How Does Sports Betting Work?
If you have ever participated in a props pool for "The Big Game" or a pro football pick'em contest, then you have already stuck your toe into the waters of sports betting. Thanks to the Supreme Court's reversal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in May, legalized sports betting in the United States is now open and available to any state that wants to offer it.
Wagering on the four major professional sports began in Nevada turf clubs. Since then, legalized sports betting has spread from betting parlors, to casinos, to the internet, to phone applications. And you're no longer limited to the four major professional sports. The https://betondraws.com/ is now taking bets on everything from college football and basketball, to cricket, to golf, to auto racing, to international soccer.
In its simplest form, there are five types of sports betting wagers: Moneyline bets, spread bets, totals bets, futures bets, and parlay bets. We'll dive into what each of those mean shortly.
How Do You Bet on Sports Online?
With each individual state setting their own rules, online sports betting guidelines vary from state to state. For example, you are allowed to make sports bets anywhere in the state of Nevada, regardless if you are a Nevada resident, but your account must first be set up and funded at a brick-and-mortar sports book. At the moment, Oregon only has one online sports betting application, and it's run by their state lottery. Delaware was the first state outside of Nevada to offer sports betting, yet they do not offer online wagering at this time.
It's important to know what your state, and your surrounding states, offers and what bills are on the table. Want to learn more about sports betting in your state? Check out our 'Where is Sports Betting Legal' guide for more information.
Betting Terms You Need to Know
Understanding Sports Odds: Explained
Walking into a sports book for the first time can be intimidating. Most sports books will have their daily offerings posted in two places: On an odds board, and on printed sheets. The printed sheets are great for circling the games that you are interested in and making some notes, but those sheets are often hours (and sometimes days) old. If you want the most up-to-date information, you need to focus on the odds boards. The odds board will have four key pieces of information that you need to focus on: The rotation number, the point spread, the total, and the moneyline.
How to Read Betting Odds
The rotation number: Sports book ticket writers speak in numbers, not names. If you walk up to the window and ask for $100 on (team name), you will probably be scolded. Most rotation numbers are 3-4 digits and are usually located to the left of the team names on the odds board. Ticket writers rely on that rotation number to eliminate all confusion between themselves and the bettor. Know the rotation number of the game that you are interested in betting.
The point spread: Every football and basketball game will have a point spread associated with it. When looking at the odds board, the favorite will be displayed with a minus sign in front of the spread. That is the number of points that team has to win the game by in order to cover the spread. You won't see a number for the other team, the underdog, because it's understood that they are receiving the same number of points.
The total: You can wager on the "over" or the "under" referring to how many total points will be scored in the contest between both teams.
The moneyline: Moneyline bets are displayed on a $100 scale, with the favorite having a minus displayed in front of their number, and the underdog having a plus in front. Betting on the moneyline means that your team just needs to win the game. There are no point spreads involved.
Understanding Spread Betting
The point spread is the great equalizer. Who would want to bet on a football game between the best team in the league and the worst? The outcome gets a lot more interesting when you give the bad team a 20-point head start. Every football and basketball game will have a point spread associated with it. Betting on the favorite with the point spread requires that team to win the contest by a certain amount of points. Betting on the underdog with the point spread will allow that team to lose the contest, as long as it's not by more than the posted number.
Hockey and baseball also have point spreads, but they work a little different. In hockey (the puckline) and baseball (the runline), the favorite is always -1.5 on the spread with the underdog at +1.5. Betting on the favorite requires your hockey or baseball team to win its game by two or more runs. Conversely, betting on the underdog at +1.5 means that your team can lose by either one run or one goal, and your ticket will still cash.
Moneyline: What is it & How do You Bet on it?
Betting on the moneyline means that your team just needs to win the game. There are no point spreads involved. Moneyline bets are displayed on a $100 scale, with the favorite having a minus displayed in front of their number, and the underdog having a plus in front.
If you are looking to play the favorite on the moneyline, that's the number that you need to lay in order to win $100. If you are betting on a -200 favorite, you need to lay $200 to profit $100, and you would collect $300. If you are betting on the underdog, the number that you see is the amount that you would win off a $100 bet. If you are looking to play a +175 underdog on the moneyline, you would lay $100 to profit $175 and collect $275. Again, there are no point spreads involved, you are simply picking the winner of the game.
