call. Me is dumbass.

SURELY you know I meant 9 figures....

And I'm guessing there haven't been lines for two and a half days because Arjun in India, their sole FCS programmer, has been home sick with the whooping cough.

[isumatt]

The past 2 years 5D used to release FCS lines on Thursday, this was the first year they were coming out on Tuesdays. Maybe they decided to push it back to Thursdays to get a better gauge on the lines

[93henfan]

Maybe they decided to push it back to Thursdays to get a better gauge on the lines

That was pretty much the extent of what I was insinuating in the original post. I know FCS is not their bread and butter. They probably just had a Monday morning meeting and said, hey Punjab (or whatever Bandl called him), come up with a better plan this week. You have until Thursday. No bonus after that UD-JMU boondoggle either.

[93henfan]

The lines are up now, btw. Couple of ones relevant to the discussion:

JMU (-21) - Towson
Delaware (-18) - Maine

Those are pretty good lines, IMHO.

If I were plunking down, I'd take:

Liberty at -10 1/2 over Chuck South and Richmond at -2 over UNH.

[CAA Flagship]

Old Dominion a 3 point home dog vs. Cal Poly

I heard an interview with a Las Vegas insider a year ago and he said that getting a 50% split is not the goal. Setting a spread that gets people to place a bet is the goal. That didn't make much sense when speaking of Vegas, but it does for an offshore operation. They deal off of accounts, and gamblers can't place a bet if they don't have an account. So they will use a crazy line to entice people to open accounts. Once the account is open, the major barrier is removed and subsequent bets follow.

[93henfan]

Old Dominion a 3 point home dog vs. Cal Poly

I heard an interview with a Las Vegas insider a year ago and he said that getting a 50% split is not the goal. Setting a spread that gets people to place a bet is the goal. That didn't make much sense when speaking of Vegas, but it does for an offshore operation. They deal off of accounts, and gamblers can't place a bet if they don't have an account. So they will use a crazy line to entice people to open accounts. Once the account is open, the major barrier is removed and subsequent bets follow.

Fair enough. That might be the case for offshore operations for the reason you mentioned, but in Vegas and onshore illicit operations ( ), the goal is absolutely to get a 50/50 split at that point in time. That's why the line moves. They want to split the action. That's why you never use the line to predict the outcome of the game in your own pools and such.

[bluehenbillk]

You had me worried there for a minute, made a ton of $$ there in the last 2 weeks, paid my credit card debt off with the UR game & will pay my car off with the JMU game. Never saw a line shift as much as UD-JMU did, that should tell you the $$ that went to the UD side.

This week giving 18 to Maine, recreational purposes only, that's a good line.