A person who predicts or calculates odds in gambling, especially horse racing; or someone who assigns handicaps to make a competition fair.
From 'handicap' (a term from 17th-century gaming involving drawing hands from a cap of forfeits) plus the agent suffix '-er.' The word evolved from the literal act of drawing from a cap to describing anyone who applies betting odds or adjusts competition conditions.
Professional handicappers who predict horse racing odds use complex mathematical models analyzing hundreds of variables—and the best ones are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars per year because even a 1-2% edge in prediction accuracy produces enormous profits when spread across thousands of races.
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