According to a recent article in USA Today, online sports betting has quadrupled in the last three years, with Americans wagering over $65 billion on sports in this time.
Do you love watching sports and consider yourself knowledgeable about your favorite types of sport? Have you become adept at predicting the outcome of most games based on this knowledge?
If so, sports betting is a good way to earn some money doing what you enjoy.
Check out these sports betting tips to help you get started.
Sports Betting For Beginners
You can make sports betting as simple or complex as you want. Basic win or lose bets are easy enough for anyone to understand, but you’ll need to spend some time figuring out how to bet on sports if you want to try more complex bets.
All sports bets have three components, as follows:
Selection
This involves the simple act of choosing your bet based on the desired outcome. That involves choosing who you think will win, and putting some money down.
Stake
The stake is the amount you want to bet. For instance, if you want to bet $20 on the outcome, the stake is $20. Some sportsbooks have a minimum and maximum amount you may wager, but it’s up to you to choose your stake within these parameters.
Odds
This is where things get a little more complicated, but they’re based on the likelihood that something will occur.
If you toss a coin, you’ve got a 50% chance it will come up heads, i.e. the odds are two to one. In sports betting, the odds determine how much you’ll get paid if you back the right option.
So, in the coin tossing example, if you placed $1 on heads, and you were right, you would get 1 x 2 i.e. $2 for your win. If you put your money on tails, you would get nothing.
The less likely you are to guess correctly, the more money you get, and the same rule applies to sports betting.
When it comes to sports, things are a little more complex than that. Unless the competing teams are equally matched, it’s unlikely that each has a 50% chance of winning. If an inexperienced team made it to the Superbowl versus the previous year’s winners, you stand to win more if the lesser team is victorious.
Fortunately, you don’t need to know the complexities of how bookies work this out to enjoy sports betting. You simply have to figure out which odds work best for you.
The point spread is another concept that can impact how much you win based on odds. In many sports, the sportsbook will anticipate how many points they think one team should win by.
They usually depict this with a minus or plus sign as well as a point total. The minus applies to the favorite team. When you bet on this spread, you can still win if you bet on the loser, as long as they lose by less than predicted.
Implied Probability
Probability and odds are closely related. Implied probability suggests how likely it is that something will happen.
It’s expressed as a decimal, calculated by dividing one by the decimal odds. So if a bookie gives a team odds of 2.50 to win a match, the implied probability is 0.4 or 40%.
Expected value refers to how much you could win from a wager based on the implied probability. If you bet $10 on the team above, you could get a return of $25 when they won. According to the implied probability of them winning, you could expect them to win their matches at least 40% of the time.
How to Start Sports Betting
The best way to familiarize yourself with the intricacies of sports betting is to get started. These are the steps involved:
Set Up a Budget
It’s easy to get carried away in the flush of victory. Set aside a budget for sports gambling before you get started. This could be an amount you’re prepared to lose or a daily wagering limit.
Losing isn’t an appealing option, but it’s the reality of sports betting. Even the most accomplished gamblers don’t win all the time.
If you want to maximize your enjoyment, step two is establishing a wagering strategy to make your money last as long as possible. Two factors impact this, namely the probability of winning and how good the odds are.
Experienced sports betting enthusiasts recommend wagering no more than 5% of your budget at a time.
Pick Your Sports
This is the easy part since it makes sense to choose sports that you know and enjoy. It’s much easier to pick the winning team when you’ve watched every game of the season.
Yet, you’ll encounter better promotions and higher odds if you focus on mainstream competitions.
You’ll also find websites highlighting today’s best bets are more focused on these events. These websites are an invaluable tool for picking the best opportunities for winning at sports betting.
The type of sport you choose can also impact your winnings. Football attracts the most bets every year since it’s so widespread, but there are plenty of other popular sports you can bet on:
- Basketball
- Soccer
- Baseball
- Tennis
The trouble is that it’s often difficult to find value bets in these mainstream sports, as the bookies rarely make mistakes with their odds. Often, newbies can do better in less popular sports, where bookmakers don’t invest as much energy.
If you have a lot of knowledge about an obscure sport, you could enjoy some favorable odds from disinterested or uninformed bookmakers.
Sign Up on a Betting Site
Joining a betting site is one of the easiest ways to make the most of online sports betting. You don’t need to leave the comfort of your home, and you only need to set up your payment options once.
It’s important to take your time searching for a reputable site with excellent security and make sure you use a payment option that’s separate from your day-to-day bank account.
Cybercrime is a harsh reality of the modern world, and it’s also easy to overspend your budget if you get caught up in the moment.
Besides, online sportsbooks offer great value for money, excellent promotions, and regular bonuses for both veterans and newcomers. Reputable online sportsbooks also present a variety of payment and betting options.
You shouldn’t limit yourself to only one betting site, either. The more you sign up for, the more chances you have to compare odds and promotions.
Choose Your Wagers
At first, you’ll find your array of choices overwhelming, but you’ll find plenty of help available online.
A good solution is to focus on the most popular wagers to start with. They’re available in most sports and you can apply the same principles to many other types of wagers.
These are the main types of mainstream wagers:
Moneyline
Also known as a match-winner, match result, or similar terminology, these bets all have the same concept. You simply have to pick a winner.
Spreads and Handicaps
In these games, one of the sides starts with a handicap as described above. You place your bets based on the outcome of the game.
Totals
These betting sites provide a choice of overall points scored. You simply decide whether both sides will score more or fewer points.
Futures and Outrights
These best allow you to bet on long-term events. For instance, you can bet on a team to win the NBA championship long before the final rolls around.
Live betting is a newcomer to the world of online sports betting, and it’s becoming ever more popular. This type of wager allows you to place your bets after the start of the event and is an exciting way to enjoy online sports betting.
Like everything to do with sports, practice makes perfect when it comes to online sports betting. Start with the basics, and you’ll soon learn more advanced wagering techniques as you go along.
The Most Important Sports Betting Tips
Are you ready to try out some of these sports betting tips? Budgeting for your hobby and managing your time are two of the most important pieces of advice for avid sports enthusiasts.
As well as being loads of fun, all forms of gambling can become addictive. If you ever reach a point where you simply can’t stop, be sure to reach out for help. Losing your shirt, or your family, on the outcome of a game isn’t much fun at all.
Even if you can afford to gamble a fortune away, there’s more to life than wagering and winning.
You can bet you’ll find a host of tips and information on our website. Bookmark our page and check back regularly for updates.
