Monday, July 21, 2008

Explaining Sports Betting In Simple Terms

By Allison Thompson

Through combining two of men's favorite interests someone has been able to create something called "sports betting". Imagine a group of guys cheering on their favorite team and nearly always you will one of other making a bet. Now just think about this. No matter what the sport there are always going to be certain games that everyone is going to be talking about. In fact some it will be something that some sports buffs feel will change the course of history. Certainly to get a bit of the action some spectators like to guess who is going to be winning certain upcoming games. This is what then turns a friendly game into one with sports betting.

Although many say betting is addictive this form is very much just for fun and is often the ideal way to bond with your mates. You do not need to even lay down big bets just to have a good time. Sports betting can actually make the whole outcome of the game far more meaningful and exciting for those watching or listening to it. Below we offer a few basics with regard to sports betting to help you get started.

For a person in the USA to place bets they first need to be a member of a Sports Book which is a place where any bets you place will be accepted. At present you it is only legal to bet in 4 states in the USA and you can do it illegally in others but you need to find yourself a bookie and also you must be over the legal age for betting which is 21 years. Once you have become a member of Sports Book now you can start placing bets on any sports event you want. You can place bets on both professional and college football and basketball games, you could bet on professional baseball or hockey games. You could if you wanted even bet on the toss of a coin (whether it lands on its head or its tails) as well as horse racing and dog racing. Plus there are numerous different combinations of bets that you can place from ones where you bet what the combined score of the two teams in the game will be at the end to what round your teams opponents are going to be knocked out of the competition. So what you are doing is betting on the statistical odds relating to whether the team win or lose.

With sports betting the bookies rely on these statics to help them determine which of the teams they think are going to win. There is also something they do called a "spread" which is a points advantage that is given to weaker teams who are expected to lose by a particular number of points. This is their way of making even bets possible for a Sports Book. So say a person bet on a team who is expected to lose, they will still win their bet as long as the team loses by the number of points stated.

From time to time with this particular kind of bet you may be required to bet a few points higher above what you would actually win. The only reason you will be asked to do this is so that the bookie can actually make some money as well.

There are various different kinds of bets that one can place when it comes to sports betting. The kinds of bets you place are known as straights (the most common type placed), parlays, teasers and over/unders. A straight bet is where you put money on whether the team will win or lose the game. Whilst under/over bets combine the number of points that the teams score during a particular game. As for parlays and teasers these are bets that involve a spread and this is where you bet on several games at once. However teasers offer you the chance to subtract or add points to your spread and this in turn could make your bet much stronger. To really make sports betting more challenging and interesting then one needs to get involved in the more complex types of bets we have mentioned here.

Above we have shown you what the basics are relating to sports betting. So why not give it a try some and have a little fun. But don't get carried away else you may find yourself using your retirement fund and having nothing left for your retirement.

About the Author: