Professional Sports Betting Definitions

Professional Sports Betting has many terms that common people may not know. This article is aimed at novice to amateur bettors. The first term we will define is a straight bet, which is a single individual wager placed on a side or total. Another type of wager is a parlay. A parlay is a wager that ties games into each other equaling a higher payout. A $22 dollar straight bet at -110 will return $42 dollars, were a $20 two team parlay will return $72. However, with parlays all teams selected must win or entire bet is lost

The line is the term used to describe the odds placed on the game by the sports book. The line consists of a total and a side (or spread). The total is a term used to describe the combined score of a game at the finish. An example of a total would be a line of 8 runs in the Giants versus Padres game. If the final score is 7-3 (that equals 10), then the game goes over the total of 8. If the final score is 3-1 (that equals 4), then the game went under the total of 8. If the total is 5-3 then the game is a push. The term push is used to describe a wager that ties the line. In the case of a push your money is simply returned. The side or spread is the team odds to win or lose. Example is Colts -8 versus the Chiefs. The line on the game is Colts -8, which means at the end of the game you subtract 8 points from the Colts score to compute the winner. If the Colts win 28-21 you lose against the spread by 1. In baseball they use money when posting the spread or line. Example would be Yankees -180 versus the Mets. This means the Yankees are favored and you have to bet $180 to win $100 on this side. The side is another way to describe the team you wager on with the point spread added. We hope these definitions help you with professional sports betting.