On Wed, 24 Dec 2003 07:37:52 -0800
  Clay Satow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>It’s true not only of the individual bettors, but also of the
>bookmaker.  If the bookie
>consistently does a poor job of setting point spreads, he’ll
>eventually go out of business.

A minor point here -- the point spread is a reflection not only on the
relative quality of the two teams, but also on the public perception
of those teams.  Consequently, a system that predicts who will win and
by how much with a relatively high degree of accuracy may not produce
good point spreads if the public perception differs.