Sport Betting 101
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Sports Betting 101 Straight Wagers Point Spread Money Line Wagers Total Wagers Buying Point Proposition Wagers If Wagers Futures Parlays Round Robins Teasers Special Teasers and Parlays. Join now and play today! FanDuel's free sports betting guide is your go-to reference for understanding sports betting. We cover all the basics – straight bets, parlays, teasers and more – that can help you win money wagering on your favorite sports. Our how to bet guide is useful for beginners as well as first-time online sportsbook users.
When you first start to bet on sports, you might feel a little overwhelmed by the amount of options in the sportsbook. There’s nothing to be intimidated about, though, because the reality is that there are just handful of major bet types. In this article, we’re going to run you through them so that you have a clear understanding on how they work at SportsBetting.com and beyond.
Different Bet Types
Moneyline
The moneyline is a type of wager that focuses on the outright outcome of the game. In other words, if the team you bet on wins, you win your bet. The trick here is that you have to understand the odds that are associated with these wagers. Let’s look at an example from SportsBetting.com:
Colorado Rockies +125
Los Angeles Dodgers -150
What you want to key in on here is the plus or minus sign. The plus sign tells you how much you’d win if you bet $100. In this case, a $100 bet on the “underdog” Rockies would pay out $125 if they won. On the other hand, the minus sign indicates how much you’d have to bet to win $100. In this case, a $150 bet on the “favorite” Dodgers would win you $100 if they won.
Of course, you’re not tied to wagering these exact amounts. You can risk whatever amount you’re comfortable with. This just gives you an indication of what the payouts would be on each side.
Point Spread Betting
The point spread is a one of the most common types of bets in football and basketball. This is essentially a margin of victory. Let’s take a look at an example.
Denver Nuggets +4.5
Los Angeles Lakers -4.5
The key here is to take note of the plus or minus sign. The plus sign indicates the “underdog” while the minus sign is assigned the “favorite.”
The minus sign indicates the amount of points that team needs to win by. In this case, the Lakers have to win by 5 points or more to win or “cover the spread.”
As for the Nuggets, since they have a plus sign in front of their odds, they are getting 4.5 points. That means if they lose by four, three, two or one, or win the game outright, that side wins the bet.
Total Betting
The total, which is also known as an over/under, is a way to bet on the game that focuses on the final score. What you’re looking at here is the combined final score of the two teams participating. Here’s an example:
Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers
Sports Betting 101 Reddit
Total: 215.5
What we’re evaluating here is whether the final score of this game will be over – or more than – 215.5 points or under – or less than – 215.5 points. A final score of 125-100 or 114-103 would constitute an over. Final scores of 111-97 or 105-103 would result in the under side winning.
Futures Odds
While moneylines, totals and spreads focus on day-to-day betting (those bets are decided once the game is over), futures are a type of longer-term bet. These types of wagers are decided at a predetermined future time.
Some examples might be betting on which team will win the Super Bowl in the preseason or who’ll win a division or conference. Here is an example of how those odds might look:
AFC West Odds
Kansas City Chiefs -150
Los Angeles Chargers +175
Denver Broncos +1200
Oakland Raiders +1600
When you bet on one of these teams, your bet is locked in until the season ends the division winner is decided. That means it could be months before your wager is graded. The downside is that it takes a while for you to get your payout, but on the plus side, if you’re right the payout tends to be larger than a traditional bet.
Prop Bets
Props are a type of alternate bet where you focus on the performance of a player, team or outcome outside of the final score of the game. Here are a couple of examples:
Jerry Jeudy Total Receiving Yards: Over/Under 77.5
Sports Betting 101 Point Spread
Will the Broncos Score a Touchdown in the First 7.5 Minutes of the Game? Yes +120/No -140
With Jeudy, you’re betting specifically on whether he’ll record more or less than 77.5 yards. Depending on the matchup and how he’s playing, you might see value there. With the Broncos prop, you’re just evaluating how you think they’ll perform in the first half quarter of the game.
Props are a good way to bet on the games if you don’t have a good read on which team will win outright or cover the spread.
SportsBetting.com is a licensed sportsbook in the state of Colorado. Customers 21 years and older within Colorado state lines can wager legally through the website or mobile app beginning September 1. The content above is solely for informational purposes and does not guarantee future winnings.
While not as popular as betting against the point spread in sports gambling, betting the “over/under” isn’t that far behind. Sometimes you may see this as O/U, over-under, over under or simply referred to as “the over” or “the under.”
What does over under mean in betting?
Simply stated, it is the total of the points scored by both teams. While all sports employ an over/under betting option, by far the most money wagered on this bet is in football and basketball. Sports like baseball and hockey offer over/under options, but the vast majority of bets on those sports in based on the established “money line” to pick a winner at a set price.
Unlike a point spread bet in which you are aligning yourself with one team, you’re betting on both teams – either their offenses or the defenses – when betting the over/under. Sports books set over/under scores on games based upon numerous factors.
In the NFL, most over/under scores are set in the low-to-mid 40s.In college football, over/under scores are usually in the high-40 to low 50s – in the Big 12, the land that defense forgot, it can hit the 60s.In the NBA, a typical over/under tends to hover in the 210 range. In college basketball, a standard over/under is between 140 and 155.The hidden factors that come into play in determining a point spread vary by sport, but have common themes. Recent team history is a primary factor that sports books like to exploit. Sports by their nature are a reflective business based on developing trends from previous games (“getting on a roll”) and, if a football team has scored 40-plus points in three straight games, the over/under is going to be higher because sports bettors tend to believe that trends are going to continue. It’s human nature…until they don’t.
If a critical player – a quarterback in football or a dominant scorer in basketball – is out or playing injured, the over/under will drop.
Other factors critical in setting the over/under number include weather (where applicable), an undefinable history between teams (you know Steelers-Ravens games are going to be physical bloodbaths) and injuries that may not jump out to casual fans that mean a lot sports books are all factors that go into creating and setting an over/under line that will draw an even number of fans to both sides of the number.
The key to betting the over/under is to look at a slate of games without knowing what the over/under is and set what you believe it should be based on your knowledge of those two teams. The ones that differ the most from what you think should be are the ones to place your bets on.
One final note that has been a mantra of those who bet the over/under with some consistency – every game is under until it goes over.
If you’re new to sports betting, start with picking and choosing games you’re convinced should go under and get an understanding of how late-game fireworks can botch your plans.