Your Online Betting Guide 2023

Depending on who you ask, sports betting can be hard or pretty easy. For beginners, the whole thing involves just picking a sporting event, selecting a team, staking an amount, and hoping for the best. Even better, most new sports bettors bet on teams or events they already follow. This sheer simplicity is undoubtedly why sports betting is famous worldwide.

But for seasoned punters, simplicity and profitability shouldn’t be confused. While anyone can place a sports bet, not everyone can win a bet. That’s because a successful sports bettor must invest ample time and effort in research and strategy. In short, it takes some commitment and hard work to carve out a niche in this industry.

For instance, aspiring bettors should know about the popular betting markets and odds. From there, proceed to research critical statistics such as recent form, home/away, head-to-head, weather, missing players, and so much more. Overall, knowing most of these stats can reveal more about the team’s ability to win.

It’s also vital to remember that the sportsbook website considers a lot of factors before setting the odds. As such, the onus is on the bettor to consider everything that can affect the match outcome. So, gather as much information as possible.

Like in any other gambling world, sports betting is full of confusing terms. In fact, don’t place that bet without learning some of these terms. So, below is a table with all traditional sports betting terms to understand:

• Action - A wager or bet.
• AET - Added Extra Time or simply extra time
• Against the spread - The game result, which includes the point spread
• American Odds - Betting odds based on a 100-unit. They are alternatives to decimal or fraction odds and feature a plus (-) and minus (+) to show the favorites and underdogs, respectively.
• Bankroll - The total amount of funds for gambling purposes
• Bonus - Incentives or rewards offered by sportsbooks to both new and loyal players
• Bookie - Short form of a bookmaker, oddsmaker, or linemaker. Bookies set the market odds at a sportsbook
• Chalk - A team or player that is the hot favorite for the event
• Closing Line - Where the point spread is at the start of the game
• Correct Score - Wagers for correctly predicting the final score of the game
• Decimal Odds - Sometimes called European odds, these are odd types mainly in the European markets. They are represented by decimals
• Dime - It refers to bets worth $1,000, $100, or $10
• Dog - Short form of the underdog or team less likely to win
• Double Chance - Having two options to win the wager. For instance, betting on a loss or draw in a single match
• Edge - The bettor’s advantage over the sportsbook and vice versa
• Even Money - A $100 wager to win $100
• Fixed Odds - Odds that don’t change after placing a wager
• Fractional Odds - Odds listed in fraction form. For example, 1/3 instead of -300 in American odds
• Handle - Total amount stake on a game
• Handicapping/Handicapper - A bettor who analyzes a bet before placing a bet
• In-play bets - Another name for Live Bets
• Juice - The bookmaker’s commission from winning bets
• Lock - The hot favorite to win the game
• Longshot - Favoring the underdog in a bet
• Moneyline - An outright win or loss with no point spreads
• No Action - A game which doesn’t take bets anymore
• Odds on Favorite - A team or play that will likely win
• Oddsmaker - Another name for bookmaker or linemaker
• Over/Under Wagering - The combined score by both teams or players to be more than or less than what the bookmaker set
• Player Props - Wagering on individual player action during the game. Like, the first player to score or get a yellow card
• Point Spread - The figure the linemaker decides to represent the difference between the losing and winning teams
• Sharp - A wise professional sports bettor
• Steam - An abrupt line change due to a lot of wagering
• TKO - Technical Knockout
• Totals - A combined number of points a punter chooses to be scored by players or teams
• Wire-to-Wire - Betting that a team will lead on each quarter or half of the game
• Underdog - A team or player with long odds or less likely to win
• Wager - A bet placed at a sportsbook