Having lived in Vegas and known people in the Sports Books, I thought I'd take a moment to explain how the odds are set. It has nothing at all to do with who the oddsmaker thinks will win the game or a series. It's a function of how they expect the initial bets will be made Then if too much money is being bet on one team, the odds will change to make the other team a "better" bet. Over time the odds will change to reflect the betting trends you can watch this by noting what the odds are for say..the Celtics to win in 7, and then go back and check it at a later (as of 6/2 it was 4-1). The goal of the bookmaker is to get the monies split as close to 50/50 as possible, with the book making their money off the fee they charge, and in essence the betters just swapping money. The Lakers may be "favored" right now (which means the oddsmakers expect more money to be initially bet for the Celtics to win), but if the Celtics win the first two games, that will change for any new betters.

This is a common misconception with the non-betting community.

Oddsmakers and bookies really don't care who wins a game. The line reflects the volume of bets, not an actual outcome.

Also, the "race/ref" study has been discredited in every review that it has come under. The study has very little merit - part of the methodology involves extrapolating results, because there are so few black refs.

The study is at best controversial, and is probably given higher billing in this story than it deserves.

Slate, and other publications love these types of "studies", because it makes for an easy article that will envoke lots of responses.

Oddsmakers and bookies really don't care who wins a game.

No, that itself is a misconception. Their GOAL is to select a line so that they don't have to care. But it is not always achieved.

The original poster is quite right. A closely related factor in determining how those initial bets will go is how historically "beloved" a team is, aside from its record for the year. A lot of people still have residual love for the Celtics based on earlier dynasties, and it just isn't in their hearts to bet against them.

Also, consider geography. Los Angeles is only a few hours from Las Vegas. Since (1) Sport Book bets have to be made in person, (2) the odds are set based on anticipated bettor behavior, not an evaluation of the teams' actual merits, and (3) there's a high level of interest as these are the Finals, one could reasonably expect a large number of "homer" bets on the Lakers. Even though most of the "big fish" bettors are probably smarter than this, there may be enough casual fans betting heart instead of head to affect the odds in the Lakers' favor.

I wish you would tell my bookie that sports bets have to be made in vegas. Maybe he would give me back my laker bets. =(