Anyone can start placing bets at traditional and online sportsbooks, as the entire process is simple to understand. As a result, today, we have millions of punters from all around the world who place sports bets almost every day.
Now, each punter needed to learn a couple of betting terms to fully understand this gambling form. If you’re new to sports betting, then you too need to get familiar with the terminology. Here, you’ll find the main terms and phrases needed for a seamless betting experience.
The Main Betting Terms You Must Be Aware of When Wagering at Sportsbooks
Punters and sportsbooks use over a hundred different terms that you can only find in this gambling form. To help you understand the basics, we’ll point out the main ones that every bettor should know about.
We start off with odds, stake, and wager. Odds represent the probability of an event occurring during a match. The stake is the amount you use when placing a bet. It multiplies by the odds to get you your potential payout. We refer to placing a bet as wagering.
When betting online at a licensed sportsbook, you must also know the term accumulator or combo bet. It applies whenever you wager on 2 or more events with the same stake.
Next up, we have the favourite and the underdog. The first is the team or player that the bookmaker expects to win, which is why it offers a smaller payout. An underdog will most likely lose and come with bigger odds.
If you come across the term betting market, know that it refers to the type of bet. Each market comes with 2 or more wagering options, which feature different odds.
Bankroll and even money also deserve mentioning. We refer to the amount that you’re willing to use for betting as your bankroll. With even money, the wager has the same potential payout as the initial bet. In other words, if you bet £5, then you can expect to win £5.
Many top sportsbooks offer cash-out and early payout options. You can use the cash-out feature to settle a bet early and claim a smaller amount than your initial payout. The early payout will get you your full payout automatically after settling a specific condition.
We also need to mention live or in-play betting, which is self-explanatory. It’s a form of betting where you wager on an event that is currently taking place.
Additional Sports Betting Phrases You Need to Know
We can name numerous other betting terms used by punters and bookmakers every day. But, at this stage, we’ll only cover a couple of them that we believe are important to know. Among them are the following:
- Single bet – the simplest betting form where you gamble on only one match and one outcome.
- Return or payout – this term indicates the amount you receive after winning a bet. It includes the profit you make and the initial stake you placed.
- Punter – the person who places sports bets. Bookmakers refer to them as bettors, players, or customers.
- 1×2 – a type of bet that allows you to gamble on the home team winning, a draw, or the away side winning.
- Total or over/under – a popular betting market that lets you wager on the total number of points or goals. You can also find it as the home team or away team total.
- Bet builder – this is an extra feature offered on selected sports, competitions, and events. It lets you wager on multiple things to occur within a single match.
- Arbitrage betting – a betting strategy where you get a guaranteed profit from wagering on all possible outcomes. This technique requires using at least 2 bookmakers.
- Odds boost – increased odds on a selected event that can result in a bigger payout.
- Cashback – a sportsbook promotion that returns a portion of your losses back to you.
- Future or outright bets – these are types of bets that let you wager on an outcome to occur in the near or distant future. For instance, wagering on a team to win the league.
- Handicap betting – this betting market levels the odds by giving the favourite a disadvantage and the underdog an advantage within a match.
- Free bet – a betting bonus that you can use to place a bet on a specific sport, competition, or event at given odds. It may require a certain deposit in order to apply.
- Betting tips – predictions made by betting experts that the general public can use for their own wagering purposes. Be careful, as these forecasts aren’t 100% reliable.
- Betting limit – the minimum and maximum amount you can place on a bet slip as a stake.
- Proposition or prop bets – wagering on specific things to occur within a match, unrelated to the score. For example, betting on a specific player to get a yellow card.