NASCAR suspends two-time Nationwide champ LaJoie for drug use

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/22/2010 - Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR on Tuesday indefinitely suspended Randy LaJoie, a crew member for Joe Gibbs Racing's No.18 team in the Nationwide Series, for violating the sanctioning body's substance abuse policy.

During an interview with Sirius NASCAR Radio earlier in the day, LaJoie, a two-time Nationwide driver champion, admitted to smoking marijuana once following the May 30 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. On June 11, LaJoie was found to have violated NASCAR's substance abuse policy after he took a random drug test in order to become a spotter for Gibbs' team.

"I screwed up," LaJoie told Sirius Speedway host Dave Moody during the interview. "NASCAR tested me the day when I wanted to go spot for someone at Nashville. I already have two NASCAR licenses, but they said I needed a spotter's license, and that included taking a drug test. I took the test, and got a call a few days later, saying I had tested positive for marijuana."

LaJoie competed in all three of NASCAR's national touring series, including 44 starts in the Cup Series. He won his Nationwide titles back-to-back from 1996-97. LaJoie has not raced in a NASCAR event since November 2006 at Texas Motor Speedway.

He had been serving as an analyst for ESPN's coverage of NASCAR.

Vagesinsider Autoracing Betting News

<< Rangers welcome back Cruz from DL
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers activated outfielder Nelson Cruz from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday. Cruz went on the disabled list for the second time this season on May 30 when he strained his left hamstring. He

<< Astros tweak roster, call up Castro
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros have recalled top prospect Jason Castro, one of six transactions the club made on Tuesday. Castro, a catcher the Astros selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2008 draft, had his c

<< Alouettes sign former UNH quarterback Santos
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Walter Payton Award winner Ricky Santos signed a contract Tuesday with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL. Santos, the former University of New Hampshire quarterback who was named the FCS' outstanding

<< NHL raises salary cap for 2010-11 season, extends CBA
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Hockey League on Tuesday announced a salary cap increase of five percent for the 2010-11 season, while also announcing the extension of the current collective bargaining agreement. The

<< Serena, Wozniacki, Sharapova roll; Stosur exits Wimbledon
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Serena Williams began her quest for a fourth Wimbledon title with an easy straight-set win over Portugal's Michelle Larcher De Brito, while third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and former champion Maria

College Football HOFer Cloud passes away at 85 >>
Williamsburg, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jack Cloud, who was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1990, has passed away at the age of 85. Cloud was a three-time All-American fullback for William and Mary between 1947-49 an

Jets sign McKnight, waive three others >>
Florham Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets signed running back Joe McKnight, their fourth-round pick in the 2010 draft, to an undisclosed contract on Tuesday. McKnight was a highly-touted recruit out of high school and

Bucks acquire Maggette from Golden State >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Bucks have acquired forward Corey Maggette from the Golden State Warriors for guard Charlie Bell and center Dan Gadzuric. The Bucks also picked up the 44th selection in the 2010 draf

Sharks part ways with longtime goaltender Nabokov >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks announced on Tuesday that the club will not offer a contract to veteran netminder Evgeni Nabokov once the free-agent signing period begins on July 1. Nabokov, who is an unrestri

Colorado reinstates closer Street for first time all season >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies announced today the reinstatement of closer Huston Street to the active roster. Street, who has spent the entire season on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation,

Since the late 1990's, MySportsbook.com has been an online sportsbook / poker room / casino that focuses on quality.. MySportsbook caters to the experienced sports fan who values reliability and accuracy, with great attention to detail. MySportsbook's success over the past 3 years has made them the envy of the sports gambling industry. There are hundreds of sites appearing all over the Internet claiming to be the next best sportsbook online, each one is trying to use the same marketing techniques as MySportsbook originated.

If you want to try the most stylish and reliable type of online sportsbook, go with MySportsbook. Most online sportsbooks give you live odds and plenty of games and events to bet on, at MySportsbook they'll give you that and more. While perfection may be a lofty goal, MySportsbook attempts to achieve that goal. All sorts of ways to bet on football, football betting, Super Bowl betting lines.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football sportsbook needs.

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.