Sportsbook Betting

Sprotsbooks betting is the activity of wager on the outcome of any given sports event by predicting what the final outcome may be. Aside from the friendly bets amongst friends and co-workers, sports betting is most commonly done through bookmakers. The legalities of betting on sports varies widely from nation to nation. Whereas the United States tends to make sports betting illegal, many European and Asian countries embrace it. The term "bookies" generally refers to the illicit bookmakers that accept wagers from players where sports betting is strictly prohibited. Ironically, the profession of bookmaker is regarded as an honorable position in many countries around the world. In recent years, online sportsbook have been making their way onto the internet and falling into a very grey area on the legalities of sports betting, especially in the United States. Many online bookmakers typically operate their business outside the United Stated and are not under supervision of US regulations, while some simply do not allow wagers from US gamblers, due to possible legal issues. It's advised to check the laws and regulations of the country and state in which you live before placing any bets with online sportsbooks.

Betting Types

There are typically three types of bets offered through online bookmakers. These bets are:

Straight-up bet
Money line bet
Point spread bet

Straight-Up
Straight-up bets are often used to set the odds on sporting events where the scoring structure renders spread bets to be impractical. Sports such as baseball and hockey, as well as vs. sports such as boxing, will typically use straight-up betting odds. Examples of a straight-up bet would be a 2-1 odds on favorite. The wager would be listing at a price of 1.5 for the favorite and a 3.0 for the underdog since it wins at twice the amount wagered.

Money Lines
Money lines are bets that are quoted in terms of the amount required to win $100 on an odds on favorite or the amount paid out for a $100 bet on the underdog. For example, a baseball game between two teams may have a money-line on the favorite at -300 and on the underdog at +180. What this means is a player who bets on the favorite must risk $300 for every $100 he expects to win OVER the initial bet of $300. So, if a player wishes to win $1000 he must bet the equivalent of $3000. If the player were to bet on the underdog, then the player would win $180 for every $100 he bets. So, if betting on the underdog and the player wishes to win $1000 ($1080 to be exact) then the player would bet $600. With money line bets, the requirement is that the team wagered on wins the match.

Point Spreads
High scoring sports such as basketball and football use the point spread betting system. Typically the point spread system requires that a bettor risk $110 per every $100 that he wishes to win. When betting on the favorite, players can only collect winning if their team wins by more than a specified margin of victory. On the flip-side, players betting on the underdog can collect winning even if their team loses by covering the point spread that had been set by the sportsbook at the time of wagering. Let's look at an example. A game between two football teams (team A and team B) covers the favorite as an expected winner by 21 points. The spread is quoted as -21 for the favorite (team A), +21 for the underdog (team B). If the favorite team beats the underdog by more than 21 points, bettors for the favorite would win $100 on every $110 bet placed. In this scenario, the players who bet on the underdog would loose their $110 wager. If the underdog (team B) lost by less than 21 points they would cover the spread. In this situation both sides are treated as if the favorite (team A) was victorious in the game. In the case that team A wins by 21 points, it's a push and neither side collects and the money is returned. To get around this issue, many sportsbooks will include a half-point (ex: 21.5 points).