Sport Betting 101

Sports Betting Will Be Here Forever If there is a game or a contest anywhere in the world, be sure someone bets on it. From professional football to Ukrainian table tennis, gamblers will find a way to lay action. Become familiar with the terms and the rules of sports betting.

  • Betting Against the Public is one of the most popular and simplest methods used by Sports Insights members. The logic is simple: always bet against the public. Whichever team the public is loading up on, simply bet the other team.
  • The first step is learning how sports betting works and understanding some of the language and terminology that bettors use. Over the coming days and weeks, we will be using this space to discuss several Sports Betting 101 topics.

Sponsored Content

When you first start to bet on sports, you might feel a little overwhelmed by the amount of options in the sportsbook. There’s nothing to be intimidated about, though, because the reality is that there are just handful of major bet types. In this article, we’re going to run you through them so that you have a clear understanding on how they work at SportsBetting.com and beyond.

Different Bet Types

Moneyline

The moneyline is a type of wager that focuses on the outright outcome of the game. In other words, if the team you bet on wins, you win your bet. The trick here is that you have to understand the odds that are associated with these wagers. Let’s look at an example from SportsBetting.com:

Colorado Rockies +125

Los Angeles Dodgers -150

What you want to key in on here is the plus or minus sign. The plus sign tells you how much you’d win if you bet $100. In this case, a $100 bet on the “underdog” Rockies would pay out $125 if they won. On the other hand, the minus sign indicates how much you’d have to bet to win $100. In this case, a $150 bet on the “favorite” Dodgers would win you $100 if they won.

Of course, you’re not tied to wagering these exact amounts. You can risk whatever amount you’re comfortable with. This just gives you an indication of what the payouts would be on each side.

Point Spread Betting

The point spread is a one of the most common types of bets in football and basketball. This is essentially a margin of victory. Let’s take a look at an example.

Denver Nuggets +4.5

Los Angeles Lakers -4.5

The key here is to take note of the plus or minus sign. The plus sign indicates the “underdog” while the minus sign is assigned the “favorite.”

The minus sign indicates the amount of points that team needs to win by. In this case, the Lakers have to win by 5 points or more to win or “cover the spread.”

As for the Nuggets, since they have a plus sign in front of their odds, they are getting 4.5 points. That means if they lose by four, three, two or one, or win the game outright, that side wins the bet.

Total Betting

The total, which is also known as an over/under, is a way to bet on the game that focuses on the final score. What you’re looking at here is the combined final score of the two teams participating. Here’s an example:

Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers

Total: 215.5

What we’re evaluating here is whether the final score of this game will be over – or more than – 215.5 points or under – or less than – 215.5 points. A final score of 125-100 or 114-103 would constitute an over. Final scores of 111-97 or 105-103 would result in the under side winning.

Futures Odds

While moneylines, totals and spreads focus on day-to-day betting (those bets are decided once the game is over), futures are a type of longer-term bet. These types of wagers are decided at a predetermined future time.

Some examples might be betting on which team will win the Super Bowl in the preseason or who’ll win a division or conference. Here is an example of how those odds might look:

AFC West Odds

Kansas City Chiefs -150

Los Angeles Chargers +175

Denver Broncos +1200

Oakland Raiders +1600

When you bet on one of these teams, your bet is locked in until the season ends the division winner is decided. That means it could be months before your wager is graded. The downside is that it takes a while for you to get your payout, but on the plus side, if you’re right the payout tends to be larger than a traditional bet.

Prop Bets

Props are a type of alternate bet where you focus on the performance of a player, team or outcome outside of the final score of the game. Here are a couple of examples:

Jerry Jeudy Total Receiving Yards: Over/Under 77.5

Will the Broncos Score a Touchdown in the First 7.5 Minutes of the Game? Yes +120/No -140

With Jeudy, you’re betting specifically on whether he’ll record more or less than 77.5 yards. Depending on the matchup and how he’s playing, you might see value there. With the Broncos prop, you’re just evaluating how you think they’ll perform in the first half quarter of the game.

Sport

Props are a good way to bet on the games if you don’t have a good read on which team will win outright or cover the spread.

SportsBetting.com is a licensed sportsbook in the state of Colorado. Customers 21 years and older within Colorado state lines can wager legally through the website or mobile app beginning September 1. The content above is solely for informational purposes and does not guarantee future winnings.

How to bet on sports and useful information

Betting

Are you new to the world of sports betting? Need some help cutting your teeth before getting into sports betting action?

You’ve come to the right place.

SportsBookWire’s betting and wagering 101 series is designed to give you the how-to information you need to know to make more educated bets. Before you can walk the walk, you’ll need to talk the talk. Use these handy reference sports betting pages to help build your knowledge base before making a sports bet.

Wager 101: Sports Betting Terms and Definitions

Common and not so common sports betting terms in the world of sports betting that you need to be familiar with. Do you know what “juice” is? How about what a “chalk” bet is? We’ve got your back.

What does chalk mean in sports betting?What is a sharp in sports betting?

Sports Betting 101 Pdf

Sports Betting and Wagers 101: Types of Bets

Sport Betting 101

What’s an over/under bet? How about betting against the spread? We’ve got you covered on the most popular types of bets and what each type means.

What is a moneyline bet?What is a point spread or “betting the spread” in sports betting?What does over/under mean in sports betting?

Sports betting by State

Legal Colorado Sports Betting

Colorado legal sports betting: How to bet on the Denver Broncos for beginner bettors

Sports Betting and Wagers 101: What do odds lines mean in sports betting?

New to sports betting? You’re going to see a lot of things like -200, +137, etc. tied to sporting events. Here, we break down what those numbers mean to you.

What does -200 mean in sports betting?Sport Betting 101

Sports Bets ands Wagers 101: Important Sports Events (coming soon)

Want to have some action in some of the most popular sports events of the year? We’ve got you covered on a month-by-month basis in our important sports events of the year.

Wager 101: States you can legally place sports bets in (coming soon)

Wondering where you can place a legal sports bet? We break it down for you on a state-by-state basis.

Wager 101: March Madness and College Betting Strategy

What and When is Selection Sunday? – What and when is Selection Sunday? Hint: It’s what helps create March Madness. The rest can be found after the jump.

Betting 101: Tips for rookie/new sports bettors

Betting 101: Avoid these 8 common mistakes rookie sports bettors make

Sports Betting Tutorial

Wager 101: Baseball Betting Tips and Strategy

Using splits to better predict MLB betting upsets – A guide toward using split MLB statistics to help predict upsets in baseball games.

Betting 101: Horse Race Betting Tips and Strategy

Basic tips for betting on horses

Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter

We’re all in this together. The beauty of sports betting is we all are trying to take the house’s money. Lets work together to make everyone a better, more accurate and more profitable sports bettor.

Sports Betting 101

Make sure to also follow us on Twitter for quick-hitting thoughts, trends, analysis, bad jokes and cool re-tweets. We’re at @SportsbookWire.

Online Sport Betting Odds

Sports betting 101 podcast

Sports Betting 101 Baseball

And be sure to check back often, as this area will continue to expand regularly.