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Sports Betting: Three Different Types of Bets
If you’re new to sports betting and you go to a sportsbook, you’ll notice that there are different types of bets offered; some of which or many of which you may not immediately understand. In this article we’re going to examine the three most common types of basic bets. The three basic wagers you’ll find in sport betting are the point spread, moneyline and over/under. Let’s consider how each of these types of bets work.
The point spread is perhaps the best known of any and all wagers. Also known as “the spread,” this wager pays 1.00:1.10. That means that you get back your original bet of $1.10 plus $1.00 if you win. Although many will claim that point spreads pay even odds, that is 1:1, this is not the case. That’s because with every point spread wager you must pay a commission (also known as vigorish, vig or juice). This is usually 10% of the wager. When you place a $10 spread bet, you actually pay $11 with the extra buck being the commission. If you win, you get back $11 plus $10 more for a total of $21. If it were a true even wager, you’d get back $11 and $11 more for a total of $22.
The term “point spread” refers to the fact that in each game for betting purposes the playing field is made even by giving points to the underdog and taking them away from the favorite. A typical point spread bet would look like this.
New England Patriots -7 ½
Cleveland Browns +7 ½
Bets are listed with the visitors first and the home team second. In our example, the visiting Patriots are favored by seven-and-a-half points. That means if you put your cash on New England they must win the game by at least eight points to payoff.
The Browns, who are the home team, are given points because they’re the underdog. If you wager on the Browns and they win outright or lose by less than eight points, you win.
With the point spread, bookies are attempting to even out the odds in terms of who can win. In this way, the sportsbooks are attempting to spread the sports betting between both teams.
Of the three different types of bets, the traditional moneyline wager may be the most straightforward. That’s because whichever team wins the game outright is the one that pays off. Still, bookies are able to even out the wagering for sportsbooks with this type of bet. Here’s how they do it with the moneyline.
A moneyline will look like this:
New England Patriots -150
Cleveland Browns +160
In this scenario, the Patriots are once again the favored club. With the moneyline, the team that is considered to be the most likely to win is listed in the negative. Listing the Pats at minus-150 means that in order to win $100, you must bet $150. If you do win, you’ll get back your original wager of $150 plus $100.
The Browns are not favored, which means that their moneyline has a plus in it. For a team listed with a plus, the unit bet is $100. Thus, if you wager $100 on Cleveland and the Browns win, you’ll get your original wager back plus $160.
With the moneyline, whichever team wins outright pays off. The way that handicappers even out the betting is by making it more lucrative to wager on the underdog, since they payoff at a much higher rate than the favored club.
Of the three different types of bets that are considered to be standard in the realm of sports betting, the over/under is the only one that is not based on one of the teams winning. It does, however, have two characteristics in common with the point spread and moneyline.
It is a single wager and it is based on the overall outcome of the game. The over/under is a bet that is placed on the total amount of points scored. Each game has a point total listed and you put money down on whether the total number of points will be over or under that amount.
The over/under would look like this:
New England Patriots
35 ½ over/under
Cleveland Browns
In our example, if you bet the under and the total points scored equal 35 or less, you would win your bet. Likewise, if you wager on the over and more than 35 points are scored, your wager would be a winner. These bets usually pay the same as point spread wagers—1.00: 1.10
It’s important to realize that as it is with the two other different types of bets, the over/under is determined after analyzing recent past performances of both teams, each club’s personnel, matchups and relative statistics. Handicappers don’t pull these numbers out of the air. As with the two other different types of bets discussed here, the odds and choices are dictated by a great deal of analysis.
Other Types of Bets
There are many other different types of bets that are available through sportsbooks. In another article the various “exotics” will be examined. In sports betting, the term exotics refers to any wager that is not a single-game wager or is not based on the outcome of a game. These types of bets are much harder to hit than the three basic sports bets discussed in this article.