Placing A Bet

Betting on a horse race for the first time — even the first few times — can be an intimidating endeavor. What are all of these options? Here’s all the lingo you need to know before you place your first bet:

An obviously important part of sports betting is the actual placing of wagers with a bookmaker. This is a simple enough process that involves first of all making your selection and then choosing how much to stake. Futures: It is a type of bet where you place a wager on a future prediction of a game outcome, qualification for a major event, or any other possibility. A good example here is placing a futures bet on teams that will qualify for the next super bowl.

The Basics

Winbet – A bet on a horse to finish first.

Place bet – A bet on a horse to finish first or second.

Show bet – A bet on a horse to finish in the money; third or better.

In the money – A horse that finishes first, second, or third.

Across the board – A bet on a horse to win, place, and show. If the horse wins, the bettor collects three ways; if second, two ways (place, show); and if third, one way, losing the win and place bets. It’s actually three bets.

Morning line – The odds that the track handicapper predicts a horse will go off at.

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Exotic (bet) – Any bet other than win, place, or show that requires multiple combinations. Examples of exotic wagers are exacta, trifecta, Pick 6, Pick 4.

Daily Double (or Double) – Type of bet calling for the selection of winners of two consecutive races.

Exacta – A wager in which the first two finishers in a race, in exact order of finish, must be picked.

Box – A betting term denoting a combination bet whereby all possible numeric combinations are covered for certain horses.

Exacta box – A wager in which all possible combinations using a given number of horses are selected. For example, an exacta box using horses 2,4,6 would produce a winning ticket if any two of those three horses finished first and second, regardless of the order (2-6, 4-2, 6-4, etc.).

Trifecta – A bet in which the first three finishers must be selected in exact order.

Trifecta box – A trifecta wager in which all possible combinations using a given number of horses are bet upon.

Pick (6 or other number) – A type of multi-race bet in which the winners of all the included races must be selected. Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Pick 6 are commonly used by tracks in the United States.

Brush Up on Gambling Lingo

Bounce – A racehorse’s especially poor performance on the heels of an especially good one.

Chalk – Betting favorite in a race.

Chalk player – Gambler who wagers on favorites.

Key horse – A single horse used in multiple combinations in an exotic bet.

On the board – Finishing among the first three.

On the nose – Betting a horse to win only.

Overlay – A horse whose odds are greater than its potential to win. Professional bettors target overlays, meaning they target bets that offer better than fair value odds.

Underlay – A horse whose odds are less than than his potential to win. Betting horses whose odds are worse than fair value is a poor strategy.

Parlay – A multi-race bet in which all winnings are subsequently wagered on a succeeding race.

Speed Figure – A metric that rates a horse’s performance in a race, which is determined by a combination of the horse’s performance and the level of competition he/she competed against.

Wheel – Betting all possible combinations in an exotic wager using at least one horse as the key.

Many new bettors struggle with deciding on how to bet on sports. It’s an especially intimidating undertaking for bettors without a background in statistics. However, it doesn’t take a stats genius to learn and enjoy sports betting. Bettors just need to understand probabilities to get started. This Sports Betting 101 Guide will help you get started.

Beginner’s Guide To Sports Betting

Anyone asking themselves, “How does sports betting work?” has come to the right place. Our beginner’s guide will help bettors:

• Understand what they’re looking at when they open a sportsbook
• Create basic strategies to manage their bankrolls
• Find the best sportsbook – or sportsbooks – to create accounts for

While Gaming Today can’t reveal every winning wager, we can give bettors the tools to do it themselves. The best sports betting sites include:

• PointsBet

If any of these sports betting sites are available, they’re solid choices for newbies. We have reviews for each of these top sports betting apps on Gaming Today.

Most Common Types Of Sports Bets

Bettors will find these core bets at every sportsbook:

• Straight bets
• Futures bets
• Prop bets
• Parlay bets

Since these bets are everywhere, understanding them is critical to becoming a successful sports bettor.

Straight Bets

Straight bets are the foundational basics of sports betting. They’re single bets on single games. These include:

• Moneylines
• Point spreads
• Point totals

For example, if a bettor wanted to wager on the Patriots beating the Titans, they could place a moneyline wager on the Patriots. It’s one bet on one outcome. No matter how any other bets turn out, the Patriots wager would win or lose on its own terms.

Futures Bets

Futures bets are high-risk high-reward wagers on a season’s outcome. That includes everything from Championship winners to award winners. A wager on the Packers winning the Super Bowl would be a futures bet. So would a wager on Aaron Rogers winning an MVP award at the end of the NFL season. The odds of betting correctly is challenging, even for sophisticated statistical models. But the rewards are massive for bettors who wager correctly. So, high-risk bettors with strong opinions may be drawn to these.

Prop Bets

Prop bets are also called fun bets. They’re wagers that have nothing to do with a game’s outcome. They’re on random events during the game. They could include everything from the first team to score a set number of touchdowns to the length of the high note at the end of the National Anthem. They’re fun random wagers, and are good for parties.

Parlay Bets

Parlay bets are a string of bets that all have to come true for the bet to win. So, bettors could create a parlay bet that wagers the Broncos and Notre Dame will both win their games. In a parlay bet, both wagers have to win for the parlay to win. There’s no partial credit. It’s risky, but it boosts the odds and increases payouts.

10 Common Question About How Sports Betting Works

Many bettors have similar questions at the beginning. Here are the top ten.

What Is A Point Spread?

Point spreads are the number of points a team has to win or lose by. Here’s what they mean:

• -2.5 means the favorite to win has to win by at least three points.
• +2.5 means the underdog has to lose by less than three points.

That gives bettors who wager on their favorite teams the same chance to win bets as bettors who wager on the best teams.

Any betting guide worth its salt can answer that.

What Is A Moneyline Bet?

Moneyline bets are the most basic of sports betting basics. It’s a bet on who will win the game. Here’s an example from an NBA’s live bet:

• Milwaukee Bucks: -530
• Orlando Magic: +380

Placing A Bet On Oaklawn App

These are the odds from the third quarter, so bettors have a lot of game information to work with. Anyone confident the Bucks would carry the game could wager on the Bucks to win. But anyone confident in a comeback from the Orlando Magic could bet on them to win.

What Is A Favorite And What Is An Underdog?

A favorite is the team expected to win the game. The underdog is the team expected to lose. Favorites are marked with a negative sign, and underdogs are marked with a positive sign. Those signs tell bettors how risky their wagers are. The lower the negative odds, the higher the chances the favorite will win. The higher the positive odds, the lower the chances the underdog will win.

Placing A Bet In Vegas

What Does Over/Under Mean?

Over/Unders refer to point total bets. Bettors who wager over the point total are betting that the two teams will score more combined points than the sportsbook says. Unders wager that fewer the teams will score fewer combined points than the sportsbook says. For example, a sportsbook might offer something like this:

• St. Louis Blues: O 5.5
• Colorado Avalanche: U 5.5

Either the Blues have to score six or more goals, or the Avalanche has to score five or fewer goals.

What Does -125 Mean?

-125 tells bettors a few things. First, these are odds on the favorite. Whichever team this is is predicted to win – in this case, 55.6%. (Online odds calculators can convert sportsbook odds to probabilities.) These odds also mean that bettors have to wager $125 to win $100. Since this team is more likely to win, sportsbooks aren’t going to pay more out than they accept. Bettors may profit individually, but underdog wagers and house advantages are going to keep sportsbook profits up.

Where Can I Place A Bet?

Since placing bets is integral to sports betting, bettors should know how to find sportsbooks. Many states list licensed sportsbook operators either on the Department of Revenue website or the Lottery Division website. (It depends who runs sportsbooks in that state.) Bettors can also search for sportsbooks at casinos or find sportsbook websites and apps in states that allow online wagering.

The list of states with legal online sports betting is growing by the year. Currently, almost two dozen states have legal online sportsbooks or are in the process of launching sports betting. Some of the most popular states where sports betting is legal include Michigan, Colorado, and Illinois.

What Is Live Betting?

Betting on sports games is one thing, but betting during them can be exhilarating. Live betting allows bettors to make wagers during a game. Sometimes, teams will have a rough start, but bring it together in the end. Other teams have a great start then finish poorly. (Broncos anyone?)

Live betting lets bettors take advantage of these changing odds. It tests a bettor’s ability to guess how the game will change during play. It’s a fresh challenge for bettors who pick the basics up quickly.

How Much Should I Bet?

No more than you’re willing to lose. Learn how to bet on sports one at a time, first. Then you can make a few wagers at a time. Eventually, bettors will be able to put several wagers on one bankroll. Professional bettors know how to distribute their bets so they can balance wins against losses. They begin to run their bet slips like sportsbooks run books.

And it all starts from learning how to make one bet at a time.

What Sports Betting App Offers The Best Odds?

It depends. Some sportsbooks offer strong odds on the favorite, the underdog, certain sports, or offer so many boosts and promotions that they beat the competition. Here are some common trends:

• DraftKings: Competitive odds on favorites
• FanDuel: Competitive odds on underdogs
• FOX Bet: Bet boosts that can improve odds over other sportsbooks
• SBK: Competitive odds, overall

No sportsbook will have the best odds every time. The best way to bet on sports is to understand your own preferences, then find a sportsbook that matches them.

What Are The Most Common Betting Mistakes

Betting on your favorite team instead of the best team is the best way to burn through your money. If you keep losing wagers, don’t keep trying to make the same strategy work. Chasing losses doesn’t work in Vegas, and it doesn’t work on DraftKings. Failing to learn and adjust will hurt new bettors more than most things they can do. (It’s as true on the field as it is off the field.)

Understanding sports betting means understanding that feelings can’t be part of your wagers. Deliberate strategies beat feelings over the lifetime of a sportsbook account.

Sports Betting 101 FAQs

Pick a sportsbook. Bettors don’t have to know the ins and outs of sportsbooks to start betting. They just have to choose a licensed brand, create an account, and start betting. Bettors shouldn’t deposit more than they’re willing to lose, though. Responsible gaming is important. They should also take welcome bonuses into account when they’re making their first deposits and wagers.

Some states allow them. Sports betting has spread across the United States, but not every state has implemented it the same way. Some sportsbooks only allow retail sports betting. Others have online and mobile sports betting. Bettors can check their states’ laws to see whether mobile betting is on the table for them.

Here are the states that legalized online sports betting and whose online sports betting industries are live:

• Michigan
• Virginia
• Nevada
• Colorado
• Iowa
• Illinois
• Indiana
• West Virginia
• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• New Hampshire

Reliable payouts, site security, and state regulation. In Colorado, licensed sportsbooks are required to keep enough cash on hand to pay bettors. Most states require security audits before sportsbooks go live so social security numbers aren’t stolen en mass. Finally, state governments can twist sportsbooks’ arms into operating legitimately. The risks of abandoning these protections aren’t worth the potential rewards of using illegal sportsbooks.

Are the “better” odds associated with illegal sportsbooks aren’t worth your social security number?

Yes. Licensed sportsbook sites are audited by either state or independent authorities to ensure player data is safe. The most common security measure is end-to-end encryption. That means a hacker can’t even see what bettors are typing into their screens. It’s the kind of security bettors should expect in an industry handling such sensitive information.

Placing A Bet

In most states, 21. However, three states with legalized (but not necessarily live and operational) sports betting allow 18-year-olds to gamble:

• Washington
• Montana
• Rhode Island

Placing A Bet Online

Each of these states probably has a fascinating history that explains why it lets 18-year-olds gamble. But in the meantime, all we can say is not to blow all your college money at a sportsbook.