Sports Betting

It's official. Sports betting has hit the mainstream. What used to be reserved for your local, under the table bookie and the sportsbooks of Las Vegas and Atlantic City can now be experienced from the comfort of your own home. More and more states are voting to allow sports gambling and apps like FanDuel and Draft Kings are gaining players at record levels. There are sports talk shows that have dedicated segments on sports betting - and heck, there are even entire shows on mainstream TV that are about nothing but sports gambling. It's really remarkable to see how far this has all come. And with this jump to mainstream, more and more players are eager to get in on the action. But there is a lot to goes into sports gambling other than just picking a team. Today, we are going to take a look at the basics of sports gambling and give you some helpful tips that will hopefully make your sports gambling experience a winning one. Let's get into it!

Sports Betting: The Basics

More and more players are finding their way into sports betting. And it's easy to see why. It's fun. Exciting. Thrilling. It turns an ordinary game into something more as you hang on the outcome of every play. And the biggest reason - it's potentially lucrative. But there's a lot that goes into making a simple bet. Today, we're going to take a look at the three basic bets so that you're better equipped to know what you're getting into the next time you want to place a bet.

For our examples, we're going to use a football game, but know that these three basics bets are universal and are the same for all sports.

Betting The Spread

This is one of the most popular bets in all of sports betting: the spread. So what is the spread? It's the predetermined amount of points that the odds makers think a game will be played in. So let's take our football game for example. Team A is the better team and Team B is the underdog. And let's say the spread is 5 points. That means you'll see a -5 next to Team A and a +5 next to Team B.

What that means is that Team A is giving away 5 points while Team B is getting 5 points. If you're betting the spread, you need your team to "cover". What that means is that they need to win - or lose - within that range of points.

So. If you picked Team A at -5 that means that in the final score of the game, you need Team A to win by MORE than 5 points because they are giving away 5 points - this is because they're the better team, so by giving away 5 they are theoretically making the game more fair. So if the final ends of being 28-21 in favor of Team A - congrats, you win! That's because if you took away the 5 points from the spread, the betting score would be 23-21 and Team A would still be victorious.

However, if you picked Team A and the final game score was 23-20, you lose. That's because if you take away the 5 point spread, the betting score becomes 18-20 and Team A would be the loser.

Now, if you picked Team B you would be getting 5 points. That's because Team B is the less talented team so in order to make things fair, they're getting 5 points. So, if the final game score ends up Team A 20 and Team B 17 - you win! That's because the spread is giving Team B 5 points so the betting score would be 22-20 in favor of Team B.

Betting the spread is fun and thrilling but also nerve racking. Any fluke play at the end of the game can change the score and cause a team to cover the spread or not. But betting the spread also gives underdogs more of a chance of hitting, as they're getting points to start.

You'll see numbers like -101 or -119 next to the teams. That means you'll need to bet either $101 or $119 in order to win $100 back.

Betting The Money Line

This bet is a straight up bet. There are no points being given or taken away. You're picking the winner straight up and that team needs to win in order for your bet to win. When you bet the money line you'll see two different numbers that will determine your pay out. So let's go back to our football example.

Team A is the better team so their money line is -110. Team B is the underdog so their money line is +112.

So what's the mean? It's easy. If you're placing your bet on Team A to win, you need to bet $110 in order to win $100 back. That's because they are the better team who is favored to win. So the risk is lower here and a higher bet won't pay out as much.

If you placed a bet on Team B, your bet of $100 would win $112. Because they are the underdog, a lower bet will pay out more, but it's a riskier bet.

A good rule of thumb here, try and look for 'home underdogs'. Teams usually play better when they are at home. The fans are crazier, the players are more comfortable. A lot of underdogs win at home, making those bets some of the smarter plays.

Betting The Over/Under

This bet is all about points. There will be a predetermined amount of points that the oddsmakers will think BOTH teams will have COMBINED. So for our example, let's say the Over/Under is 40. That means if you bet the Over, you need the combined final score to be over 40 points. The Under means you'd need the final score to be under 40.

Like the spread bet, these bets have odds of around -110 - meaning you'd need to bet $110 to win $100.

Conclusion

There we have it! Our breakdown of some of the basics of sports gambling to help you get started. So the next time you're feeling like dropping down a wager, you'll be better equipped to hit it big!