Sports betting has becoming increasingly popular in recent years with developments in technology making sportbooks more available and accessible to the general public. For beginners, it can all be rather daunting at first though, especially with the variety of different bets and options available.
Fortunately for beginners, there are some common, simple, and easy to understand betting types to utilise in sports betting.
The Moneyline Bet
The most common and popular type of sports bet, moneyline bets are also the simplest. Furthermore, they are generally the source of the average sports bettor’s biggest wins, and are widely used in most sports bettor’s strategies.
In simple terms, a moneyline bet is basically a wager on “who will win” in a game or contest. This excludes the how and why, the points, goals, positions, etc. It simply focuses on the victor, and so is naturally the most suitable type of sports bet for beginners.
The basic trick to moneyline bets is understanding how the sportsbook pays out according to the favourites and underdogs, and their respective odds of winning.
Generally, the higher the expectancy to win, the less the payout will be in relation to the bet, and vice versa. Another way of putting it is “The bigger the risk, the greater the reward”. This aligns nicely with most people’s basic understanding of odds.
Payment in sports betting is generally calculated using decimal or fractional odds, though in North America, the American odds system, aka moneyline odds, is widely used.
Point Spread Betting
After moneyline, the next most popular type of bet is https://livebetting.nz/free/ point spread betting. This is essentially a wager on the sportsbook’s prediction of how well a team or player will do in a contest, set by the sportsbook oddsmakers to a certain margin of points. These points are further altered as time passes in relation to events, injuries, goals, etc, and everything else that may affect the outcome of the game.
Like the moneyline bet, the odds, and status as favourite or underdog, determine the payout, making it another simple type of bet that beginners can easily learn to understand.
Totals Betting
Totals betting, aka over/under betting, is a newer, more dynamic type of betting. This is a wager on the flow of a game rather than who wins, and could be in terms of points, goals, runs, or some other score or rank in regards to the sport in question.
Like the other bets mentioned here, the sportsbook will have their prediction and odds, and you will be able wager whether the actual result will be “over” or “under” that of the sportsbook.
Though, at face value, this betting type can seem more complicated than the first two, it is only marginally so, and it shouldn’t take long to learn the basics.
Let The Experts Pick
Many online sports betting sites also offer the service of professional sports betting analysts that give on-the-moment, real-time advice and info on their best “picks” for sports bettors to bet on. Beginners can utilise this to start them off, and as a general guide and reference for their betting choices.