HOW TO PLAY
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Sports bets are offered on pre-game, live/in-game, and on futures odds - like which team will win a season-long championship. Bets cover events from around the world where official data is available to track results and statistics. Regulations on available bet types will vary across different states and jurisdictions, so be sure to double check what’s available in your local market.
Odds boards typically display three markets, allowing bettors to view wagers on the spread, total, and winner.
Next to each available wager, you see the odds, which measure how much a $100 wager would pay out.
With thousands of wagers available at any given time, placing your bet may seem intimidating, but there are resources available to help.
A parlay bet is a single wager that combines bets on two or more events or elements of a game. Parlays can include bets on point spreads, winners, over/under and more. Offering a payout that is larger than a single bet picking one team to win, each segment of the parlay bet must win for that payout to happen.
Prop bets are wagers tied to the statistical performance of a player or team rather than the game’s outcome. For example, picking player totals is a bet on whether an individual player will score over or under a number of points/assists/yards during an entire game or a quarter or half of a game. Game props are also offered on statistics for each team, combined team totals, or even specific outcomes like whether the game will go into overtime.
Price and betting line adjustments are done by teams that conduct data analytics and trading. The odds set must reflect each outcome’s probability as accurately as possible. This work is both art and science: mathematical and statistical analyses are essential, combined with expertise of each sport. Knowledge of current situations—player health, coaching changes, line-up changes, et cetera— also factor into the odds released.
Yes, odds or the point spread can change leading up to the game and during live action. Pre-event line movement may be due to an injury, change in coaches, the suspension of a key player, and other circumstances. But most often a movement happens because more money is wagered on one side of the bet.
Sportsbooks make money from losing bets, but also from the hold, which is essentially a fee on all bets placed. For example, on a spread market, both sides will typically be offered at -110 odds, meaning that the sportsbook collects nearly a 10% fee vs. a 1-to-1 market to accept your betting action.
Follow the sports you love closely, evaluate the betting markets offered by the sportsbook, and keep good records so you can see in black and white how you are really doing. But most important of all, realize that sports betting is just another form of entertainment, win or lose.
Is gambling hurting your life? Do you need a break? Voluntarily excluding yourself from the casino can help. So can talking to someone who will listen. By taking decisive steps you can start to regain control.
