Overrounds and Apples

A rare couple of comments on recent posts, which always makes the next one easier to write. The first was a comment on my Dad's recent passing, with big music fan schnakenpopanz writing:

I want to share my condolences here, I lost my father during COVID and he was just enjoying retirement at the age of 68. I know it sounds like a often used term in these circumstances: I really hope your father had a good life and you and your loved ones get through these hard days with love and the help of each other. Best wishes

Aside from the much appreciated comments, and yes my Dad did have a good life until the final few months, this comment hit home because I'm not too far off that age of 68 and haven't yet started enjoying retirement, although I hit my 'official' retirement age earlier this year. 68 is far too young to pass away, and my condolences in return to schnakenpopanz.   

The second comment, actually a question, was regarding the changes to the overround noted in my last post as related to MLB, and David asks:

Where do you get soccer/football historic statistics like you get for other sports on Killer Sports? 

For league matches, I use Joseph Buchdahl's Football Data website which has data going back to the 1993/94 season. As I've written in previous posts, the overround just 20 years ago was huge, with the numbers for the Premier League shown left. 

The impact of Pinnacle coming on the scene in 2012 is clear, but to ensure I'm comparing apples to apples, even if it may be more of a Gala / Granny Smith comparison, I standardise the odds using the Margin Proportional to Odds (MPTO) methodology. 

For other matches such as Internationals, European Competitions, Cup Competitions etc., I use the average prices from the Odds Portal site, again using the MPTO methodology to standardise the data.

Betfair is essentially a 100% true odds book for the more liquid markets, but there's the Market Base Rate commission to consider, although at 2% for most top matches, this is often a good option - unless you are paying the Premium Charge. At 5% this isn't so good for the ongoing Women's World Cup for which the Knockout Stage is becoming set this week.