Looking to get into the world of sports betting? In this article we will cover everything you need from understanding what a sports bet is and how to get started placing wagers.
First things first, what is a sports bet? Wikipedia defines it as:
Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome
Wiki
There is little question that betting on sports is one of the biggest and most popular forms of wagering across the world, however there are numerous of different ways for you to create action betting on the games.
Straight Bets
The majority of sports enthusiasts are probably aware of the easiest bet in sports; the straight bet. It can also be the most common bet placed by sports bettors especially in regards to sports such as football and basketball. A betting lines are arranged, which is sometimes called a point spread, and you can either gamble on a favorite and give-up the actual points or put a bet on the underdog and get the points. The favorite must win the game by greater than the set point spread in order to cash-in. The underdog has to win outright or lose by fewer than the point spread to “cover” and win the bet. Ties in this situation are referred to as a “push” and no money is lost or won.
Total Line Bets
The second-most well-known wager in many sports is on the total line. In this sort of sports wager, a number will be arranged for the combined final score of both teams and you then wager on the real score staying “under” that total or going “over” the actual set number. Quite often you are able to wager on a total line by each half of a game when it comes to football and in baseball.
Money Line Bets
If you make a money line bet, you will be choosing a team to win straight-up without any point spread. The risk involved will be the amount you must wager to choose the favorite instead of the amount an individual stand to make if you pick the underdog. These types of wagers tend to be released for all major sports, however they primarily come into play for baseball and hockey. For example; if the Twins are preferred at home against the Giants the money line might read White Sox (+120) vs. Twins (-135). You would stand to make $120 on a $100 wager on the Giants should they win and you would need to risk $135 to win $100 on a Twins victory.
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Parlay Bets
The act of grouping together two or more picks into a single bet is known as a parlay. It could be as few as two independent choices all the way up to a particular sportsbook’s set limit (10-12 picks). The actual betting odds on a parlay payout tend to be altered accordingly based on the overall variety of picks you group collectively. Generally they start at the 13-to-5 return in your favor for a two-team parlay and can proceed as high as 645-to-1 for a 10-team parlay. The trick to cashing-in on a parlay is that your entire picks must win or the whole parlay is lost. Parlays can be a very significant risk/high reward sports wager as well as not always appropriate for the faint of heart.
Teaser Bets
A teaser bet is a twist on a parlay in that you are still grouping several picks together with a single bet, however you could now tweak the point spreads in your favor in return for a lower total payout. If the sportsbook is offering a six-point teaser wager, then a 3.5-point underdog would now be getting 9.5 points. The downside to teasers will be that they tend to be still not easy to hit and your overall payout is lowered considerably using the tweaked betting lines. Usually a straight-up three-team parlay would pay out 6-to-1, however once an individual decide to tease the spread in your favor, the actual payout falls to 2-to-1 on a winning bet.
Head-To-Head Bets
For sports such as NASCAR along with professional golf, a common technique to bet these games is to bet on the head-to-head final results between just two opponents. Whichever one finishes the race or the competition in the higher position wins. Often a money line will be attached to each competitor as a way to handicap the match. This type of wager is very popular for sports such as these thinking about just how hard it can be to pick an outright winner among a very large field.
With all of these sports betting options, you can choose to make them on betting platforms or as simple as a side bet with friends.
