Breaking Down Sportsbook Bets

Sports gambling is riding a massive wave of popularity. Apps like FanDuel and Draft Kings have partnerships with professional leagues. You can't watch a game without seeing a commercial advertising sports gambling. Heck, even announcers openly talk about sports gambling while calling the game. All of this popularity has brought sports gambling to players that otherwise may not have gotten into it. But they sure are glad they are. Sports gambling can be fun, exciting and thrilling. It turns a regular game into a tense affair, as each play could determine if you win big or lose big. And the big difference with sports gambling is that there's no 'house edge'. You're picking between two teams - or players - in hopes yours will win. Of course, some teams are better than others and crazy things happen in sports all the time, but with some luck and some research, you can hit some bets and boost that bankroll in no time. What makes sports gambling so great is that there are so many different types of bets you can place on just one game. Today, we're going to take a look at some of the more popular ones in hopes of educating everyone out there so that the next time you're ready to place a bet, you'll know exactly what you're doing. Let's get into it!

The Spread

This is one of the most popular bets. It can be placed for sports like football, baseball, soccer, hockey, basketball - anything where points are scored. The 'spread' is a predetermined amount of points that the odds makers think a game will be played within.

So for example, let's say we have Team A and Team B. Team A is the better team and Team B is the underdog. In our spread, the odds maker have placed it at 5. Since Team A is the better team, they will be -5, meaning they are giving 5 points. Team B will be +5, meaning they are getting 5 points.

If you place a spread bet on Team A, you need them to win the game by MORE than 5 points. So if the final score is 30-20, the betting score would be 25-20 and you would win. If Team A wins 23-20, then the betting score would take 5 points away and you would lose.

If you place a spread bet on Team B, they could LOSE the game but you could still win your bet. So if Team B loses the game 23-20, you would still win your bet since the spread is giving them 5 points. So the betting score would be 25-23 in favor of Team B.

These bets will come with odds like -110 or -101. That means that in order to win $100 on a spread bet you would need to risk $110 or $101.

You can place a spread bet on the entire game or on the first half, first quarter, first 5 innings and more.

The Money Line

This is a straight up bet. No team is getting or giving points. The team you pick needs to win the game outright. When placing a money line bet, you'll see numbers like -150 or +150. The -150 is always going to be on the better team - the favorite. So if you placed a money line bet on Team A at -150, that means you would need to wager $150 just to win $100 back. That's because Team A is favored, so the risk isn't as high.

If you placed a money line bet on Team B at +150, that means a bet of $100 would win you $150. Because Team B is the underdog, they're going to pay out more if they win. But because they're not favored, it's a riskier bet.

You can place a spread bet on the entire game or on the first half, first quarter, first 5 innings and more.

Over/Under

This bet is regarding the total points in a game. Let's say the odds makers set the over/under at 40 for a football game. If you place a bet on the over, that means you need the COMBINED score of the game to be over 40. A bet on the under means you need the COMBINED score to be under 40.

Sometimes, the over/under will have half points like 40.5. In this case, if you were to bet the under and the combined score was 40, you would win your bet.

Like spread bets, the over/under comes with odds around -110, meaning a wager of $110 would win you $100.

You can place a spread bet on the entire game or on the first half, first quarter, first 5 innings and more.

Parlay

Parlays are a great way to win big - but they come with a catch. Parlays are 2 or more bets on the same ticket. And they don't have to all be money line bets. They can be a combination of anything. In order to hit on a parlay, EVERY bet you place must hit. Even if only 1 bet doesn't hit, your entire parlay is a loss.

Because of this, parlays have some big time payouts. And the more bets you have in your parlay the higher the payout will be. That's because you need every single bet to hit. These are a fun bet, but one of the most risky bets you can place.

Game Props

These bets are when you bet that a specific action will happen. Let's take football for example. You could place a prop bet that Player A will score 2 touchdowns or that Player B will have 100 rushing yards. In baseball, you could place a prop bet that Player A will hit a homerun.

You can place a prop on which team will score first, which quarter will have the highest point total, the longest play and more. These are fun and thrilling bets that will have you cheering and rooting for players to get exactly what you need them to get.

Conclusion

There we have it! Our breakdown of 4 of the most popular bets and how they work. Don't forget, a little research can go a long way in helping you hit some of these bets and come out a winner. So what are you waiting for? Place some bets and good luck!