Online sports betting allows anyone to place a bet on any game going on anywhere in the world at any given time.
There are a lot of different bets that you can choose from but here are the main bets that any beginner should be familiar with.
Point spread wagers are common in basketball and football. Basically, the final score gets an adjustment which is the point spread. For example, you placed a bet on the Patriots in a game of football between New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins. Let us say that the point spread is 3 ½, with the Patriots in the lead and Miami loses 21-20.
In this case, you win; but for you to lose, New England should have won by at least 4 points, which should be more than the losing team's score plus the point spread.
When betting on the Money Line in baseball or hockey, you're basically betting on the winning team, regardless of the point spread. A money line would look like this: Columbus Blue Jackets +280, Detroit Red Wings -360. If you bet $360 on Detroit and win, you get $100. If you bet $100 on Columbus and they win, you get you $100 back plus $280.
It is set up this way so that betting on the underdog is cheaper and with higher payoffs but with bad odds, and betting on the team that is expected to win gives you a lesser payoff. For hockey and baseball, you could bet on a point spread with a money line and get double profits if you win. It is called a Puck Line for hockey, and a Run Line for baseball. Usually the point spread for baseball is set at 1 ½ runs and for hockey it's 1 ½ goals.
An Over or Under bet is betting on the total number of points that a team scores. In soccer, the over or under match is 2.5 between Manchester United and Arsenal. If you bet on under, you win if 2 goals or less are scored. But if they got three or more goals, then you lose. The typical range for hockey is 5 to 7, for baseball it is around 4 to 14 runs. NBA basketball ranges from 175 to 225 depending on the analysis of the players' strengths and weaknesses.
A Parlay combines two or more bets and you must win both for you to get the payoff. It certainly involves greater risk combined with a significantly higher payoff than winning a single bet. For example, you place an $11 bet on 4 different games, you pay $44 and if you win, you get $10 per wager - a total of $40. But if you played those 4 bets in parlay, your $11 bet could result in a $110 payoff.