Sports Betting Education 101
American Odds
American Odds are used in the United States betting market and are based on winning $100 in a given bet.
Read more about American Odds.
Point Spread
The point spread in the margin of victory in a game. A team must win or lose by a specific number of points in order to cover the point spread and win the bet.
OVER/UNDER
An over/under or total is a bet on the total points scored in a sporting event. Over/unders are also used on prop bets.
Moneyline
A moneyline bet is simply choosing the winner of a sporting event regardless of the point spread. You can choose the favorite or underdog to win the game.
Parlay
A parlay is a bet where multiple wagers are linked together in order to increase the odds on the payout. Every leg (bet) in the parlay must hit in order for it to win.
Push
A push is a tie between the sportsbook and a sports bettor which results in the original wager being refunded to the bettor.
Hedging
Hedging is a strategy where a bettor takes the opposite side of the original bet that they made in order to minimize or eliminate loss and guarantee a profit.
Arbitrage
Arbitrage is when a sports bettor makes multiple bets on the same game in an attempt to guarantee a profit no matter what the result of the game is. It usually is done with though wagering with multiple sportsbooks.
Round Robin
A Round Robin bet allows a bettor to create a series of smaller parlays inside a large parlay in order to maximize the number of combinations that can hit.