There are many reasons why you should bet sports over other forms of gambling.
All casino games have a substantial built-in house-edge except for a few 'close to zero edge' bets in Craps.
In essence, if you play casino games long term and the games are 'straight', statistically you will lose. So
why play? Well it's a lot of fun but also don't forget that there is always the chance of hitting a jackpot - the reason
a lot of people play (e.g. slots). If you hit a big jackpot, then the advice is to bank it. You will be one of the
lucky few who ends up ahead of the game.
Sure, there are ways to win at the big table games. You may be lucky enough to find a biased roulette wheel
(you'd have to be very lucky these days) or you might be good at counting cards which in theory could mean that
you are able to beat Blackjack and possibly some other card games. But in terms of fair, legitimate games, the
advantage lies firmly with the house.
Poker (non-casino) offers opportunity for profit. Here you are playing against 'other players', not the
casino, you just need to be better than the majority of those other players to turn a profit. You can also bluff
and beat a great hand with a lousy hand. When you do this you are in effect beating the odds.
But there is not a huge amount of variety in poker.
Many people like to bet sports, not only because the betting line can be 'beaten' but because of the range of markets
that exist and the degree to which you can get involved. Most sportsbooks now offer live betting or 'in-play'
markets too, so bettors can get involved with the game while it is being played.
Nowadays, both pro bettors and recreational bettors have a wealth of information at their fingertips via the internet
and if you can interpret that information effectively, then you can beat the line / odds that the sporstbooks set.
So what are the popular markets in which to bet sports ? In Europe the main betting market is soccer (European football). In the US it is
American Football or NFL. Both have moneyline / straight up bets, handicap / pointspreads and total
points or goals, as their main markets.
Taking the US as an example, the most popular bets with the highest limits are
NFL pointspreads. These are essentially
handicap bets where the sportsbook tries to even up the teams where necessary, so that both teams attract the betting
action. So if the Minnesota Vikings were playing at the Indianapolis Colts, the linesmaker might give the Vikings +6
on the pointspread and by default the Colts would be -6.
Pointspreads apply to the final points deficit. So if the Colts won by 21-14, a bet on the Colts on
the pointspread would win (take the Colts' total of 21 points, apply the handicap of -6 and the Colts still win by
15-14). The Colts would be said to have 'covered the spread'. The Vikings will have lost (take the Vikings' total of
14 points and apply the handicap of +6 and the Vikings still lose by 21-20). In the event of a tie or 'push', bet
stakes are returned.
Totals or over / under betting applies to the total score in the game. So if in the above example the
totals line had been set at 36, the 'under' bet would have won since the game total was 35. The 'over' total would have
lost. A game landing 'on the number' is a push.
In both pointspread and totals betting markets, the bettor is generally betting at a standard -110 (although this
varies greatly these days) i.e the customer needs to bet 110 USD to win 100 USD. A win would mean a total return of
210 USD.
Moneyline or 'straight up' are where you simply bet on the team to win or lose at the price offered.
Favourites will generally be a short price and underdogs will generally be a big price because of the absence of the
pointspread to even up the teams.
You can bet sports with any of these
sportsbooks
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