Essential Sports Betting Terms

If you are new to sports betting, you may be stunned by the number of betting terms and phrases gamblers use and casually throw around when enjoying this pastime. Make no mistake. Betting has created a sub-culture that boasts its distinctive lingo. Hence, for newcomers to this sphere to entirely grasp what is going on at their local betting shop or favorite online sportsbook, they must enhance their vocabulary with new betting terms and phrases that will appear foreign at first sight to most lay people. Therefore, many serious about taking their betting activity seriously would be wise to remember the ones outlined below.

New Betting Terms

• Added Game – Here, we have a term that references a game that had to get rescheduled or did not warrant enough wagering interest for a bookie to feature it anymore. Note this phrase gets primarily used in brick-and-mortar lounges, signifying an event that did not get listed originally.
• Across the Board – ATB is a bet in horse racing that covers a horse to show, place, and win. Hence, the name.
• AET Odds – This is nothing more than – after-extra time odds, ones added after the end of regulation time, usually as an in-play wagering option.
• Against the Spread – A bet type involving a game’s point spread. When you place an ATS bet, you are not simply picking a team to win/lose. Instead, you are considering the point difference that will emerge in a game.
• Arbitrage – We have covered arbitrage before, and it is a process that entails exploiting price differences in markets for a profit regardless of the actual event outcome.
• Also Ran – This is a horse, greyhound, or athlete that doesn’t finish in a race’s paying position.
• Ante-Post – These are racing futures odds.

New Betting Terms Continued

• Asian Handicap – A system that eliminates draws via assigning teams’ handicaps. It lets bettors wager on teams with varying strengths.
• Bad Beat – When a bet is on the verge of winning but loses, that is a bad beat. It usually happens when points get scored late.
• Backdoor Cover – It is an occurrence that does not affect the winner but assists gamblers in covering a spread bet.
• Beard – That is an individual who makes bets for professional gamblers, helping them wager in secrecy.
• Buying Points – It is the practice of acquiring alternate point spreads and game totals to obtain a more advantageous line, allowing gamblers to adjust the spread.
• Consensus – The public’s opinion on how an event is most likely to transpire. Or who bettors are primarily wagering on to win.

More Betting Terms

• Cover – The cover is nothing more than the wagering outcome on a point spread bet.
• Chalk – The favorite.
• Circled Games – Events with set betting maximums. These usually have this label on account of various unpredictable circumstances popping up before kick-off.
• Dime – A wager of $1,000.
• Drift – These are odds that grow after the opening line gets posted.
• Double Action – Also called an – If Bet, which automatically utilizes the stakes and/or winnings from a successful wager on a second betting option.
• Double – A parlay with two sides.
• Double-Header – Games played back-to-back on the same day.
• Edge – The advantage someone has, usually the bookmaker over gamblers.
• Each-Way Betting – Established in horse racing, it entails dividing a single amount to bet on a horse to finish first or second. Both wagers win if the horse finishes first, and only one wins if the horse finishes second. A first-place win always yields a higher return than a second-place win.
• Even Money – Odds that pay 1/1.
• Exposure – How much money the bookie can lose on any given bet.
• Favorite – The team/person favored to win.
• Futures – Also called outrights, these are wagers where a gambler bets on someone winning an entire competition or a specific award. For example, betting Man City to win the EPL at the start of the season is a future bet or an outright.
• Handicap – Betting odds aimed at equalizing competition.
• Handle – The total amount of money wagered on a game.
• Hedge – A risk management strategy that entails wagering the opposite side of a bet.
• Hook – An extra half point incorporated into spreads and total odds, This ensures that a wager will have a decisive outcome without getting graded as a push.
• Juice – A bookmaker’s commission for each wager.

More Betting Terms

• In-Play Betting – Live wagering.
• Laying Points – Betting the favorite.
• Layoff – The sum a bookmaker spends to reduce his risk of facing losses if a bet wins.
• Line – Odds.
• Lock – A sure-thing wager.
• Long Shot – An underdog super unlikely to win.
• Moneyline – Nothing more than a straight bet.
• Nap – The same as a lock.
• No Action – When a bookmaker cancels a betting option. In that scenario, all the stakes get returned to gamblers.
• Odds-on-Favorite – Who the odds state will win, abet offering very little value to gamblers.
• Off the Board – Abbreviated as OTB, this is an old-school term referring to listed games without assigned odds.
• Over/Under – Betting if the combined score will be over or under a set sportsbook figure.
• Point Spread – Essentially handicapping, odds posted on a match designed to level the playing field.
• Post-Time – The scheduled start time of a horse race.
• Price – Yet another phrase for odds.

Betting Terms Continued

• Prop – Also named a specialty bet, this is a wager placed on something specific like a touchdown.
• Public Money – The same as the consensus, or who the public is betting on.
• Parlay – An accumulator or multi.
• Push – An occurrence when the stakes get returned if the outcome is a tie.
• Run Line – This is baseball point spread pricing.
• Sharp – A professional bettor.
• Square – A recreational bettor.
• Stake – The monetary risk of predicting something will happen for a money prize.
• Syndicate – A group of bettors.
• Taking Points – Betting on the underdog.
• Teaser Odds – Moving odds that aim to entice bettors to lay down more money.
• Tipster – A person or service offering betting advice. Usually for a fee.
• Two-Way Odds – A betting option with two sides with no tie choice.
• Vig – Or vigorish is the bookmaker’s juice, his built-in fee for accepting a bet.
• Yankee – A multi-wager consisting of four different selections in various combinations.
• Wiseguy – A sharp/pro bettor.

Top Bitcoin Betting Sites