Placing bets on the outcome of sports games can be entertaining and make you money whether it makes every game have more at stake in your situation or make money on the side. If you haven’t bet on sports before, getting started could be hard and confusing. But if you are interested in betting on sports, read our guide to sports betting which will explain the basics you need to know.
Casinos are very stimulating to the brain with the lights and sound. People are throwing around lingo that you’ve never heard before. Sportsbooks display all kinds of numbers with plus and minus signs which many inexperienced betters won’t understand. When you are putting real cash on the line, this is the environment you enter which can be overwhelming if not scary.
Explaining Different Terms:
Favorite
If someone is projected by most people to win the game, that person or team is called the favorite. When you see the odds of that competitor or team listed, they will have a minus sign in front of their number. When people are betting on a team to cover the spread, the team that is known as the favorite will be giving points to the opposition. It’s like when you played sports in school against someone better so they spot you a few points to make things fairer. Those points spotted don’t count towards the result, they just count towards the betting of the game. If you just bet on the favorite to win, you won’t make as much money as if you had bet on the underdog and the underdog had won.
Underdog
The underdog is whom most people think will lose. When you see the odds of the underdog winning, they have a plus sign in front of their number. When there is a spread, the underdog is the one receiving the points so if the underdog loses but came close enough to cover the spread, people can make money if they bet on the underdog to cover the spread. If you bet on the underdog to win and they do, you will make more money than if you had bet on the favorite to win and they had.
Pick & Pick ‘Em
This is when you are betting on a team where the match-up doesn’t have a projected favorite. Both teams or competitors have the same chance of winning the game. You just place a bet on whom you think will win. If your team wins, you make double what you wagered. You will make the same regardless of whom you place your bet on in these kinds of contests.
Point Spread
When the projected favorite gives points to their opponents, those points are known as the point spread. If the projected favorite wants to overcome the point spread, they must win by more points than they offered to their opponent. If the underdog wants to overcome the point spread, they can use the points offered by their opponents to have a higher score than the projected favorite.
Since this can be confusing, let’s use an example. Let’s say the next NBA match-up is between the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks. Let’s say the Bulls are favorites with a -6 and the Knicks are the underdogs with +6. After the game has been played, look at the team you bet on. If you bet on the favorite, you would subtract six points from their final score. If you bet on the underdogs then you would add six points to their final score. That would determine if the team you bet on overcame the spread. So if the Bulls win against the Knicks 80-70 and you bet on the Bulls, you would win the spread because they won by more than 6 points. If you bet on the Knicks, you would lose because they lost by more than 6 points. However if the final score had the Bulls winning 72-70, the Bulls would have lost the spread because they only won by two points. People who bet on the Knicks to cover the spread would have won money in this situation.
When you bet on the spread, you will get less money back than betting on the team to win since the spread is supposed to give both teams the same amount of chance.
Money Line
When you place a bet on the money line, it means you are betting on one team to win with neither team having points added or subtracted.
If the New York Jets play against the Atlanta Falcons, you make a decision on which team will win with one team being the favorite over the other team. For this situation, let’s say according to the odds, the Falcons have -200 while the Jets have +175. That means the Falcons are more likely to win over the Jets. With the odds being as they are, if you wanted to bet on the Falcons, you would need to bet $200 to win $100. If you bet $100 on the Jets and the Jets win, you will win $175.
Total
This is the final number of points scored after a game between both teams. Some people can see predictions for how many points will be scored by the end and people can wager bets if they think the total will be higher or lower than the prediction. The people who predict the final total can predict individual totals for both teams as well. This could also apply to how many wins a team won during a normal season. This happens mostly with football. A number will be predicted how many times a team will win during the next season and people could bet if they think the actual number will be higher or lower.
Where Can I Place Bets
First, you will want to check on the gambling laws for where you live. Only 26 of 50 states allow you to legally bet on sports. Many websites allow you to bet on sports. if it’s legal in your state. It’s up to you if you want to start betting on sports.
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Many people get a thrill from betting on sports. If you decide to bet, remember to only wager what you can afford to lose. But if it’s legal in your state and you think you can pick winners of games before they happen, why not add a little spice to the sports game you are already watching? Leave a comment below if you found our guide to sports betting helpful.
