Sports Betting Guide for Beginners

There are some circumstances under which we absolutely would not suggest for you to engage
in the practice of sports betting. For instance, if you don’t have much money and are thinking
that sports betting will act as some sort of “get rich quick” scheme, then you might want to turn
the other way. You can make a lot of money on sports betting, but no one wins every time. You
also wind up with a lot of your money stuck in venture if you’re betting through online
sportsbooks, so even those who get rick may not always do so quickly.

While it is often our opinion that sports betting is different from other types of gambling, those with
particularly addictive personalities may still be likely to spend too much and hurt their financial
lives in the process.

Sports betting is not legal in all states And in some places where it is legal, there are certain
rules regarding what you can and cannot place bets on. Now, since many sportsbooks are
online and not situated in one physical location, these rules might be bendable for some.

Fundamentals of the Sports Betting Process

Reading the Lines on the Sportsbooks
 The first of the basics you will have to learn if you want to be a sports bettor is
how to read the lines. The most important lines will be determined by the sport
upon which you are betting. For instance, in baseball and hockey, most sports
betting is done by the money lines. In basketball and football, most bets usually
pertain to the point spreads. There are also numbers known as the over/under or
O/U, which more casual bettors will generally refer to as totals.
 There are two ways in which you’ll usually see money lines written. The one
you’ll see most commonly is the American system, but there’s also a decimal
system that you may run into on occasion.

 American lines, Lines written in this fashion may seem counterintuitive, largely because
positive numbers actually indicate which team is expected to lose, whereas negative
numbers signify that the team in question is favored by the sportsbook. So if the Texas
Rangers are given a money line of +120 in a game that has the Miami Marlins listed at -
130, then the Marlins are favored while the Rangers are considered to be an underdog.

+/- >

+ IS LEAST FAVORED

- IS MOST FAVORED
 What do the numbers mean? To understand this, think of everything in terms of $100. If
you’re betting on the Marlins in the example above, you’d have to put up $130 to win an
extra $100. However, if you’re betting on the underdog in the example above, you’d
have to lay down $100 to potentially make an extra $120. That isn’t to say that you’re
actually required to bet that much, but this gives you an idea regarding the ratios. So if
you bet $40 on the Rangers, you could potentially make back $48.

 Decimal lines

Let’s use our above example of the Rangers and the Marlins, but let’s change their
respective odds to 2.2 and 1.77, with the former still representing the underdog and the
latter still representing the favored team. Basically, what you’re looking at is an
approximation of how much you will return if you bet $1, meaning that you will get a total
of $2.20 back if you place a winning bet on the Rangers. This accounts for both the
dollar you put down, and the $1.20 you receive in winnings. If you multiply these
numbers by 100, you’ll see that this is in line with the numbers we gave for the American
lines. And if you subtract one from the decimal line, you’ll get the number you’ll receive
in winnings alone. As you can see, reading decimal lines can actually be faster than
reading American lines once you understand the numbers.

Various Kinds of Bets You Can Make

 Money lines, most common - You will especially be betting on money lines if you prefer
to bet on baseball or hockey. In basketball and football, it is generally only common to
bet on money lines if you are betting on the underdog, as money lines for each of those
two sports tend to be rather high and charge a lot of juice on favored teams. When you
bet on the money lines, literally all you are betting on is whether or not a particular
team is going to win the game

 over/under bets, also known as O/U bets or totals These are not the most
common type of wager, but they occur with relative frequency in all major sports. The
over/under is basically the number of points (or runs in baseball and goals in hockey)
expected to occur between both teams. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses, or even how
many points are scored by each team. All that matters is the total between them.
The reason that totals play is also referred to as an over/under bet is that you are betting on
which side of the given number you expect the actual total to fall. So in a game between two
teams in which the given total is 224, you might bet under if you expect a low-scoring game in
which neither team clears 100 points. You might also bet over if you expect both teams to score
well over 115, or even if you just expect one team to score enough to clear the difference.
If, however, the above game results in a combined score of 224, the game will result in what is
known as a push. This means that nobody wins, and all of the money is refunded. Sometimes,
sportsbooks will try to prevent this from happening by setting totals numbers with half-points on
the end. So if you see an O/U total set at 224.5, then you can win by betting under if the
combined score is 224 or less, and you can win by betting over if the combined score is 225 or
more.
 Point spreads, also known as run lines or puck lines if you are betting on
baseball or hockey, respectively. The point spread will always be the same number for
each team, and again the positive number will denote which team is the underdog while
the negative number indicates the favorites. The money lines for each team, however,
may differ slightly. Point spreads are the most common type of bet for basketball and
football games.
The way point spreads work is that the favored team has to win by more points than indicated
by the spread, while the underdog has to either win the game or else simply lose by fewer
points than indicated by the spread. Since there are technically more outcomes that will allow
the underdog to beat the spread, you will sometimes see more juice charged on the underdog
when you are betting on point spreads
 Parlays are similar to betting point spreads, but in this case you are betting on more
than one game at the same time. The reason that some people like to bet parlays is that
the odds appear to be greater. The money line for a parlay will usually be determined by
taking each of the decimal lines for the teams that you have wagered on, multiplying
them by one another, and converting them to the appropriate money line.

 Futures, prop bets. Futures usually account for a team’s entire season, up to and
including the major championship game for their sport (such as the Super Bowl for
football or the World Series for baseball). However, they may simply lead up to smaller
championships, usually with a slightly smaller payout. Proposition bets, or prop bets, are
generally bets on specific stats.