At its core, sports betting is placing money behind an outcome of your choice and getting paid if that outcome happens. The payout depends on how much you wager and whether the bet is a winner or a loser.
Understanding the basics of sports betting can help you place better bets. For example, knowing what a bet’s odds are telling you about the implied probability of the outcome can help you decide who to bet on and how much to risk.
The key to successful sports betting is bankroll management. This involves determining how much you can afford to lose and planning out bet sizes based on that amount. Using this approach, you can avoid going broke while still enjoying the thrill of wagering on your favorite team or event.
One way to keep track of your bets is to use a spreadsheet to keep track of your net wins and losses. This will also help you spot patterns and identify any areas that need improvement. Another important tip is to never bet more than 3% of your total bankroll on a single game or outcome. Keeping this number in mind will help you avoid making unwise decisions when the emotions of a losing bet come flooding in.
Sports betting has become a huge revenue stream for many professional teams. But do the benefits outweigh the negative effects it could have on the integrity of the sport? FRESH AIR’s Eric Lipton speaks with a New York Times reporter who has worked on a series of articles about the rise of sports gambling.
LIPTON: I think that’s why so many pro sports teams embraced this because they saw that it not only increased the engagement in their games, but it also provided them with some additional revenue. And I think it’s also why so many states have now passed laws legalizing this.
Besides the standard straight bets on who will win a game, there are a wide variety of other types of sports betting markets. For instance, you can bet on over/under totals, which are the combined scores of both teams in a game. If the total is higher than expected, you’ll win your over bet; if it’s lower, you’ll win your under bet. You can also bet on player props, which have nothing to do with the final score of a game and instead focus on individual players’ performances.
A common strategy for betting on over/under totals is to track initial lines and then watch how they change as the game gets closer. This can give you a good idea of what the sportsbook is expecting from a game, such as an expected high-scoring affair or a low-scoring contest.