Sports betting can be done in a variety of ways. Bets can be placed at the local bookmakers, and can also be done online. 

The basics of sports betting – going along to a bookmaker or accessing a sports betting website and placing bets on a particular sporting event – seems simple enough, but the payouts are variable,  and dependent on the odds.

Odds are simply the probability of a particular outcome. Odds are represented differently in different regions of the world. There are three major odds systems: American, UK and European odds.

American odds are fully numerical. For example, if the odds for a particular event are “120”, $120 would need to be bet in order to win $100, thereby returning a total of $220.

UK odds are fractional. For example, odds of 3/1 imply that if the outcome is bet on correctly, the gambler stands to win 3 times the amount of the original bet.

Decimal odds are similar to fractional odds. For example, decimal odds of 2.91 indicate that the winnings are 2.91 times the bet placed.

Pro players, sometimes called “sharps”, are just as they sound. These are the professionals. They play for a living, and they know their games inside and out. Casinos and Internet gaming sites do a great job at indentifying these players in order to limit house losses.

Hobbyists are just that – players who play occasionally as a hobby. This represents the majority of players. They may experience wins and losses and they enjoy the thrill of betting, but they generally play sporadically, within their means, and responsibly.

Newbies (sometimes called fish) are players unfamiliar with the world of betting, and it’s how all of us start. As a newbie, it’s important to learn and understand the diverse terminology that comes with betting, in addition to knowing your chosen game or sport. One of the most common mistakes new players make, is getting caught up in the excitement, and making decisions based on this excitement rather than using sound judgement based on the situation. With some diligence, research and lots of hard work, the greenest newbie may one day become the savviest sharp.

A ‘Trixie’ is a full-cover multiple bet on three ‘picks’ that occur in separate events. It consists of four bets with three of those being a double and one being a treble. In order to gain a return, at least two of the selections must win. A ‘Yankee’ consists of eleven bets involving three ‘picks’ in separate events. An accumulator, four trebles and six doubles make up the wager. A punter must also win on a minimum of two selections to gain a return in this instance. A ‘Canadian’ or ‘Super Yankee’ is five picks and 26 separate bets; ‘Heinz’ is six picks and 57 separate bets; ‘Super Heinz’ is seven selections and 120 separate bets and Goliath, which is eight selections and 247 separate bets, complete the full cover bet options.

Bookmakers also offer full-cover multiple bets with singles. A ‘Patent’ is a wager on three ‘picks’ and is made up of one treble, three doubles and three singles. ‘Lucky 15’, ‘Lucky 31’ and ‘Lucky 63’ are other wagering options comprising of varying single, double, treble and accumulator bets.

The key to matched betting is to find online gambling sites that offer new players a free first bet.  Two different sites are needed to make a matched bet.  Apart from an online bookmaker offering a free bet, the player must sign up with a betting exchange.  A betting exchange allows bettors to lay bets just like a bookmaker would, offering other bettors their own odds. 

After opening an account with both websites, the free bet must often be unlocked by placing a bet with your own money.  In order to do this without losing any money, first make a bet on the bookmaker’s website.  Then lay the bet on a betting exchange.  Laying the bet ensures that no matter the outcome, you will not lose any money.  Calculators are available on many forums to help calculate the ideal bet to lay.  After completing this process, zero money should be lost no matter the outcome, and the free bet is unlocked.

The process can now be repeated, but this time using the free bet as a stake instead of personal cash.  This time, the ideal outcome is to win the whole of the free bet value as cash.  Depending on the exact odds, and commission  taken by the betting exchange website, the actual earnings can be a little lower.

Archaeological records that date back over 40,000 years contain information about animal anklebones carved into throwing pieces similar to dice, as well as cave decorations depicting various games.  Over 4,399 years ago, the Chinese played recognisable dice and tile games, while in ancient Rome, early bookmakers took note of horse races in hippodromes.

These historical accounts illustrate two of the most basic betting scenarios: outdoor sports based upon physical skill and indoor games enhanced by some element of challenge.  The random number generators humans have devised, such as dice, cards, and keno machines, introduce the third element of gambling, games of chance.  In fact, nearly all of our modern games and sports have an important element of betting in their origins even if gambling is not the primary function today.

Similarly, wagering on the market price of commodities before they reach consumers, for example, oil in transit or crops at harvest, is a central component of wealth creation.  However, in early 20th century U.S. history, religious and political authorities vacillated between condemning and promoting such forms of gambling.  More recently, the popularity of state-run lotteries has led to the resurgence of gambling, particularly because contestants are more likely to engage in frequent action at very little cost.

The easiest bet to place is what the result of a match will be. You can decide whether a team will win, lose or draw (WLD).  Alternatively, you could predict the score of a match. 

Total Goals, also known as ‘more or less’, is to predict whether the total number of goals will be more or less than a certain amount.  The First Goal Scorer option allows you to predict which team will score first.  At some bookmakers, it does matter if the first goal is an ‘own’ goal.  Therefore, it is safer to check first.  Last Goal Scorer is where you place your bet on the team that will score last.  It is useful to learn about the strategies of the various teams.  For example, some teams put a substitute in during the last minutes of a game because they know that particular player is good at scoring under pressure.  A player can also choose to place a bet on what the half-time result will be.  This bet has similarities with the WLD bet.  Draw No Bet is a ‘safer’ bet compared to WLD; you predict the match result but if the teams draw, you get your money back.

In addition, there are more complicated styles of betting such as football accumulator where bets are placed on the full time result of several matches at the same time. 

Types Of Bets

The easiest bet to make is for the horse to win, but this means you will only win if your horse does.  A place bet gives you more chance of winning, as you will win the bet if your horse comes first, second, or even third or fourth, depending on the number of runners in a race.

There are also more complicated bets where you can try and predict the first three horses to cross the line in a particular order or pick the winners in consecutive races.

Horses with short odds are usually considered safe bets, as they are more likely to win.  However, the return will be less because of the short odds.  A riskier gamble is to bet on an outsider with long odds.

Odds

Odds are normally shown on a tote board or betting shop display and show how much you stand to win for a unit stake if your bet is successful.

At the beginning of the day, the odds are determined by how much the bookmaker thinks people might bet on a horse compared to how much will be bet in total.  This is often based on the horse’s previous form and current condition.

Odds can change during the day depending on how much people are betting on each horse compared to the total amount of bets.

Sweepstakes

In some countries, companies run a sweepstake for their employees for popular races.  Each employee pays the same small stake and is then randomly assigned one horse.  The person assigned the winning horse wins the total stake.

What is Spread Betting

This term applies to investors who want to increase their existing portfolio and do so by trade and speculation across all types of financial markets without actually holding investments.  Currently, in the UK this type of betting is both Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax free.  The bet element is introduced as investors actually do gamble on how the money and stock markets will move.  The spread betting companies allow bets from as low as £1 per point, this translates as £1 for 100 shares and many online companies offer a starting investment of only £30.

For example, an investor thinks that the FT index will go up and so they buy – offer price – and their bet is at £2 per point.  If the market rises, they then stand to make a profit at however many points they invested.  The converse is also applicable and investors may have bet that the market will fall, again if the market had fallen they would have gained however many points they gambled.

Obviously, there are risks involved and most of the online spread sites do issue warnings but there is a varied amount of advice on this type of gambling, including calculator tools and technical analysis.

Despite the early form of sports betting, it took until the 1800s for sports betting as we know it today to begin.  By the 1800s, membership based betting establishments formed in the UK where UK citizens could go to play table games, bingo, lottery, and bet on various sports. 

Sport betting in the 1800s was mainly on horses, cock fights, boxing, and dog races.  Bookmakers would keep track of the bets, loans, and winnings.  Little has changed since the 1800s in how sport betting works other than to provide more strategies and betting options for gamblers. 

The changes made to the industry are the availability of betting venues and sports.  Any sport game is subject to bets such as soccer, baseball, American football, tennis and golf.  Friendly wagers occur all the time outside of gaming establishments.

For individuals who want to make money at sports betting, they need an online or land venue like an online sports betting site.  A person can log into an online website, put money into an account, and choose their bet or bets based on the information provided. 

The UK has not outlawed sports betting online like the US.  Instead, the UK regulates all forms of gambling including sports betting for the protection of their citizens.  This allows interested parties to bet on any game around the world available through the online website of their choice.

Thousands of people flock to the races, or to bookmakers, every year.  It is something the British people have enjoyed for generations, and despite an increase in online gambling games, the big races like the Grand National and Royal Ascot are still very much on the country’s social calendar.

The Gambling Commission reported that 16% of the population bet on horse races in 2010.  It was not reported how regularly people placed bets, and the figure includes both one-off bettors and those who go to bookmakers on a regular basis.

The popularity of betting on the horses was only beaten by the National Lottery and scratch cards.  The Commission reported the lottery was the most popular gambling activity with 59% of the population taking part in 2010.  In second place came “other lotteries” which are played by 25% of the population, followed by scratch cards which are bought by 24% of the nation.

Overall, 73% of British adults aged 16 and over took part in some form of gambling in 2010, which is about 35.5 million people.  It is an increase on the 2007 figures, which showed that 68% of British adults had gambled in one form or another.  In 1999 the figure was 72%.

With gambling including everything from bingo to casino-style games online, there are a lot of options to choose from for people of all ages and interests.