When you make a sportsbook bet, the amount of money you win depends on a number of factors. These include your bankroll, the odds of the bet landing and the level of risk you’re willing to take. Sports betting is a game of math and probability, but it’s also a lot of hard work.

Sportsbooks are always looking to maximize profits by attracting bettors on both sides of an event. This is achieved by setting odds that reflect the amount of action a team is likely to attract, while still giving them an edge in the long run. But bettors can also help themselves by adjusting their own limits and avoiding high-risk wagers.

One of the most common ways to lose money on a sportsbook is by placing a bet on a team or individual without researching them properly. To avoid this, it’s best to do your homework before making a bet and to choose a sportsbook that offers the most favorable odds.

Legal sportsbooks are beginning to tie responsible gambling more closely to customer relationship management, with FanDuel, for instance, changing the push notifications and marketing messages a user sees if they have shown early signs of problem play. Other companies are working on new tools that could allow bettors to set their own account limits, such as limiting how much they can deposit or wager over a certain period of time. These kinds of tools are particularly important given that the majority of legal U.S. sports betting occurs online, where operators know users’ identities and can track every aspect of their play.