Sports Betting

Sports betting, as most of you will probably already know is not a new concept, in fact betting on sports has been around nearly forever. As far back as Greek and Roman civilizations there were sports and staged competitions where attendants wagered on the outcome. Since that time wagering on sports has become an industry of colossal proportions, with profits in the billions and growing by the year. From local bookies in Jersey to PC’s in Bangkok you can bet on virtually any sporting event in the world. Hopefully the following will teach you a few basics and you’ll have enough of an understanding to start wagering.

First of all you need to establish a "bankroll" and remember - never bet more than you can afford to lose, it should be a hobby and not a way of life. After establishing how much you can afford to bet you will have to consult the daily lines. Daily lines or point spreads are decided every day by professional handicappers. To decide on these lines they factor in past performances, drafts, speculate on team moral, weather and a lot of other pertinent information. Lines can be found at a bookmaker or "book", in the newspaper or online. Of these three I recommend sports books online, unless you happen to be in Vegas, because it is fast, easy and reliable. I don’t trust newspaper lines, they are approximate and quite often unreliable.

Next you have to know what types of bets are available on the event you wish to bet on. Some examples of the bets include straight bets, exotic bets, future bets, round robins, parlays and teaser bets. Which can be explained as follows. A straight bet is where you bet money on one team to win. An exotic bet is any bet, other than a straight bet, whether it be parlays, teasers, or round robins. A parlay is a combination of bets on different teams and/or sports, usually having between 3 and 15 propositions. Every team that you wager on must win in order to collect, but the more propositions that you have the higher the payoff will be. A round robin is a form of parlay where you wager on a combination of the wagers. A future bet is when the bet is accepted well in advance of a major sporting event. And a teaser is when you roll the winnings from a bet into another bet, which is referred to as "teasing the bet". I hope that this introduction to sports betting has helped you to understand some basic terminology and that you have better luck than I usually do.