At times, certain lines and wagers on events may be unavailable due to pending information regarding the game. When the point spread, total, or money line isn’t released within the normal timeframe the game is considered off the board. Games are usually off the board when a key player’s status for a game is unknown due to an injury or suspension. As soon as the situation becomes definitive one way or another the game will usually be posted within ample time for bettors to place a wager if they so desire.
Some things that can influence a game being off the board are undecided pitchers or pitching changes in baseball. In football, it is generally the result of an injury to a key player, usually the Quarterback. Weather can also be an influence in a point spread and can also play a big part in deciding the total. In MLB Odds, when a game is being played at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the total is often not released until the morning of the game as the wind conditions can change quickly and there is usually a pretty big difference if the wind is blowing in or blowing out.
All sports that are played in retractable dome stadiums can also be affected by weather as the dome can be open or closed. The opening or closing the dome can affect the wind, temperature, as well as the crowd noise. Not knowing if the dome will be open or closed could cause a late posting of a point spread or a total.
As is the case with normal openers, when the original lines come out, the late lines usually are released by a set time the day of the game. It is always best to monitor the odds for their release becasue when the odds are eventually revealed they can move quickly and that impacts what odds, and ultimately the advantage, you get. Our odds page is live and you can quickly see when odds are released by each online sportsbook so you can react and make your bets in a timely manner.
Reasons a game or bet may be “Off The Board”:
1) The game started or the listed start time has passed.
How frustrating is it when the announcers are talking and the teams are warming up… yet the line at your sportsbook has come down? Sometimes games will start much later than the scheduled Go time. Good sportsbooks will often adapt and take more action. They may manually extend the start time in their system by 5 or even 15 minutes. But, there is no shortage of sportsbooks that pull the game simply because it’s 8:05pm.
2) Information is coming in
As we talked about, new info can mean the book will pull the game down while they process and see how the rest of the market reacts. You’ll see the big bookmakers move on money bet while the smaller books that follow them, have to pull the line to get their bearings. Lines moving quickly, AKA Steam, is often a reason for the book to pull their lines down. A smaller book doesn’t want to take single bets on a line it is about to move and can’t even out the action, so they pull it and wait for the bigger book to tell them where to settle the line a minute later.
3) Injuries
You might see a sportsbooks keep a game OFF THE BOARD until injury status for a player is known. While some books will ‘circle’ the game, olther sportsbooks will not offer it all. Circling the game is essentially a telling the public that a game is not subject to normal betting limits and you can expect to bet much less. For many bettors betting for fun, they don’t pay attention. For the bettors that move the line betting big, they know not to both looking at a game that is circled.
4) Odds Are Too Large
It’s annoying when you want to take a flyer on a HUGE underdog but can’t because money lines are OFF THE BOARD. Maybe you wanted to risk it all to win lunch money on a huge favorites. Some sportsbooks will not offer money lines on games where the spread is higher than, maybe, 8 points. They just don’t want to manage lines on those rare games. Lines Managers don’t want to try to figure out how often Grenada might win versus Spain in FIFA matches, so they just don’t offer that line.
5) The Market is Too Small
Some sportsbooks take pride if offering lines on EVERYHING. You want to bet division 2 womens college hoops? You got it. Want to bet Japense Table Tennis? Sure. But other sportsbooks don’t hand College Football Odds for the smallest mid-majors. Or maybe they might not bother putting up lines at halftime when you are used to betting 2nd half bets.
It can be super frustating to watch the entire first half and hadnicap the game, only to find out the your sportsbook is listing that lines as… OFF THE BOARD.