Professional Sports | Understanding Online Sports Betting
December 17th, 2008 | 
Author: It is estimated that over 100 million Americans wager about $100 billion on sporting events every year. What are you missing out on? Many people enjoy betting on sports but not everyone can compete at a high level. It all adds up to taking risks and how much you are willing to give in order to gain. Today, the stakes are not as high as they used to be, but that action has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. You can wager with money and when you win, you still get that tremendous rush.
To get started, decide on a sport to bet on and an online sportsbook to place your wager. Selecting a wager venue used to be a very secretive mission and your betting options were limited to what an individual bookie, or book maker, was capable of covering. These limited choices resulted in odds stacked against the bettor and an apprehension when it came time for payouts.
Now that sports betting has become a larger and more accepted practice, sportsbooks have risen above their disreputable bookies to enter the digital age. Online sportsbooks now have the security of being a large company ensuring the best benefits for any bettor. Sportsbooks will take your bets in exchange for a commission which is usually a percentage of the wager. This is also known as the juice, vig or vigorish. In theory, the sportsbooks don’t care who you bet on. They simply take half of their bets on each side and make their commission.
Bettors have the opportunity to place bets on just about any sport such as boxing, basketball, baseball, football, etc. for both college and professional games and events. Online sportsbooks cover them all. It’s important to establish a bankroll and bet size. Many inexperienced sports bettors don’t think about money management and pick an arbitrary bet amount. This strategy is very risky. It’s always best to think about your bankroll and pick the right bet size based on your bankroll.
It’s also important to develop reasonable expectations. Most people know that they can’t win every bet but considering how much you expect to win is wise. Some of the best professional sports betters don’t even win 60% of the time. Winning 55%-59% on a long term basis is realistic but try not to get discouraged. Winning more than 50% is profitable and 55%-59% is very profitable. The key is to recognize that you may not bank right immediately. Successful sports bettors win by applying a disciplined approach over an extended period of time. If you are looking to double your money right away, you may be disappointment.
When it comes time to place your wager, you should know how to bet the two most common types of wagers which is against the spread and betting the over/under.
Let’s say the San Diego Chargers are playing the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football. You like the Chargers because they are having a great season, prolific offense, strong defense and they are racking up wins. Since the San Diego offense has been clicking, you also think that a lot of points will be scored during this game.
The next step is to go to a sportsbook and look up NFL and then find this particular game. Here’s what you might see:
TEAM SPREAD TOTAL
San Diego -3 (-110) 44 (-110)
New England +3 (-110) 44 (-110)
The line shows that San Diego is -3, with a total of 44-points. The reason why there is a line is because one team is going to be favored over another to win the game. This way the oddsmakers can level the playing field, making the bet attractive to both sides. In this case San Diego is the favorite and New England is the underdog. This means that if you are placing your bet on San Diego, the Chargers will have to beat the Patriots by at least 3 points for you to win the bet. If they lose the game or win by less than 3, you lose your bet. The second number shows 44, which is the over/under score. By betting the over, you are putting money on the possibility that the sum of both team’s score will be greater than 44-points at the end of the game.
Next to the line for each type of bet, you will see the odds which are the chances of the team wining the bet and how much money you will win in relation to how much you bet. The (-110) indicates that the sportsbook is charging a 10% commission on these bets. That means that you will have to risk $11 for every $10 you want to win. This is the sportsbook’s profit.
Now you would like to place your bet in the hopes of winning $100 from each wager. You would bet your $110 against the spread on the Chargers to win and cover (win by 3 or more points), and $110 for a total score of 44-points and a total wager of $220. If the Chargers roll to a 31-20 victory and you have won both of your bets. The Chargers 11-point margin of victory was more than enough to cover the spread of 3 points needed to get the win for $100. A total score of 51-points at the end of the game also means you have won your over/under bet for another $100 stack.
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Posted in Baseball, Basketball, Football, Golf, Soccer, Sports, Tennis | 
Tags: Sports book, Sports books, Sportsbook
