Anyone embarking on a sports betting journey should understand the terms and lingo associated with betting. If you don't know what you're talking about or what things are called, you probably don't have a full grasp of how betting works.
New to betting and don't know where to start? Have no fear — we've been in your shoes before, and we're here to help.
Check out the AllSportsPeople' sports betting glossary below, in which we define all the most common sports betting terms and help you better understand the basic lingo.
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Betting Glossary: Most common sports gambling terms explained
Action: When a bettor has a wager on a game or event.
Alternate Line ("alt line"): A modified point spread or total (over/under) that a sportsbook offers in addition to its standard line. Alternate lines allow bettors to change the potential payout of their wager by accepting more or less risk.
Bettors may "buy points" by lowering the spread or tacking points onto the total for under bets (or lowering the total for over bets). Bettors can also "sell points" by increasing their risk and improving their potential payout.
American Odds: A style of expressing moneyline odds most commonly used in the United States. American betting odds are expressed with a number preceded by a minus sign (favorite) or a plus sign (underdog). Odds of -150, for example, mean you must wager $150 in order to win $100 in profit. If you bet on the underdog at +150, on the other hand, you will win $150 in profit for every $100 you bet.
ATS ("against the (point) spread"): Initialism for "against the spread," betting on the point spread or margin of victory in a game result or prop. Also can refer to a team's record against the spread.
Bad beat: Losing a bet that was expected to win due to extenuating circumstances, often late in a game or event.
Bankroll: The total amount of money a person has set aside exclusively for gambling purposes. A bankroll is separate from your personal finances and consists of money you can afford to lose without it affecting your financial stability.
Bookie: A person who accepts bets illegally and charges juice/vig.
Bonus bet: An offer from a sportsbook for an often complementary bet, programmed to be awarded as the result of a previously won or lost wager.
Chalk: A favorite in a game, event, or prop bet.
Closing Line: The final pregame odds, which lock when a game begins. After the game begins, live odds will very likely shift away from the closing line.
Cover: A win on the point spread by either the favorite (winning by at least the point spread) or underdog (losing by a margin lower than the spread or winning outright).
Decimal Odds: Also known as European odds, decimal odds indicate the total payout for every one unit wagered, including your original stake. They are the most common odds format worldwide, especially in Europe, Canada and Australia.
Decimal odds are straightforward to read and calculate. The total payout is calculated by multiplying your stake by the decimal odds. To find your net profit, simply subtract your initial stake from the total payout.
Edge: When you know something or figure out a trend that gives you a perceived advantage over the sportsbooks.
Even money: A bet in which you double your stake with a win. Basically a 50/50 or coin-flip bet, an even money bet is listed as +100, 1/1, 1:1 or 2.00.
Exotic: Prop bets that don't involve the actual stats or scoring within a game. Exotic bets can involve the total length of the National Anthem performance, the halftime show, the fans or broadcast, ads and commercials during a broadcast, or even how often Taylor Swift is shown on camera. Exotics, also known as novelty props, are very popular on Super Bowl Sunday.
Fade the public: A contratian strategy that advises to bet against any clear favorites shown by data like handle, money percentage, or amount of bets that overwhelmingly favors one side of a wager.
Favorite: The team, player, or statistic that the sportsbook deems more likely to win on a wager.
First-Half Bet: A bet that involves only the first half of a matchup. Bettors can make first-half bets on the moneyline, against the spread or on the over/under. First-half player prop bets can also be made.
Fractional Odds: Fractional betting odds represent the ratio of the potential profit to the amount of money you wager, or your stake. Commonly used in the U.K. And in horse racing, they are written with a slash or hyphen, such as 7/1 or 7-1.
To calculate winnings on a bet with fractional odds, remember this: for every B units you bet, you will receive A units of profit if you win. Your original stake is also returned.
Futures Bet: Advanced bets on the outcome of a major event, award, statistic or milestone. For example, a futures bet would include a wager on the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series.
Handicapper: Private or public-facing personality who creates and/or shares betting picks against the market.
Handle: The total amount of money spent on a certain bet at a sportsbook operator. If 80 percent of the handle is on the over, then 80 percent of all the over/under money wagered has been placed on the over.
Hedge: Betting the opposite team or side of your original wager in order to either try to “middle” the game, or to reduce the downside exposure of the original wager. Common practice with a futures bet that will be settled upon one game or event, wherein the bettor wagers on the opposite site of that event.
Hook: A half-point. Most score-related odds have hooks to avoid pushes, as all half-point amounts produce an over or an under (there are no half-points or half-runs in sports).
In-Play Betting (Live Betting): Betting on a game while the game is in play. Live odds fluctuate throughout a contest.
Juice (Vig / Vigorish): A commission built into betting lines. Also known as "the vig," "vigorish" or "the cut." It's like the tax you pay to the book in order to place the action.
Layoff: Money placed as a bet by a sportsbook at another operator to reduce liability on a market.
Limit: A personal betting limit placed on one's account to avoid losing more than one can afford to lose. Online sportsbooks strongly suggest placing limits on one's account.
Line Movement: When the odds shift one way or the other prior to a game or during a game.
Live Betting: In-play betting, when players can wager on ongoing action against actively shifting lines.
Live Odds: The ever-shifting odds for a player, team or game as it's happening live.
Lock: A self-professed bet that's "guaranteed" to hit by a pundit, handicapper, or tout.
Maximum Bet: The highest amount a sportsbook allows for a certain bet or line.
Moneyline: An outright bet on which team will win a game, or side will win a prop, with varying odds/payouts.
Mush: A bettor labeled as bad luck by others.
Oddsmaker ("linemaker"): Sportsbook operators and traders who set the initial betting lines.
Off the Board: When a bet is removed from a sportsbook, due to injury or a game being too close for the sportsbooks to call in terms of setting a line. If a key player like a quarterback is questionable to play, the book may opt to take away their liability with the game and just remove it from their odds listings.
Over/Under: Another name for "Total," the prop through which bettors must choose whether a market will go over or under the established total.
Parlays: Combination bets that include two or more different wagers, usually on multiple games. For a parlay bet to win, all the individual bets included in it must win. The more legs in the parlay bet, the higher the payout.
Pick 'em: A two-sided market that has no favorite or underdog, with a spread of zero.
Point Spread: The number — negative or positive — assigned to two teams in a matchup that represents the margin of victory. A bet on a favored team to win by a certain margin, or a bet on an underdog team to either win or lose by less than a certain margin. The projected win margin, the point spread equalizes the odds between the favorite (the team expected to win) and the underdog (the team expected to lose).
Promos: Offers or codes given by sportsbooks to promote account signups or action on selected markets. (Keep up with the latest DraftKings Promo Codes.)
Prop Bet (Proposition Bet): A bet on a player, team or game's stats as opposed to the winner/loser, spread, or over/under total. The most common props involve scoring, like anytime touchdown props, home run props or point total over/unders.
Push: Another name for a tie. In sports betting it can happen when the favorite wins by exactly the spread. All bets are refunded in the event of a push. Pushes are typically avoided because sportsbooks tend to go with half-point moneylines and spreads (a half-point is called a "hook").
Responsible Gambling (Gaming): The effort by bettors, operators, and watchdog organizations to ensure a regulated, healthy participation in sports betting. Also, the tools and resources supplied by betting companies to customers that request them.
Runner: Someone who makes a bet for another person.
Same Game Parlays: Parlay bets that combine two or more bets on in-game wagers like points scored, spread bets, player props, and more.
Sharp: A highly knowledgeable, successful, and often highly influential gambler. In poker, they are called "sharks."
Spread: The two-sided number that acts as the foundation of spread betting, or the shorthand term for "point spread" betting.
Square: A casual or recreational bettor who bets for fun and without sophisiticated logic, not professionally and as a legitimate source of income. The opposite of a sharp.
Steam: A sudden, significant, and uniform shift in the betting line across multiple sportsbooks. It is usually triggered when sharps or betting syndicates place a large, coordinated volume of bets on one side of a game.
Straight-up: A bet on a winner in a moneyline market.
Teasers: A parlay bet that adjusts all individual legs by a certain amount of points. Teasers greatly increase win probability, but greatly reduce the odds and therefore the potential payouts.
Ticket: Also known as a betting card, betting slip or betting receipt, a ticket is a physical or digital record of a placed wager. It's basically a receipt that confirms the details of your bet, including your selections, the amount of money you risked (the stake), the odds and the potential payout.
Totals (Over/Under): Bets on whether a game, player, or team will go above or below a certain amount of total points, runs or goals.
- Books list a "total" and bettors may decide how to bet on whether the outcome will be OVER or UNDER that defined amount.
- This is a very easy bet type to understand. If the total combined score for a game winds up higher than the projected total, then the OVER wins. If the final score total is lower than the projected total, then the UNDER wins.
Trends: Statistics often referenced, especially by touts, as reasons to place a certain bet.
Tout: A handicapper or company that promotes and/or sells betting picks.
Underdog: The team, player, or side of a bet that is deemed less likely to win by the oddsmakers.
Unit: A measurement of the size of a given bet. Mainly used because everyone's bankroll is different, a unit refers to the percentage of a bankroll, aka the amount of money one uses to spend on sports betting. One unit is usually equal to one percent of a bankroll, though it's not the same for everyone.
Void Bet: When a sportsbook voids a bet because a game did not take place or a player did not play in a game. Sometimes, even future bets are voided if a player did not play for long enough in a season. Many books void over bets on player props if a player got injured in the first quarter. Other books will only void a bet if the player did not play at all.
Wager: A bet.
Whale: A high-stakes bettor who wagers extremely large sums of money. Casinos and sportsbooks highly value whales because of the massive revenue they generate, and they often provide whales with lavish perks and customized services.
Advanced Betting Glossary
Ready to dig deeper into the language of betting? Get to know these other phrases for experienced bettors:
Arbitrage: A strategy that involves placing bets on multiple outcomes across several operators to guarantee a profit regardless of outcome. (Read more about why bettors should use multiple sportsbooks.)
Closing Line Value ("CLV"): The relation of the bet you made on a market compared to the figure at which the market closes. CLV is positive if your bet has longer odds or a better figure than the final trading number. A negative CLV denotes that your line isn't as profitable, even if you win.
Dime Line: A low-commission (or low-"juice") betting line, most commonly used for moneyline bets in baseball. The "dime" in this case refers to the 10-cent difference between the odds for the favorite and the underdog.
Grand Salami: A wager on the cumulative total of runs or goals scored across all games in a specific league on a given day. Rather than betting the over/under for a single game, you bet on the overall score for the entire slate of games. This bet is most commonly available for Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Hockey League (NHL).
Middle: A betting strategy in which a bettor places wagers on both sides of the same bet at different lines, with the intent of winning both or at least ensuring that one of the two bets will win. The opportunity for middle betting arises when a line has moved since the original bet was placed.
ROI (Return on Investment): A fancy way of saying the money you profit off your wagers. Calculating your potential ROI is the same as determining your risk vs. Reward.
Even a professional will say that simply doubling your money on a bet is a positive. Others prefer lower-risk, lower-reward wagers in which they walk away with 10 percent or 20 percent profit. Everyone's different, just like every bankroll is different.
Round Robin: A wager that automatically creates a series of smaller parlays from a larger group of selections. Unlike a traditional parlay where you lose the entire bet if one selection is wrong, a round robin provides a safety net because you can still win one or more of your smaller parlays even if some of your picks lose.
The term "round robin" comes from tournament play, where every team plays every other team. In betting, this means your chosen selections are combined in every possible parlay combination. This strategy helps to spread out the risk and offers increased opportunities for a payout.
To place a round robin bet, you must select at least three teams or outcomes. The betting platform will then present you with options to create different parlay combinations.
For example, if you pick Team A, Team B, and Team C, a sportsbook can create a "round robin by 2s," which consists of three separate, two-team parlays:
- Parlay 1: Team A + Team B
- Parlay 2: Team A + Team C
- Parlay 3: Team B + Team C
If you were to bet $10 on each of these three parlays, your total wager would be $30.
Rotation Number: A numerical identifier assigned to every team or individual event that a sportsbook offers for wagering. Rotation numbers are used to quickly and accurately place a bet, especially in person at retail sportsbooks with ticket writers.
Value Bet: A wager that has a positive expected value, meaning the odds offered are better than the true probability of the outcome occurring. A bettor who consistently identifies value and places value bets has strong mathematical likelihood of making a long-term profit.