1 – What Is Sports Betting?
Sports betting is what it sounds like. You place a bet on a sporting event and win a set amount of money if the team or player you bet on wins. If the team or player you bet on doesn’t win you lose your bet.
You can place a wide range of different bets and find many different places to bet and ways to make the bets.
Placing bets on sports is a way for some people to make money and a way for many to enjoy watching a contest more than if they didn’t have money riding on the outcome. Only a few people are able to make money, in the long run, betting on sports, but millions of people bet on events every year.
2 – Plus and Minus Lines
Plus and minus line bets are the most common wagers in sports betting. This is also called spread betting.
Most contests are listed with a favourite and an underdog. The favourite gives points or runs and the underdog receives points or runs.
Here’s an example:
Miami vs Dallas
Plus and Minus Lines
MIAMI
+3
DALLAS
-3
In this game, Miami is playing at Dallas and Dallas is the favourite and Miami is the underdog. The home team is usually listed second.
If you bet on Dallas you give 3 points. This means that for you to win Dallas has to win by 4 or more points.
If you bet on Miami you get 3 points. This means you win if Miami wins the game outright or if they lose by 1 or 2 points. You also win if the game ends in a tie.
If Dallas wins by exactly 3 points you don’t win or lose.
3 – Money Lines
Money lines are a type of bet where you bet on who you think is going to win the contest. On a money line bet you don’t need to worry about how many runs or points a team wins by.
The money line is still listed with a plus or minus number, but they signify how much you need to bet or can win.
Favourites are listed with a minus number and underdogs are listed with a positive number. At first, it can be confusing to understand how to read money lines but once you get the hang of it, you’ll quickly be able to see the possible bets.
On a money line for a favourite with a negative number it means you have to bet this much to win 100.
Here’s an example:
This means that you have to risk 200 for the chance to win 100.
On a money line with a positive number for an underdog, the number is the amount you win if you bet 100.
Here’s an example:
This means that if you bet 100 you win 180 when San Diego wins.
In evenly matched games or contests you might see a money line with both teams at – 105 or – 110. This means you can bet on either team by betting 105 to win 100 or betting 110 to win 100.
You don’t have to bet 100 on the plus lines or the total amount on the minus lines. You can bet any amount between the minimum and maximum amount the sports book will accept. The numbers are adjusted to fit your wager.
Here’s an example:
If you want to bet on San Diego at + 180 but only want to bet 50, here’s how the numbers work. Since you can win 180 if you bet 100, you can win 90 if you bet 50. If you want to bet 25 you can win 45.
To quickly determine the amounts divide 100 by your bet amount and then divide the line by the result. 100 divided by 50 is 2, and 180 divided by 2 is 90.
You can use the same concept if you want to bet less on a minus money line. If you want to bet 100 instead of 200 on Baltimore at – 200 you bet 100 to win 50.
If you want to bet more than 100 or the negative line you simply multiply the possible win by your bet divided by 100 or the minus line.
4 – Over/Under
The over/under is a bet on the combined score of both teams in a game.
Here’s an example:
- New Orleans at Houston 48 ½
In this example you bet on whether the total score of both teams will be over or under 48 ½.
If you think the two teams will score more combined points you bet on the over and bet on the under if you think the final scores will total less than the line.
Over/under bets are an easy way to get started betting on sport, but the sports books are good t setting these lines and you may quickly learn that picking winners is harder than it looks.
You can find over/under lines on basketball, baseball, American football, football that’s known as soccer in some places, and many other sports.
5 – Vig
The vig is the main way sports books make a profit. It’s a fee you pay when placing bets.
The fee is built into money line bets and is represented by the difference in the lines. If the favorite is listed at – 200 and the underdog is listed at + 180 the difference between what you can win and have to wager creates an area of profit for the book.
The most common form of vig is when you bet on plus and minus lines. You need to risk more than you can win in these situations.
Common vig numbers are betting 110 to win 100 and betting 105 to win 100.
When you place a wager with vig and win you get your vig back, so you only pay vig when you lose.
Here’s an example:
If you bet 110 to win 100 and win your bet you get back 210. But if you lose you lose the entire 110.
When the sports books accept the same amount of bets on each side of a contest they lock in a profit.
Here’s how it works.
The book takes 11,000 to win 10,000 on team A and 11,000 to win 10,000 on team B. If team A wins the book gives the winners back their 11,000 and 10,000 from the losers. This leaves a profit of 1,000 for the book. The same thing happens if team B wins.
Sports books rarely receive the exact same amount on each side of a contest, but over the course of hundreds or thousands of games or matches they lock in a profit as long as they post good lines.
More Examples
The payout, unless stated otherwise, is figured at odds of 10/11. This means that a wager of $1.1M would win $1M and return $2.1M
This is called a straight bet. A straight bet is the most common type of football bet.
The point spread: When betting on football, the team you bet on must "cover the spread." This means the team must win or not lose by a predetermined margin of points.
Example:
| Bet No. |
Team |
Line |
| 101 |
Jets |
|
| 102 |
Dolphins |
-6 |
Note: The bottom team is always listed as the home team unless otherwise noted.
The point spread is always placed to the immediate right of the team that is favored. If you bet the Dolphins, the Dolphins must win by 7 points for you to win your bet. If you bet the Jets, any of the following will declare you a winner.
(a) The Jets win the game.
(b) The game ends in a tie.
(c) The Jets lose the game by not more than 6 points.
If the Dolphins win by exactly 6 points, the wager is declared a push and all money is refunded.
Point spreads change constantly. The listed point spread at the time you make your bet may be different from the point spread when the game starts. The point spread that is listed on your ticket is your official spread.
| Bet No. |
Team |
Line |
Total |
Money Line |
| 101 |
Jets |
|
40 |
+160 |
| 102 |
Dolphins |
-6 |
|
-180 |
Total: Total points scored in a game. Also called the over/under.
You may wager that the total score of the game will be more or less than the number listed. It makes no difference which team covers the spread. Simply add the final score of each team. The payout, unless stated otherwise, is figured at odds of 10/11.
In some cases, bettors have the option to discard the point spread and bet on which team will win. This is called betting on the "Money Line"
The Money Line: Odds for a game based on $1.00. A "minus" (-) preceding the number indicates the team is a favorite. A "plus" (+) preceding the number indicates the team is an underdog.
| Bet No. |
Team |
Line |
Total |
Money Line |
| 101 |
Jets |
|
40 |
+160 |
| 102 |
Dolphins |
-6 |
|
-180 |
The Dolphins' odds are -180, meaning an $1.8 bet would win $1M for a return of $2.8M. The Jets' odds are +160, meaning a $1M bet would win $1.6M for a return of $2.6M.
