Sports Betting Meaning

Sports Betting Glossary There are many words and phrases used in sports betting that may not make sense until you understand what they mean. To help you with that, we have compiled the following glossary of sports betting terms as a useful reference. Besides baseball and hockey, moneylines are used for betting on other sports where a point spread becomes irrelevant, such as auto racing, boxing, soccer, and tennis. While there are margins of victory in some of these, they are so small that it would be impossible to create a point spread for every game.

Welcome to the Sports Betting Odds section of The Sports Geek. If you are new to sports betting and don’t understand how to read betting odds (+150, -110, +2200, etc) we will lay it all out for you and help you learn how the betting odds work.

Sports Betting Odds Explained

Many people don’t know how to read or calculate sports betting odds, so below we have done our best on explaining how betting odds work. The most common type of sports betting odds used in North America are the American style odds which we explain below.

American Style Sports Betting Odds

Most online sportsbooks will list their odds in what is called “American Odds”. There are a couple different versions of sports betting odds, but these American Odds are the most common odds used. Reading and understanding sports betting odds can bet a little confusing to beginners, so we have provided an example below using two NFL football teams:

American Odds

• Matchup Odds
• New England Patriots +120
• Pittsburgh Steelers -140

The number shown in the bracket represents the odds. The American Odds have two components to them, the first being the positive or negative sign, and the second being the number that follows the sign.

The sign in front of the number indicates whether placing a wager on that outcome will pay out more money then you have wagered or less money then you have wagered. If the odd is negative (-) it means that outcome is more likely to happen and placing a bet on that outcome would payout less than the amount you wagered, while a positive (+) odd shows that the outcome is less likely to happen and it would pay out more than the amount you wagered.

The next step is figuring out exactly how much the bet pays out, which is where the numbers in the odds come into play.

A listed odd with a – sign in front of it, such as the -140 in our example above, shows us how much money you would need to wager in order to win $100. So using the -140, this would show us that you would need to bet $140 in order to win $100 in profits. You can easily substitute the $100 bet for a $10 bet by moving the decimal place over one spot, showing us that you would need to wager $14 in order to win $10 in profits.

Examples:

A listed odd with a + sign in front of it, such as the +120 in our example above, shows us how much money you would win on a $100 bet. Using the +120 odds, it shows us that a $100 bet on that outcome would pay out $120 in profits. Again this can easily be converted into smaller or larger size bets. A $10 bet on +120 odds would pay out $12 in profits.

Examples:

Below is an example of NFL betting odds taken from an online betting site.

In this example you can see Los Angeles is listed at +130 ($100 bet pays $130 plus of course your original wager back) and New England is listed at -150 ($150 bet pays $100).

The great thing about betting online is that the online sportsbooks will do the calculations for you before you place your bet. You can click on the outcome or team you would like to bet on, and then input the amount you wish to wager and it will show you your potential pay out before you confirm your bet.

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Decimal Style Sports Betting Odds

Decimal style odds are used mostly in Europe, and are pretty easy to understand. To calculate the decimal style odds all you will need to do is simply multiply the amount you wish to wager by the decimal odds shown and you will get your payout. For example it may look something like this:

If you wanted to place a $10 wager on the USA at 2.40 you would simply need to multiply your $10 wager by the 2.40 odds (10 x 2.40) to find out that the payout is $24. It is important to realize that with decimal style odds it includes the amount you wagered, so to find out profits you would need to subtract your wager ($24 – $10) to find out your potential payout is $14 in profits.

If you wanted to place a $10 wager on Brazil you would again just multiply $10 x 1.55 to find out that you would win $15.50 total or $5.50 in profits.

Decimal style betting odds are very simple to understand, but you won’t see them displayed in many North American sportsbooks. With that said, most online betting sites will allow you to chose the style of betting odds you want displayed, with American odds set as the default.

In life, when someone hedges a situation they are limiting their exposure to the downside. In day to day life, someone can hedge many things.

When someone hedges in sports betting they are limiting their exposure to a potential financial loss. Hedging a bet is an advanced strategy used by sports bettors to either reduce the risk of a wager or to guarantee a profit of some kind from a wager.

Similar to middling a wager, hedging is a strategy that involves placing wagers on the opposite side of your original bet. As futures bettting has become more popular, so has hedging. New sports bettors might have heard about the sports betting risk management strategy in mainstream media.

If nothing else, hedging a bet has become a popular discussion point for any occasion when a sports bettor has a futures wager pending that could result in a large win. Hedging a bet is a way to guarantee at least some kind of win.

While there’s mainstream media coverage about hedging a wager, there isn’t much mainstream information on how to hedge a bet.

What is hedging a bet?

Hedging a bet is a strategy in which a bettor will place a second wager against the original bet when they’re unsure that the outcome of a wager will be a win.

Even if a bettor thinks they might win, they could decide to hedge a bet just to be safe and guarantee they walk away as a winner. The win won’t be as large but the additional wager is a way to create some kind of insurance if the original wager loses.

Handicap In Sports Betting Meaning

Hedging is a useful strategy even though betting on all sports isn’t the same. Futures wagers are long term bets that use a moneyline. Some individual games use a point spread while betting on other sports may involve a moneyline.

A bettor can hedge against any of these types of wagers. This strategy allows the bettor to walk away as a winner or less of a loser if they choose.

How to hedge a bet

Hedging a bet isn’t difficult. However, the concept isn’t at the forefront of everyone’s mind when placing a wager. Hedging a bet is protecting some kind profit that was — and still may be — possible from an original wager.

Hedging a bet is done by placing a second wager against the original wager that will guarantee that the bettor sees some kind of profit at the end of the event. A bettor can hedge a future bet or hedge individual games. Here’s an example of hedging a futures bet:

Original wager: $100 futures bet on the New York Jets to win the Super Bowl at 60-1.

• Potential win: $6,000 + original $100 wager.
• Hedge: $1,000 wager on Los Angeles Rams to win the Super Bowl at 2-1 when they face the Jets in the Big Game.
• Best result: Jets win the Super Bowl and bettor wins $6,000. The $1,000 hedge on the Rams for safety is a loss. The total win is $5,000 instead of $6,000.
• Hedge win result: Rams win and the bettor wins $2,000. After everything, the $1,000 hedge minus $100 original wager gives a final win of $900.
• Worst result: No hedge and Rams win. $100 wager and the potential $6,000 win is completely lost.

This example shows that a hedge on a futures bet is still a profitable wager. The hedge protects the bettor from losing the entire potential profit from the wager.

Hedging a bet means the original bet isn’t as profitable as it could be. However, winning something is better than losing everything. That’s the purpose of hedging a wager.

This example also shows that everything risked (the original $100 wager and $6,000 potential win) is lost without hedging.

Some bettors don’t mind losing the $100 wager and potential profit. There are other bettors that prefer to walk away with some kind of profit after waiting an entire season.

Other times to hedge a bet

Hedging a futures bet used to be the only time this strategy was discussed. Sports betting trends in the US are changing and so is how bettors use this strategy.

In Play wagering makes it easier to hedge against an existing pre-game wager that looks shaky. In the past, bettors had to wait until the middle of a game to place a halftime wager.

Parlay betting continues to become more popular every year. Bettors are now using the hedging strategy to ensure a win. A bettor will place a hedge on the final game of a multi-leg parlay to ensure some kind of positive result from a wager.

Depending on the amount of the original wager, a bettor might choose to hedge a little so they can mitigate a loss. Losing is never fun but losing less is better than losing everything risked.

Hedging a bet is a useful tool for any sports bettor. Gambling on sports does not have to be about winning or losing a wager. There are multiple strategies to use where a bettor can guarantee some kind of profit on certain wagers.

Sports Betting Explained Spread

ALSO READ: Sports Betting Lesson: When It’s Smart To Hedge Your Bet

Sports Betting Explained

Find the best hedging opportunities at online sportsbooks