DIFFERENT TYPES OF SPORTS BETS EXPLAINED
Here we will be focusing on “fixed odds betting” which is the type of betting commonly used, which most people are familiar with. Fixed odds betting means, that both parties, the punter and the bookmaker agree on the odds at the moment, when the bet in question is accepted and the winnings are paid out in accordance with those odds, even if they have later shifted.
Fixed odds betting generally is quite straightforward and easy to understand, however there is a number of different bet types, which you can place your money on and that is something, which we are going to look in more detail below.
WHAT IS A “MONEY LINE” OR “WIN” BET?
This is the most basic bet type also known as “Match Result”, as the name suggests – you bet on who you think is going to win the game, depending on the sport you are interested in this bet type might have two or three selections, with the consistent ones being “Home” and “Away”, some sports would also have a “Draw” selection where it is applicable. Let’s have a look at each variation below.
“WIN” OR “MATCH RESULT” BET IN TENNIS
A tennis “Win” bet is a good example of when this bet type has just two selections available, in this case ‘Player 1” and “Player 2”, since tennis games under normal circumstances would not end in a draw.
Both competitors in the example above are quite evenly matched, as we can see from the odds, so we can expect a rather close game. If you place a $10 bet on Closs, M to win the game, your return will be $19, while placing the same amount on Chang, H will give you a return of $21, that is if your bet wins, of course.
“WIN” OR “MATCH RESULT” BET IN FOOTBALL
A football game is a perfect example of when a “Win” bet can have three selections, in this case “Home”, “Away” and “Draw” as a football game’s full-time result can potentially be a draw.
As you can see the “Away” team, which in this example is “Brescia” is an underdog, meaning they are thought to be significant less likely win, compared to their opponent “Fiorentina”. Apart from having only two potential outcomes, you can see a third one here – this is “Draw”, which is a valid outcome in football, as a game’s full-time result might be a draw. Here, if you are going to place a $10 bet on the home team, “Fiorentina” you are statistically more likely to win, and your return will be $15.9, however if you decide to place a similar bet on “Draw” or the away team – your return will be much higher ($40.04 or $57) since these outcomes are statistically less likely to happen.
WHAT IS A “TOTALS” OR “OVER/UNDER” BET?
The terms “Totals” and “Over/Under” refer to the same bet type, this is one of the most popular bet types and there are several reasons behind that. First of all, it is quite simple and easy to understand, secondly, most sports support this bet type in a number of different variations and last but not least, if you have a good understanding of a certain sport and are closely following the teams, who you are betting on – you have a good chance of correctly predicting an outcome of an “Over/Under” bet.
In an “Over/Under” market a bookmaker will offer a line of what the game’s sore might be and you have to predict whether the score will be over or under the number, which is offered by the bookmaker. Depending on the sport there can be either a single line offered or multiple lines, so let’s have a look at a couple of examples to get a better understanding of what we are dealing with.
“TOTALS” OR “OVER/UNDER” BETS EXPLAINED
In football you will normally see a lot of Over/Under lines offered and you can place a bet on what you believe the score is going to be. As you can see all lines are halves, but how is it possible to score a half of a goal? Let’s look at this scenario to understand why halves are used: for example a line would be Over/Under 2 goals and you bet on the “Over”outcome, the game ends with a score of 0-2, so you neither won nor lost – your stake is returned. This is why bookmakers always use halves, so that you bet will always either win or lose and they would not have to return your stake.Quite often you will also see team-specific markets offered for football games, if we take the example above: “Aston Villa Over 2.5” – “Aston Villa Under 2.5”, these bet types will allow you to predict how many goals will be scored in the game by each team.
WHAT IS A HANDICAP BET?
Handicap bets are another popular bet type any betting site offer and are used to even out chances of competitors when one of them is thought to be significantly stronger than the other one. Despite being a popular and widely used bet type – many novice sports bettors stay away from handicaps simply because they might at first appear difficult to understand. In fact, it is quite easy, so let’s take a closer look at handicaps.
We are going to take a football game as an example – when dealing with a handicap market you will normally see selection presented the following way.
As you can see each selection has a positive or a negative value assigned to it – these lines are the goals, which have to be added or deducted to / from each team in order to even out their chances.
Looking at this example in more detail, let’s say you are placing a bet on Arsenal +1.5 to win – this would mean that even before the game had started we add 1.5 to their score. Now the game finishes and the final score is 3-2 with Arsenal actually losing, however your bet will win because we add 1.5 to the final score making it now 3.5-3 in Arsenal’s favor.
WHAT IS A POINT SPREAD BET?
Point spread betting is largely popular in basketball and American football, however it is also applicable to a wide range of other sports. When placing point spread bets you are betting on what will the score difference be when the game or the applicable period ends. Point spread betting is easy to understand, which is what makes it so much fun, just in case we are going to give you a quick explanation of how it works with an example from basketball.
If you are betting on “Chicago Bulls (+7)” – this means, that in order for your bet to win Chicago Bulls have to win the game with a score difference of more than 7 points, so for example if the final score will be 113-105 your bet will win, because the difference is 8 points.
If you are betting on “Boston Celtics (-7)” – in order for your bet to win, Boston Celtics have either lose the game with a point difference of no more than 7 point or actually win it.
There can also be a scenario where your bet will be “pushed”, meaning returned back to you and that will happen if the difference will be exactly the number of the spread, so if your bet is again “Chicago Bulls (+7)” and Chicago Bulls win the game with the final score being 114-107 – this makes the score difference exactly 7 and you will get your stake back.
Some bookmakers offer spread lines as halves, for example +7.5 and -7.5 – they do this to make sure, that every bet either wins or loses and they will not have to return your stake.
WHAT ARE ACCUMULATOR BETS?
Accumulator bets are also known as parlays and multi-bets – these are bets involving multiple selections, which all are a part of the same bet. It is normally quite difficult to get an accumulator bet right, however they can be extremely rewarding.
OTHER TYPES OF BETS
SPECIALS
Specials bets, also called as “Prop bets” are bets, which don’t directly depend on the final outcome of a game – these types of bets have a somewhat negative reputation among some experienced punters, as they are perceived as guessing game played for fun rather than for profit, however that is not necessarily true. Some special bets involve more than just guessing and given you have a good understanding of the sport in question and are familiar with the participating teams – you will have a good chance of placing some smart bets.
Here are some examples of what special bets can be offered, however bare in mind that this is only to give you an understanding of what they are – in reality there are lots of different special bets offered for different sports and the number of them available might also differ from one betting site to another.
Team to score the first goal
Time of first goal
Team to score first two-pointer
Will there be a penalty
OUTRIGHTS
Outright bets aim to predict a winner of a tournament or a competition, that a hasn’t yet started. These types of bets don’t refer to any single game, but to the entire duration of the season to determine who will be the champion. Here are some examples of what outright markets can look like.
Champions League Winner
Which player to win the French Open
Super Bowl Winner
Which golfer to win the U.S. Open