A sportsbook is a gambling establishment that accepts bets on various sporting events. Its goal is to generate income by collecting bets on the winning team and paying bettors who lose. This type of betting has grown in popularity and is now available in many states, both online and at land-based locations. It is also a regulated industry that must meet certain standards, including responsible gaming and data privacy protection.

Sportsbooks earn a large portion of their profits by moving betting lines in both handicap against the spread and totals bets. They may do this to attract action on one side of the line while lowering or raising odds for the other, or to even out distribution between bettors. For example, if Patrick Mahomes’ passing total opened at 249.5 yards, a sportsbook might lower the over/under line from -110 to -125, while raising it from 249.5 to 252.5, to encourage action on the over side of the line.

In this article, an empirical analysis of 5000 matches is conducted to assess how accurately the point spreads and totals proposed by sportsbooks capture the median outcome. The results show that, for a unit bet size b, the profit (p) on correctly wagering on home and visiting teams is phh and phv, respectively. In addition, upper and lower bounds on the wagering accuracy are derived, and conditions required for statistical estimators to attain the upper bound are presented. Moreover, the results indicate that for both point spreads and totals, a deviation of only a single point from the true median is sufficient to permit positive expected profit.