Sports Betting 101: A Beginners Guide to Odds, Spreads, Terminology Sports Illustrated

The moneyline odds will differ depending on which teams are playing and which sportsbook you use to place your bets. Before making any wagers, look at all of this information to know how much you’ll need to put down and how much you could win. For negative (favorite) odds, the equation is your stake x 100, divided by the odds. So, if you are betting $50 on a team with -200 odds, it would be 50 x 100 divided by 200, which equals $25. So your total payout would be $75, because again, you get to keep your original bet total should you win the bet ($25 winnings plus original $50 bet).

Wholesale odds are the “real odds” or 100% probability of an event occurring. This 100% book is displayed without any bookmaker’s profit margin, often referred to as a bookmaker’s “overround” built in. The only difference is that the UK odds are presented as a fractional notation (e.g. 6/5) whilst the Hong Kong odds are decimal (e.g. 1.2).

Bet the Moneyline: Odds and Lines for NFL, NBA, and more

It has plenty of betting options, like parlay bets and moneyline betting. They have an extensive rewards program that allows you to get freebies and comps. Betting the moneyline on the underdog can give you a nice chunk of change. This doesn’t happen often, so make sure you’re looking at all the information and statistics before placing one of these bets. If you do bet on the underdog, you’ll want to make sure you know exactly how much you’ll bet and how much you’ll win if your team comes out on top.

In season-long fantasy sports betting, you draft a team of players before the season begins and compete based on their stats over the course of an entire season. This was the traditional format of fantasy sports where a group of friends would get together for a live draft and then battle it out over several months using the same players. Proposition bets, commonly known as prop bets, offer a fun and diverse way to engage with various aspects of a sports event beyond the traditional bets on the outcome. They are wagers placed on specific occurrences or non-occurrences during a game or larger event.

This will help you develop your strategy without having to worry about breaking the bank. BetUS has been helping novice bettors since 1994, meaning they boast three decades of experience in the industry. Their easy-to-use sportsbook covers a wide range of sports, leagues, and events.

BetUS also has tons of bonuses and promotions for both new and existing customers. Ultimately, familiarizing yourself with the different types of sports bets will help you differentiate between riskier and more favorable wagers. In this instance, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens are facing each other in the NFL. The Chiefs are priced at -150 to win the game, while the Ravens priced at +125. The negative odds make Kansas City the favorite, while the positive odds make Baltimore the underdog. So, if you bet $110 on the Nets ATS, you would have made a $100 profit for a $210 total payout.

They also offer generous promotions and contests across a variety of sports, in addition to first-rate customer service. You’ve chosen a sport, selected a wager, and entered your stake. Check all the details of your wager and click the ‘Place Bet’ button to confirm. In the modern era, most fixed-odd betting takes place between a betting organisation, such as a bookmaker, and an individual, rather than between individuals.

As a beginner, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the excitement of betting. To avoid making mistakes, follow these tips to maximise your stake. You can bet pretty much anything, but bigger bets will give you bigger payouts. If you think you might be addicted to betting, or you have a friend or family member who’s a problem gambler, we urge you to make use of the following resources. Let’s say you are from Williamsburg, and you want to place a bet on the Nets to win this game.

• One of the first and most important aspects of sports betting every new player must learn is what the different symbols mean.
• They are represented as fractions, such as 5/1 (read as “five to one”).
• The more betting lines you include in the parlay, the higher the amount you could possibly win.
• Positive values denote how much profit you can make from a $100 bet, while negative values indicate how much you need to bet to make a $100 profit.

Propositions (Prop Bets)

In the European Union (EU), sports betting legality varies among member states. Generally, the EU does not criminalize sports betting, but requires operators to obtain specific licenses within individual countries. Key directives, such as the Services Directive and consumer protection laws, influence the regulatory landscape.

Implied probability tells you what chance the odds represent, before considering the sportsbook’s margin (“vig”). This is a list of sports bet types common to the United States. Tracking your wagers can also provide you with insights into your betting patterns, identifying strengths and weaknesses in your strategy. This will allow you to develop more profitable and sustainable strategies.

The same is true whether you are looking at a spread or a moneyline, but how these numbers are used is very different. If you want to bet predominantly on sports with moneyline markets, you should focus on American sports like the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA. You may also switch your odds to American formats if you find it more comfortable. If you want to maximize your profits, using smart moneyline betting strategies is crucial. DraftKings is a major contender when it comes to sports betting.

Basically, it’s your flat fee/commission for being able to place the bet. So, if two guys bet $110 on different sides of the over/under, the house wins the money the loser ultimately lost as well as the winner’s $10 vig. The house takes in $220, pays out the winner $100, pockets the loser’s $110, and pockets the winner’s $10 vig.

Also, depending on how the betting is affected by jurisdiction, taxes may be involved for the bookmaker and/or the winning player. This may be taken into account when offering the odds and/or may reduce the amount won by a player. First-time bettors always get burned by the spread early on. Handicappers make fine careers setting spreads, so it stands to reason that they know more about odds and trends than most novice gamblers.

The first step is to set up a budget or the size of your bankroll. It’s an amount you can afford to lose so you don’t dip into money that you need for living expenses. These are slower-paced and thus not as popular with the sports bettors who are looking for an edge. It takes longer to get paid out, and if something goes bad to one of your top players, you can have a bad run over the course of an entire season. That’s why there are more pros in daily fantasy than season-long.

Each EU country sets its rules, impacting online and offline betting. Certain countries have recently updated regulations (such as the GlüStV 2021 in Germany13), while the EU works to harmonize diverse laws. In Asian betting markets, other frequently used formats for expressing odds include Hong Kong, Malaysian, and Indonesian-style odds formats. Ben Morris is a sports and casino writer who started with Gambling Nerd in 2024. However, he has more than a decade of experience in the industry. He has a particular interest in European soccer, but also enjoys betting on tennis and playing online slot games.

If you’re looking for a guide that focuses solely on betting on sports for beginners, you’ve come to the right place. Returning to our example, let’s look at the option in the far left of the betting menu. The top number is what is called “the spread.” The bottom number may look familiar, as it’s the same rate the sportsbook offered for the over/under bet.

The Vikings are the moneyline underdogs, and betting $100 will get you a total of $244 in winnings. But if you bet on the Bengals, you would have to wager $172 to win $100 – making a total of $272. Moneyline betting is the easiest bet you’ll find in a sportsbook. You bet on a team to win the game when you wager on a moneyline.

It’s effectively the tax you must pay to place a bet and largely how the books make their money. Our complete guide on how to handicap sports has all the details for you to research and predict games on your own but I’ll give a short breakdown here. If you bet on the Patriots -7, they must win the game outright by more than 7 points. If you bet on the Jets +7, they must either win the game outright or lose by 6 points or less. If they lose by exactly 7 points, the bet is considered a push and is canceled. Reputable betting sites provide tools such as deposit limits and time limits to help manage your behaviour.

She serves as a host for Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio and has her own podcast, “Waiver Wired,” pinup casino on the Extra Points podcast network. Piacenti is also a featured expert on MLB Network’s “Bettor’s Eye” and is a member of the esteemed Tout Wars, the fantasy baseball battle of the experts. She is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and is a 2020 Scott Fish Bowl finalist.

To put it in even simpler terms, at -188 odds, she would have to invest $188 for a $100 profit. If k is any positive number then X to Y is the same as kX to kY, and similarly if “to” is replaced with “in” or “for”. For example, “3 to 2 against” is the same as both “1.5 to 1 against” and “6 to 4 against”.