Global Sports: Sports Betting Basics

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Sports Betting Basics

By Kyle Parker


Sports betting mixes two major human interests, sports and betting. It's not surprising that these two hobbies are aligned. Because no individual knows in advance how the game will play out, it becomes a matter of making an educated guess on which team will end up victorious and with how many points. Sports betting may appear to be addictive, and although it may be for some bettors, for most people it's just fun because it gives them a more exciting way to interact with their friends over something they have in common.

Although there's constant informal betting among friends, most of the bets are recorded through sportsbooks. A few sports you can bet on are: basketball, football, baseball, hockey, golf, boxing, tennis, nascar, soccer, horse racing and mixed martial arts. Sports betting is defined as placing wagers on anything that is a recognized sport. You can bet on the final score of a game, the number of points by which a team will win, who will win a boxing fight and in what round they will be declared the winner. The only things known in advance are factors that have a statistical probability of winning or losing a number of bets.

A bookie will tell you what the odds are at any time to help you decide how to place your bet and for how much. A "point spread" is a disadvantage given to what is believed to be the weakest team to try to level the odds of betting either way. A bettor can bet on a losing team and still win as long as the team loses by a certain number of points. The difference goes to the bookie because it is his/her mean of making money on the bets you place.

This will appear really complicated for a beginner. There are several types of bets, including over/under, teasers, parlays as well as straight bets. The most common and easiest is the straight bet, which is a bet on a team to win. You can bet on the sum of the number of points scored by both teams. These bets are known as over/under bets. The combined bets on many games are known as parlays. We can add or perhaps delete points from the spread to make a stronger bet in a teaser, which is very similar to a parlay. All these types of bets are designed to make sports betting interesting and challenging.

These are the basics of Sports Betting in case you want to try your luck and have fun. Remember to keep your bets small. Thus, it will always be fun. If you lose a small amount you can live with that and come out with a smile. If you get too emotional and bet all your savings it will be disaster when you lose and that won't be fun at all. Only an addicted bettor would wager all his possessions.




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