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Types of betting odds

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Alternatively, a sportsbook could offer a 50% match deposit. In that case you could deposit $100 and receive $150 to play with. Some sports betting offer 150% or 200% matched deposits, while. Online vs Brick and Mortar Sportsbooks. For generations, sports betting was done only via brick-and-mortar locations. However, with the advent of the internet and mobile platforms, sports betting.

Sports betting is slated to be introduced to multiple new markets every calendar year moving forward. That naturally means hordes of new bettors will constantly enter the marketplace for the foreseeable future. As such, an overview of the most common types of wagers is in order:

Moneylines, run lines and puck lines

Although bets based on point spreads may be more of a 'mainstream' wager, moneylines (in football and basketball), run lines (baseball) and puck lines (hockey) are likely much more straightforward for a novice better to grasp and one of the most popular super bowl bets.

Compare Sportsbooks For Usa

Alternatively, a sportsbook could offer a 50% match deposit. In that case you could deposit $100 and receive $150 to play with. Some sports betting offer 150% or 200% matched deposits, while. Online vs Brick and Mortar Sportsbooks. For generations, sports betting was done only via brick-and-mortar locations. However, with the advent of the internet and mobile platforms, sports betting.

Sports betting is slated to be introduced to multiple new markets every calendar year moving forward. That naturally means hordes of new bettors will constantly enter the marketplace for the foreseeable future. As such, an overview of the most common types of wagers is in order:

Moneylines, run lines and puck lines

Although bets based on point spreads may be more of a 'mainstream' wager, moneylines (in football and basketball), run lines (baseball) and puck lines (hockey) are likely much more straightforward for a novice better to grasp and one of the most popular super bowl bets.

A wager of this type is simply a good, old-fashioned bet on which team will prevail in a sporting event. Typically, when one places a moneyline wager on the team favored to win the game, it will 'cost' the bettor more than when placing another type of wager.

Favorites have a three-digit number with a 'minus' sign preceding it in moneyline bets. This number quantifies how much the bettor would have to wager on that team in a moneyline bet in order to win $100. The minus sign is indicative of the fact that when placing money on a favorite in a moneyline bet, the bettor will to wager an amount greater than the one that he/she will potentially win.

Conversely, underdogs have a three-digit number with a 'plus' sign preceding it in moneyline bets. This number quantifies how much the bettor will win if they wager $100 on that team in a moneyline bet. The plus sign is indicative of the fact that when placing money on an underdog in a moneyline bet, the bettor will potentially win an amount greater than the one he/she puts in.

Incidentally, $100 is the figure because it is a round figure that helps to better illustrate how a moneyline wager works. Moneyline wagers are actually accepted in all types of amounts.

To more specifically illustrate how a moneyline wager would work, let's utilize an NFL example.

In a Cowboys-Giants game where Dallas is listed as the favorite, the moneyline might be listed as such:

• Cowboys -150: This means that a bettor who wishes to wager on the Cowboys to win the game outright will have to bet $150 to win $100. Therefore, if the Cowboys win the game, the bettor receives his/her original $150 back, plus $100, for a total of $250.
• Giants +180: This means that a bettor who wishes to wager on the Giants to win the game outright will win $180 if he/she wagers $100. Therefore, if the Giants win the game, the bettor receives his/her original $100 back, plus $180, for a total of $280.

Point spreads

Point spreads are one of the most popular forms of sports wagers, and they might be the most commonly known to a sports betting novice. The point spread is essentially defined as a projected margin of victory or defeat for the two teams in a given matchup.

• For example, if the Cowboys and Giants are squaring off and the point spread is Cowboys -3, that means Dallas is expected to win by at least three points. Those betting the Cowboys and 'giving up' those points are banking on Dallas to outscore the Giants by at least that much in that game.
• Conversely, those who bet the opposite sides – the Giants +3 – are banking that even if the Giants lose, it will be by less than three points.
• If the Cowboys win the game but only do so by exactly three points, then the line is considered a 'push'. Bettors who wagered either side of the game get their bets refunded.

Payouts on point spread bets depend on the odds assigned to either side of the wager. A favorite may nevertheless have better payout odds than an underdog, depending on the size of the spread. To utilize another NFL example, say the Rams are listed as 14-point (-14) favorites over the 49ers. Despite the fact Los Angeles is clearly expected to win the game, the odds of a two-touchdown or greater win in football are worse than one by a lesser margin.

Therefore, your payout if you bet the Rams to win by 14 or greater might be -105 (must bet $105 to win $100). Alternatively, your payout if you take the 49ers to cover – i.e. lose by less than 14 points – might be slightly worse at -115 (must bet $115 to win $100)

Point spreads are set by oddsmakers with the idea of getting wagers to come in on both teams as evenly as possible. Sportsbooks naturally want to avoid being 'overexposed' to one side of a wager as much as possible. This helps prevent some potentially sizable losses for the casinos.

Totals (over/unders)

Totals, or 'over/under' bets, are another fairly simple concept to grasp, even for the inexperienced bettor. In a totals wager, the bettor is simply putting money down on whether or not the cumulative point/run total of the two teams in a game will be more or less than the total set by the sportsbook.

Totals bets are usually set with odds of -110, meaning the bettor must wager $110 to make $100 (utilizing the '100' figure as the example once again).

A totals bet for a Yankees-Red Sox game might be listed as follows:

• 9.0 runs (-110): The sportsbook has set the projected total number of runs to be scored between the two teams at nine. Bettors who wager that the two teams combined will score either more or less than that total will need to wager $110 to win $100.

As with the point spread example provided above, there is also the possibility of a 'push' when it comes totals bets. In our Yankees-Red Sox example, this would occur if the cumulative run total is exactly nine. Bettors would receive refunds on their original bets in such an instance.

Parlays

Parlay bets are wagers that involve at least two games. There are various forms of parlay bets based on the different bet types already discussed above. In other words, bettors can place point spread parlay wagers, moneyline parlay wagers and totals parlay wagers.

For a parlay to lead to a payout, there cannot be a losing bet within it. 'Pushes' won't disqualify a parlay wager from cashing, however. Parlays also survive eventualities such as a rainout in baseball or a game that ends in a tie. However, the payout in those cases is calculated factoring out that game, meaning that it will be less than if all of the 'legs' of the parlay would have been valid.

Odds for a parlay vary from sportsbook to sportsbook. Once a parlay bet is placed, however, the odds and lines are locked in. That's the case irrespective of any other changes the point spread, projected totals or moneyline involving any of the teams within the parlay undergo after the parlay wager has been made.

The more teams wagered on in a parlay, the better the payout. As with all other wagers, the more difficult the bet appears to be, the larger the reward if it hits.

Teasers

Teaser bets are a form of parlay wager that excludes moneyline bets. In a teaser, the bettor can manipulate a point spread or total within a certain predetermined range in order to improve their odds of winning the bet. Naturally, a teaser will pay out less than a conventional parlay because of the greater probability of the bettor coming out on the winning side.

The one requisite with a teaser bet is that the movement of the line or total must be applied to each team in that parlay. However, it can be applied in different 'directions'.

An example of an NBA teaser on a two-team parlay that incorporates the above would be the following:

• In a Heat-Nets matchup where Miami is favored by 3.5 points, the bettor moves the line an additional four points up to 7.5 points and bets on the underdog Nets to lose by less than that amount.
• In a Warriors-Pelicans game where Golden State is favored by 7.5 points, the bettor likewise moves the line four points, except in the other direction. Therefore, the Warriors' projected advantage goes down to 3.5 points and the bettor then places a wager on the Warriors to cover that spread.

Futures bets

A futures bet is any bet made for an event which has an outcome that will occur in the future. Most future bets involve odds for a team to win a championship or division, but there are other futures wagers available for various sports. In golf, for example, a bettor can wager on a golfer finishing in the Top 10, Top 20, or Top 30 of a future tournament.

Futures odds are set by an oddsmaker based on the potential outcomes.

Seasoned sports bettors know one secret to higher winnings that newbies often miss: Not every sportsbook has the same odds.

However, it's not a secret hidden by some insidious cabal. It's an open secret discoverable by anyone who takes the time to compare sportsbooks. For example, many bettors may have DraftKings or FanDuel accounts. If bettors made accounts based on which sportsbook ad they saw first, they'd miss out on two trends:

• DraftKings tends to have better odds on the favorite to win.
• FanDuel tends to have better odds on the underdog.

It only takes a few minutes of comparing those sportsbooks against each other to figure that out.

But at the time of this writing, there are 10 live sportsbooks in Colorado, with a dozen more on the way. Bettors need to know how to compare odds across many sportsbooks to find the highest potential payouts. Here's how to do it.

Positive And Negative Odds

Viewing a sportsbook for the first time can be intimidating. It's an extensive grid of positive and negative numbers accompanied by a wide variety of bets–some with unclear acronyms. However, it's not as scary as it looks. Here's what the numbers mean and here's how to tell if they're good.

Positive Odds

Positive odds mean the sportsbook thinks the odds of that team winning are less than 50%. A team whose odds are positive is the underdog. Here are DraftKings' odds for the Tennessee Titans/Denver Broncos game scheduled for September 14, 2020:

1. Put a decimal after the hundreds place.
2. Multiply the bet times the number from step one.
3. Add the original bet.

When bettors see positive odds, they should pretend there's a decimal point after the hundreds place. (Remember elementary school math class?) That means they would pretend the +108 is 1.08. That way, bettors can calculate how much their bet will win back. To find out how much a bet would win, bettors would multiply their bet by that decimal number.

Let's say I bet $10 on a Titans win. To find my payout, I would multiply $10 and 1.08.

10*1.08=10.8

So, if the Titans won, I would win $10.80 on a $10 bet.

But we're not done. I would also get my original $10 back. Winners get their original bet back, plus a little more money on top. In this case, winners more than double their money.

If bettors win enough underdog bets, they can make exponential wins on a string of losses. However, betting on the underdog is riskier, because the underdog is less likely to win. Even worse, the higher a positive bet, the less likely it is to occur. Keep that in mind before you blow all your money on +30,000 NFL futures.

Negative Odds

Negative odds mean the sportsbook thinks a team is more than 50% likely to win. A team with negative odds is the favorite to win. Remember DraftKings' odds on the Titans/Broncos game:

1. Ignore the negative.
2. Add a decimal after the odds' hundreds place.
3. Dive the wager by the number from step two.
4. Add the original wager amount back.

Bettors don't need the negative to do the payout math. It just tells bettors the team with the negative odds is more likely to win.

If I wager $10 on a Broncos win, first I need to ignore the negative and divide the odds by 100:

130/100=1.3

Moving the decimal over two places is easy, right? Next, I would divide my wager by that number:

10/1.3=7.69

So, if the Broncos win, I get my original $10 wager back and I get $7.69 on top of that. My total payout is $17.69. (DraftKings rounds it up to $17.70.)

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Bettors win less money on a favorite to win than an underdog. However, the favorite is more likely to win, so bettors who rely on favorites over a series of bets is less likely to eat losses than an underdog bettor. However, the odds are usually close enough that the underdog still has plenty of chance to win. It's up to each bettor to decide how confident they are in the sportsbook's estimation of their teams.

How To Compare Colorado's Sportsbooks' Odds

Here's what makes odds good:

• FanDuel has the best odds on the underdog, because it has the highest number.
• BetMGM and Fox Bet are tied for the best odds on the Broncos, because those odds are five points closer to -100.

Two to five points is a tiny difference. But sportsbooks can have 30 to 50-point differences, and those bigger differences are why comparing sportsbooks is such a vital skill for serious sports bettors.

One Important Caveat

Odds are primarily calculated by determining how likely an event is to happen. That requires a strong understanding of the game and the teams involved. That means that odds can change based on real world events. If Von Miller snaps his leg during a game, the odds are going to change in real time. Odds on subsequent Broncos games will change, too.

For bettors chasing the best odds, that means checking sportsbooks more than once is important. I pulled the odds for the table above in the middle of June 2020. By September 2020, those odds will look different. Then they'll change during the game as the outcome becomes more certain.

If bettors wager up to the last minute, they may want to wait to see whether the odds will increase or decrease on their desired betting line. It's an even deeper layer in the art of comparing sportsbooks.

Quick Tools For Sportsbook Comparisons

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Comparing odds is a basic skill that sports bettors must master. Sportsbooks tell bettors how much their wager will win, so here's a shorthand table to eyeball which lines are worth betting on.

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Both examples in the table above pay out $300 total. However, a bettor has to wager twice as muchup front on the negative odds for the same total payout as the positive odds.

That's why it's so important to compare sportsbooks' odds. If the positive odds are better, then winners will win more money from the same bet. If the negative odds are better, bettors risk less money up front to win the same amount of money. All bettors have to do is look at the sportsbooks and see which ones have the highest numbers for the same event. Excel is my favored tool, but the process can be done just as easily on pencil and paper.