Ultimate Betting Strategy

bet on sports

How do know how much money you can take in sports betting? Doesn't it depend on how many people bet?

to find out your TAKE in football and basketball if you win?
I mean doesn't it depend on how much money people put down on the bet?

in horse betting it makes a difference in how much you can make

Mayors Make Super Bowl Bet

Has anyone bet in sports in Nevada?

How does sports betting work in vegas? What are the payouts, is there juice?

What William H said in his answer is how most of the bets work -- a commission of one-eleventh on winning bets. Suppose your team is favored by 6 points ("giving 6", shown as -6 on the board, with the underdog shown as +6). You pay $11 and get a ticket. If your team wins by more than 6, you take your ticket back to the window and get back $21 (your original $11 is returned, plus an $11 win, minus a $1 commission so that your net win is only $10). If your team loses, or wins by less than 6, your ticket is worthless and you're out the $11. If your team wins by precisely 6, you turn in the ticket and get your $11 back. If you bet more than $11, the commission is still one-eleventh of the amount. You might bet $88 in the hope of getting a net win of $80.

The second-most-common form of sports betting is the "money line". You can bet your team to win, straight up, regardless of the point spread. You'll be laying odds if you bet the favorite, and getting odds if you bet the underdog. An example of a money line might be: Los Angeles -250, New York +200. If you bet LA you'll bet $250, and if LA wins the game (by any margin), you'll get back your $250 plus winnings of $100 (no commission). If you bet New York you'll bet $100, and if New York wins, you'll get back your $100 plus winnings of $200. You can bet a fraction or multiple of the listed amount, of course. The amount listed is, for simplicity, keyed to a $100 win on the favorite and a $100 loss on the underdog.

If the teams are thought to be evenly matched, you might see a money line in which both have a negative number (both at -110, or one at -105 and one at -120). That means that, whichever team you bet, you have to give the casino odds. You'll risk losing more than you stand to gain. That's how the juice is implemented in the money line for a close game.

These two basic forms account for almost all the sports betting. There are some more exotic bet forms, such as parlays and teasers. You should probably stay away from them until you're more experienced.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 11:49 pm and is filed under betting strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.