Can someone explain "thoroughly" about interactive?

[Underdog7]

I have an inactive account with WSEX, the only reason for me to go back is because of their "interactive" wagering but I am really having a problem understanding it. Could someone who is kind enough explain in detail how that works. Very much appreciated.

[Hartley]

UDog it's essentially "betting in the run". A lot of European books do it including Victor Chandler and DAS. In fact Intertops informed me that they do it occassionally for soccer in Austria. The big difference between those books and WSEX is that the European books set new odds whereas WSEX treats it like a stock market.

The way it works is that a line is set with a "buy" and "ask" for each team. The ask is what you have to pay per share of the team and the buy is what they'll pay you if you want to sell a share. The line changes after every play and you have the ability to "buy" or "sell" at any time - except when a buy becomes zero at which point your share is virtually worthless.

As a general rule, interactive football or basketball sets a point spread and a market, baseball sets a market based on a team winning outright and golf is based on the golfer winning outright. Any winning share held til the end is worth $100. You can "sell short" on a team but in a 2 team interactive it is the same as buying the other team.

Here's an example that can help explain it.

Tomorrow's World Series game has a line of NY Even vs. Atlanta -110.

The market will thus probably be set with

New York: Buy 45 Ask 50
Atlanta: Buy 50 Ask 55

Thus if you want to buy a share of New York it will cost you $50. If you want to buy a share of Atlanta it will cost $55.

Suppose you buy a share for $50 on New York. In the top of the first Knoblauch walks, Jeter singles and Williams homers. At this point the market would probably change to something like:

New York: Buy 68 Ask 73
Atlanta: Buy 27 Ask 32

You can thus sell your New York share at this point for $68 and guarantee a profit of $18 if you like or you can let it ride for a bit. On the other hand if you think Atlanta will come back you can buy a share of them for $32. As the game goes on, the market prices go up and down accordingly.

In games where it goes back and forth you can make a fortune if you sell the team ahead and buy the one behind. There was no interactive on Wednesday because of the hurricane but if there was you could have made a lot of money if you bought the team trailing and sold the one ahead.

As well in baseball they have an "at bat" option which allows you to bet on the next at bat. The odds are usually based on ability as well as the pitcher although most odds don't change that much throughout the year.

For example (just from experience), you'll probably see the following odds for the next at bat on Bernie Williams

Ground Out 2-1
Fly Out 5-2
Walk (Non Intentional) 3-1
Strike Out 4-1
Single 4-1
Pop Out or line out 9-1
Double 13-1
Home Run 18-1
Triple 75-1

Any error, hbp, sac bunt or intentional walk results in a refund.

For football you'll see a point spread

So as an example for Monday's game you'll probably see the following market:

Pittsburgh -5.5 Buy 48 Ask 53
Atlanta +5.5 Buy 47 Ask 52

I hope this explains it well.

[Underdog7]

Hartley - thanks a lot. Got a few questions though.
1.) What happens if the game is so boring and nobody scores or scoring is so slow?
2.) Do you have to be on your computer all the time or you could do it by phone?
3.) What is the limit on this kind of wagering?

[Hartley]

1) The line probably won't change. If it is football or basketball, the underdog on the point spread would probably become the favorite

2) They prefer you do trading online although if you can't get on for whatever reason they'll allow you to call it in.

3) No limit. I once bought an interactive golfer at 0-1 (Tom Kite). They debited my account for a buck.

[Hartley]

Also for upper limits I believe that's up to the discretion of management. I doubt they would take a $500 wager on a triple at 100-1, or allow you to buy 1,000 shares at $5 - the risk wouldn't be worth it. Perhaps if Steve or Olaf see this they can answer better.

[Underdog7]

Hartley - thank you much.

[freak]

In baseball if the game is scoreless or tied late, the value of the team at bat, usually goes up, once outs are recorded with no threat it goes down with each at bat.

There is risk involved that you will be sitting there not being able to sell at.

It is obvious by this player that my run in with this wasn't and hasn't been isolated.

They now posted up on the screen, your trade may be your last, and there is no guarantee to get filled.

My advice is if you haven't played, do a mock run, pretend to buy shares and watch a game and see how the flow goes.

best advice I can give ya.

[ShiftySheik]

The upper limit is usually 50 shares. If you want more you have to buy additional shares at a higher price or sell at a lower price. They give you a partial fill once their limit has been reached.

[Value_Finder]

This might be a different topic than the original question but since the topic is interactive I just raise the question here.
I notice that there 2 kind of interactive:
1. WSEX's way which the pointspread stay the same but the prices changes during the game.
2. The second kind is the one that Victor Chandler, DAS, and Sporting Index offer where they change the pointspread instead of the price and each point has a value (Similar to action pts)

Which one do you think is better to play? The first one or the second one. If you are right I think the second one is better since you get rewarded for evey points you are right. I personally never played the second category so I don't really know which one present a better value. Any thought?????

[Hartley]

I'd say there is value in each way. Obviously with WSEX you have the ability to pick up shares cheap on a team trailing and if they make a big move you can win a lot of money. Plus of course you have the ability to sell your team at any time which I don't believe the others offer.

But with Victor Chandler, DAS and Sporting Index, by changing the point spread you can always have interest despite the score. For example if the spread is Dallas -3 and in the 3rd quarter the score is 38-0 for Dallas then the interest in the game at WSEX is gone whereas at the other places it is still there if the spread is now Dallas -41.

I personally have never played at V.C., DAS or Sporting-Index but "betting in the run" sounds interesting. From what I hear it can get really intense in a game like Rugby.