Making a bet at a sports book is a lot like ordering food at a restaurant.
As a patron, you're given a list of what's available and how much it costs.
In Las Vegas, your "menu" is often displayed in lights on a
façade somewhere toward the back of a casino. Sports betting on
the Internet is a bit more intimate, but the processes are similar. Examine,
for example, the way a straight bet - one in which you bet on one of two
opponents in an athletic competition - is listed. Each event is listed
with either a money line or a spread, and the task at hand is to simply
select which item of the menu (team A or team B) you would like to select.
You do this by either clicking the team name, a check box, or an icon
indicating your choice, and the site generates a form explaining how much
you're wagering and how much you can win. All of your bets are kept in
password-protected online databases with which you can closely monitor
how much money is in your account, how much money is currently in action,
which teams or players you've selected, and how your bets have resulted
in the past.
Following is a rundown of bets that can be made at online sports books:
A money line is a straight wager in which the better gives odds when betting
the favorite and takes odds when betting the underdog. If the money line
for the Detroit Redwings versus the Chicago Blackhawks game is 9 to 5,
with Detroit favored, you place $9 to win $5 on Detroit or $5 to win $9
on Chicago. Of course, keep in mind that the sports book takes a cut of
winning bets for itself.
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Reading money lines seems confusing at first, but it's fairly easy after
you get the hang of it. In North America, money lines are listed using
positive and negative numbers. Let's say the money line for the Yankees
versus the Red Sox game is: NY Yankees (-145) versus Boston Red Sox (+125).
If you pick the Yankees, a winning $145 bet earns $100. If you pick the
Red Sox, a winning $100 bet earns $125. Sports books in other regions,
such as Europe and Australia, use a fraction system. The same bet would
be listed in a book that caters to Europeans and Australians as New York
Yankees (20/29) versus Boston Red Sox (5/4).
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When you're betting against the spread, the underdog is given extra points.
For example, "Pittsburgh (-5 1ž2 ) versus Seattle" means that
Pittsburgh is a five-point favorite, and bets on Pittsburgh only pay if
Pittsburgh wins by six or more points. On the flip side, if you select
Seattle, and Seattle loses by five or fewer points, you still win the
bet. Against-the-spread bets are common wagers for football and basketball
games because both are high scoring sports.
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Bet the over/under when you've got good reason to believe that the final
score will be higher or lower than what the odds makers predict. The only
thing that matters in the outcome is the total number of points scored.
Let's say the over/under for the New England versus Denver game is 45,
and you pick the under. As long as 44 or fewer total points are scored,
whether its 44-0 Denver or 23-21 New England, you win the bet.
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Here's where the odds get tougher and the payouts get bigger. A parlay
is a combination of bets in which you win only if every one of your selections
is a winner. The parlay is the perfect play for the all-or-nothing type
of sports bettor.
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A proposition is a wager on a particular aspect of an event such as how
many strike-outs a pitcher will get or how many completions a quarterback
will make.
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This is a bet, taken well in advance, in which a sports book gives odds
on a certain team or player accomplishing a particular feat, such as winning
a championship. You can pick a football team in August, for example, to
win the Super Bowl in January.
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A teaser is a type of parlay in which you increase your chances of winning
by moving the point spread in your favor. For example if you want the
Jets (-3), the Falcons (+2), and the Bears (+5) with 4 teaser points,
your point spreads are adjusted to Jets (+1), Falcons (+6), and Bears
(=5). The tradeoff is that the bets pay off at significantly lower odds.
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Place only bets, more popular with horse racing, are bets in which you
select a team or player to finish among the nominated placings of an event.
Typically, winning place bets must finish first, second, or third.
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An each way bet is when you bet on a team or player to win or place in
an event. Such a bet requires that you put money up for each outcome.
Obviously, the payout is much greater if the team or player you select
comes in first.
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Don't fall into the trap of being sentimental when betting on sports.
Always distinguish between being a fan and being a bettor. Betting the
team that you want to win rather than logically analyzing match-ups and
trends usually leads to large amounts of money exiting your wallet.
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Spread betting, also known as index betting, is an exciting form of wagering
that can be applied to any event as long as it has a final result. The
hotbed for spread betting is the United Kingdom, so the most popular sports
for spread betting are soccer, rugby, and cricket. It's a thrilling way
to bet because the odds change throughout the event and you can bet even
after the event has begun. You win or lose an amount calculated by the
difference between the sports book's prediction and the final result,
multiplied by you stake. A $5 bet could win you $5 if your prediction
is right or $50 if you prediction is extremely right. By the same token,
you can lose $5 for being wrong and $50 for being extremely wrong.
Following are the three basic types of index bets:
* Total Numbers - The combined score of
a sporting event. Most index bets revolve around totals.
* Match Bets - You try to predict the superiority
of one team, horse, or individual over another.
* Performance Bets - An artificial point
scale is used to measure the outcome of a sporting event.
Here's an example of how spread betting works: Let's say you want to make
a bet on the total number of points scored for the Lions/Packers game,
and the sports book thinks the total will be between 42 and 45. The spread
is thus 42-45. If you believe the final score will be less than 42, you
choose to sell. This is also known as a down sake of keeping things easy,
let's say that the stake is $10. If the final score is below 42, you win.
To find out how much you make, subtract the actual total points from 42
and multiply the difference by the stake (which, in your case, is $10).
So, if the total points scored is 30, you win $120. (42-30 = 12 x $10
= $120). The payout for this particular outcome is 12 to 1. If you lose,
however, the same formula applies toward your total loss. So, if the total
points scored is 57, you lose $120 (45-57=-12x$10=-$120). In such a case,
you would have won money if you chose to buy instead of sell. Buying is
when you bet that the score will be higher than the spread. It's also
known as an up bet.
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(All legal British spread-betting firms are regulated by the Securities
and Futures Authority (SFA). The SFA was set up in 1986 to regulate U.K.
financial markets, including spread-betting companies. It's basically
the British version of the American Commodity Futures Trading Commission
and the Securities and Exchange Commission rolled into one. Do not, under
any circumstances, open an account with a British spread-betting site
that isn't licensed by the SFA.
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It gets even better (or worse depending on how you look at it). Bets can
be made throughout the event, and the spread changes accordingly. Let's
say you knew it would be a low scoring game, so you sold at 42.45, and
the total points at halftime is only 10. The price changes from 42-45
to 27-30. You can either let your bet ride by doing nothing or close the
bet at the new price. You close a bet by wagering the same amount in the
opposite direction of your original bet. You originally sold for $10,
so now you buy for $10. No matter how the game turns out, you've just
won $150! Let's say the final total turns out to be 20. That means you
win $220 (42-20=22x$10-$220) on the first bet and you lose $70 (20-27=-7x$10=-$70)
on the second bet. Now let's say the final total turns out to be 50. That
means you lose $50 (45-50=-5x$10=-$50) on the first bet and win $200 (50-30=20x$10=$200)
on the second bet. Likewise, if you originally bought at 42-45, you could
cut your losses to $150 by closing the bet at 27-30.
To Keep things from getting completely out of hand, spread-betting sites
enable you to control your risk by using stop losses. A stop loss is a
limit placed at the time of opening a bet on how many times the stake
can be multiplied. Of course, an equivalent stop win is applied, as well.
The stop loss comes in handy in games where one team runs up the score.
For example, if you sell for $20 at 24-27 and the final total ends up
being 67, without a stop loss, you'd owe the bookmaker $800.
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At a glimpse, spread betting appears to be one heck of a lot of fun -
and it is - but be mindful of the rish before trying it. Despite all the
excitement it generates, spread betting has earned a reputation for being
a very dangerous activity because it's been known to ruin people financially.
For this reason, SFA-regulated sites are required to post risk warning
statements. The common mistake made by spread bettors is not realizing
how much they're wagering. Consider the previous example in which you
sell for $20 at 24-27. Let's say the stop loss/win is set at $200. The
temptation of winning as much as $200 when laying out only $20 is exciting,
but the truth is you're not making a $20 bet.
You're really making a $200 bet because that's how much you can lose.
The dynamics of spread betting are inviting, but it's also the dynamics
that make it so dangerous. If you want to bet $20, that's find, but you
have to either set the stop loss at $20 or close the bet as soon as the
spread moves far enough to put you down by $20. Spread betting is only
for bettors who are excellent with money management. If you don't pay
attention to your limits at all times, you could get yourself into a lot
of trouble. On the other hand, if you're a disciplined bettor and you
understand your personal limits, spread betting can be very enjoyable
and very lucrative.
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One of the reasons sports are so exciting is that they're unpredictable.
If you're a big sports fan, you've certainly heard the phrase "That's
why they play the games." Tons of physical and mental factors come
into play. And of course, there's also the ever-evasive element of pure
luck. You never know which way the ball's going to bounce.
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Before you put on your thinking cap in an attempt to conquer the many
ins and outs of sports handicapping, you might want to consider that loads
of people out there who are already wearing their thinking caps want to
share their vast knowledge with you. Naturally, this usually costs you
money. These are individuals who analyze (or claim to analyze) sporting
events and have a knack (or claim to have a knack) for beating the odds
makers. The way it works is very simple. You send the handicappers money,
either by check, money order, bank wire, or online credit card processing,
and they deliver their winning selections to you. They give you access
to the picks by either emailing them to you or allowing you access to
password-protected pages on their Web sites. There are more sports handicappers
offering their services on the World Wide Web than there are drops of
water in the ocean. (Okay, so that's a bit of an exaggeration, but there
are a heck of a lot.) Incidentally, most stake claims that they're "the
best handicapping service on the Web" and most also stake claims
that they're "the only honest handicapping service on the Web."
So, who do you trust? Who's really the best? How do you go about sifting
through all the hype? These are tough questions. Anyone can claim to be
a sports guru who prognosticates at a success rate of 80 percent. But
you must ask yourself, "Why would a handicapping genius waste his
time selling advice on the Internet when he could be out somewhere enjoying
the millions of dollars he's made by wagering at sports books?" With
that in mind, it's extremely difficult to determine which services are
legitimately dependable. One way is to start your guru search with online
monitoring services. These are Web sites that monitor the picks of online
handicappers to assure that their claims are legitimate. Of course, one
trip to any sports handicapping forum or newsgroup reveals that many theorize
that handicappers are in cahoots with the monitoring services and that
the whole monitoring thing is a sham. But gambling is all about taking
risks, right?
You can find sports handicapping monitoring services on the Web:
www.sportswire.com
www.bigguy.com
www.sportshandicappers.com
www.thesportsmonitor.com
The following are a few things to keep in mind while searching for a sports
handicapping service:
* Beware outrageous claims. A good handicapper will be in the neighborhood
of 60 percent. Anyone who says he picks 'em with a 75 percent rate is
either lying or has only been handicapping for a few weeks and managed
to start hot.
* Numbers can be manipulated. Handicappers often find creative ways of
making their numbers seem impressive. Don't go gaga when a handicapper
says, "I'm undefeated this year in games in which the road favorite
is coming off a bye week that followed a night game on grass."
* Money-back guarantees are worthless. Sometimes handicappers will promise
to refund your money if they give you losing picks, so you can say, "Gee,
I just blew $5000 laying money on teams that Lucky Larry called 'locks,'
but at least I get back the $35 I spent to purchase his advice."
That's hardly consolation.
* Claims of having "insider information" are usually hype. Handicappers
who say they have access to privileged information are usually either
lying or using a very loose definition of the term "privileged."
Overall, you have to keep in mind that all handicappers go through hot
streaks and cold streaks. When they're hot, you hear all about it. When
they're not, they seem to maintain a low profile. Go figure. A great place
to follow handicappers who are hot is Predict It Sports at www.predictit.com.
Predict It is a dynamic site in which several handicappers regularly enter
their picks into a database. Customers come to the site and view lists
of which handicappers in the database are hot, based on their recent success
rate. You can view all of the handicappers' past and pending picks and
then purchase future picks if you like what you see. Or you can sign up
as a handicapper and submit your picks into the database. You then receive
a penny for each time a customer pays to see your picks.
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If purchasing the advice of sports betting consultants isn't for you,
you could always be your own wise guy. It's doable, but you have to do
your homework to be successful. Research is the name of the game, and
once again, the Internet is your friend. It's always nice to have luck
on your side, but picking winners with consistency ultimately depends
on your ability to stay on top of the many factors contributing to the
outcome of a game. The following bases need to be covered: How does a
team or player perform on a particular surface? How will the weather affect
the event? How have the teams or players matched up against each other
in the past? How does a team or player perform at home or on the road?
How does a team or player perform after a long layoff? How does a team
or player fare as a favorite or an underdog? Are any key players injured?
Does the event have post-season implications? How well did a team or player
practice prior to the event? How well does a team or player perform at
night? How has a team or player performed in recent games? Will intangibles
such as heated rivalries, personal crises, and vendettas come into play?
Much of this information is available on the World Wide Web. Some Web
sites compile trends and contributing factors and publish them for your
viewing pleasure. It also does you good to follow stuff in the news like
injury and weather reports. If you've got the time and patience, you can
help yourself make smart bets by keeping up with news and statistics on
the Web.
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