FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Who are Covers.com and The Covers Media Group?
How does the Odds Express feed work?
Which sports are available?
How flexible is the feed? What changes can I make to fit my site?
How reliable is this feed?
How often do the odds get updated?
How do I shut off the feed?
Who do I pay and how much? Do I have to register?
What is a sportsbook?
Who are the sportsbooks involved?
Who can I call if I have problems with Odds Express?
Do you have any other free offerings?
Who are Covers.com and The Covers Media Group?
Covers.com was created in 1995 as a sports information site designed to enlighten and entertain sports lovers everywhere. We provide indispensable information and state-of-the-art statistical analysis for all major professional and amateur sports.
Continuous growth, effective partnerships – with such companies as MSNBC, USA Today, Maxim Online, Knight Ridder and the Associated Press – and a satisfied audience have allowed Covers to become a leading sports media organization. More than 500,000 people a day see and use our information and content. Sports fans appreciate our advanced statistics, articles, columnists, and the lively community they find in our popular posting forum. Covers.com has been featured positively in USA Today, New York Times, MSNBC.com, ESPN.com, and many other local and international news outlets.
Covers.com is operated by The Covers Media Group, located in Halifax, Canada. In addition to operating sites such as Covers.com and Coversexperts.com, SportsDirect provides content and statistics to companies in the online and wireless industries.
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How does the Odds Express feed work?
Each set of odds in the special Odds Express format is published as a javascript file, updated every five minutes. You can reference this file remotely on your site by inserting a line of code into your webpage. Nothing needs to be installed on your computer or server. Each time your webpage is viewed, the snippet of code "calls" the javascript file and presents the odds table. There is no load on your server because the files reside on ours, so your user is presented with fresh, relevent content that is updated constantly with no work on your part.
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Which sports are available?
The Odds Direct feed is presently available for NFL, College Football, NBA, College Basketball, and Major Leage Baseball. Each sport uses a different javascript file, so you can present one or all of the sports as you choose. Additional sports will be offered in future.
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How flexible is the feed? What changes can I make to fit my site?
The odds are provided in an attractive, easy-to-read table format that
is widely scalable and designed to fit well in most page layouts (you can take a look at it by clicking here). They can be displayed in any width between 450 and 750 pixels, which gives you a great deal of flexibility. Setting them up is as simple as creating a table with a cell of the desired width and inserting one line of code. That's it! The odds will expand to fit the width you have specified.
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How reliable is this feed?
We have been providing odds to our customers for years, and have chosen only the most professional and reliable sportsbooks to partner with. The Odds Express feed is extremely reliable. Even if there are no odds available at a given time, the feed will display a notice to that effect, so your users will never be presented with an error page or blank screen. And of course our support team is available by phone or e-mail at any time.
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How often do the odds get updated?
The odds are updated every five minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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How do I shut off the feed?
If you decide you no longer want the feed, simply delete the code snippets from your website pages.
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Who do I pay and how much? Do I have to register?
There is no cost to use the Odds Express service, and you do not have to register or set up an account with us. We would certainly welcome your feedback on the service, though, so please feel free to contact us at any time.
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What is a sportsbook?
A sportsbook is a business that takes bets on sporting events. Covers.com is not a sportsbook, but we have partnered with some of the best online sportsbooks in the industry to bring you accurate and up-to-date odds.
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Who are the sportsbooks involved?
At this time, Sportsbook, Logans, and Belmont are providing the Odds Direct odds.
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Who can I call if I have problems with Odds Express?
Our technical assistance team is available around the clock. Please contact us if you have problems, or if you have questions that have not been answered in this FAQ.
Covers Data Desk
1-866-662-6837 (toll-free)
E-mail Data Desk
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Do you have any other free offerings?
Yes, we also offer a free RSS feed with news articles.
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