For years, betting on sports was taboo. Even though a vast
number of people enjoy wagering on the outcome of sporting events – and always
have throughout human history. In many places, sports’ betting was limited to
secret transactions made through bookies.
Now, thanks to the Internet and the explosion of gambling online, anyone can enjoy sports
betting. Let’s go through some basics that you need to understand if you want
to get into the action!
Understanding Sports Betting—The Vig
Sports betting parlors don’t make money through gambling.
Their goal is to get even amounts of money bet on each side of a wager. They do
this by altering the odds to make one or the other side more favorable, depending
on where most of the action seems to be going.
The way they ensure a profit is by charging a little
extra, usually five percent, on a loss. This is the “vig” or “juice.” So, for a
$100 bet, you could win $100 but lose $105. A
Parlays, Teasers and More
Straight bets aren’t always exciting enough for some
people, which is why online sports betting sites offer fun exotic bets you can
try. Many of these bets involve more than one team winning.
In a parlay, you pick
multiple teams and if you win them all, you receive a much larger payout.
With a teaser,
all your teams have to win, but you get bonus points that you can use to adjust
the spreads to your liking.
There are also if
bets, where your bet on a second game only goes if you win the first game,
and a variety of others that you will find on the sites.
Read up on the latest gambling news to get
good betting tips.
Spreads and Money Lines
Since all sports match-ups are not created equal, the odds
makers have created a way to even things out so that money will be bet on both
sides.
This equality usually comes in the form of a spread or a
money line. A spread means that the underdog team gets additional points.
For example if the Packers are a favorite over the
Dolphins by a five point spread, the
Packers must win by more than five for a bet on the Packers to win.
On the other hand, a money
line gives odds to those taking the weaker side. If the money line on the
Phillies-Diamondbacks game were $110 to $90, a bet on the Phillies would have
to lay $110 to win $90, while a bet on the Diamondbacks would be $90 to win
$110.
The idea is to create bets that are pretty close, so that
players will choose them in more or less equal proportions. In this way, the
odds makers won’t take a huge loss if an unexpected result occurs.