Did you know nearly half of all American adults have placed a sports bet at least once in their lives?
Sports betting is a multi-billion-dollar industry around the world. Modern technology has allowed betting platforms to evolve, making it a lot easier to find and place a bet on your favorite team to win the game.
While traditional bets are pretty straightforward, a point spread bet works in a slightly different way. These kinds of bets are not based on the simple outcome of a game but rather on how the outcome relates to the bookmaker’s initial spread.
Interested in learning more about the different kinds of betting? You’re in the right place. Read on for everything you need to know about point spread betting.
Online Betting
Modern betting platforms have made it possible to place bets on games around the world with just a few taps on your smartphone. These platforms have expanded their services over the years to include new ways to place bets. This includes betting on the outcome of the game but also the small details throughout the game.
Online bets are heavily dependent on the odds that are published by bookmakers. These odds are calculated ahead of time and give you the opportunity to bet on your favorite team. The odds for any specific game can change at any minute, so it’s best to keep updated with the latest odds at https://www.bookmakersreview.com/odds/.
Different Kinds of Online Bets
Modern betting platforms have evolved to offer features, services, and bets that have never been available before. This includes features like instant deposits and identity verification but also a wide range of bets that you can place on your favorite sports games. Here’s a quick look at the different kinds of online bets you can make.
-
Win Bets
Win bets are sometimes referred to as moneyline bets depending on where you are in the world. These bets are one of the simplest and most popular kinds of bets you can make on any sporting fixture. These bets allow you to predict and bet on the outcome of any sports game.
Depending on the particular sport that you’re betting on, there could be a few different outcomes. However, most sporting games will let you bet on a win, lose, or draw for any particular team.
These kinds of bets also simplify the odds for you, as there are a limited number of outcomes. This means that the bookmaker will publish the odds for your team winning, losing, or drawing the match. This simplicity makes these kinds of bets great for multi-bets.
-
Totals and Over/Under Bets
This kind of bet is deeply related to the win bet of any particular fixture. Over/under bets allow you to predict the total number of points scored in any match. For example, you could bet that the total number of points to be scored in a specific NBA game is under 200 points.
If the actual point tally for the game was 198, everyone who bet on under 200 would win and everyone who predicted a total of 200 or bet on over 200 would lose.
-
Outright Bets
Outrights are bets that are bigger than one single match. The world of sports is filled with leagues and tournaments. These competitions require a sports team to consistently perform at a high standard throughout the season. Outright bets allow you to bet on the ending outcome rather than the outcome of the individual fixture.
These kinds of bets can occur in two different ways. The first is the team that manages to proceed to the next stage of the tournament while the second is the team that ends up winning the entire competition.
In many cases, the progressing team has to win more than one match to proceed. Outright bets allow you to bet on your team progressing to the next round even if they happen to lose any individual fixture along the way. This is most evident in international soccer matches as the progressing team is often determined by extra time.
The other kind of outright bet is simply the overall winner of any competition or league. These odds can change drastically over the course of a season depending on the form of each team. This makes the beginning of the competition the best time to make your outright bet.
-
Multi-Bets
Multi-bets are when bookmakers allow you to bet on more than one outcome at the same time. This can be multiple bets on the same fixture or multiple fixtures on the same bet slip. This means that you can predict the outcome of a number of events to increase your overall odds.
As mentioned above, win bets are often the go-to bets to use in a multi-bet. This is because you can bet on the outcome of a few games that are happening on the same day or weekend. However, some modern betting platforms let you go even further.
Some platforms allow you to mix different kinds of bets on the same betting slip. This means that you can place a bet on a win bet, an over/under bet, and an outright at the same time. These bet slips offer even better odds, making them incredibly attractive.
Mobile apps make building your own bet slip even easier. These apps let you scroll through all the various events and will automatically build a custom bet slip for you as you select games. This collects every event and places it on one bet slip for you to bet on.
This increases your overall odds but also means that every single one of your predictions must be true for you to win. The more bets you add, the higher the risk.
-
Point Spread Bets
Point spread bets are one of the most popular kinds of bets around the world. These kinds of bets are determined and published by bookmakers as they predict the outcome of a fixture. This initial prediction is what you can bet on.
Bookmakers will publish an initial prediction for the game and show who they think the favorites are to win the game. They will include how many points they think the favorite should win by. This prediction is what you can place your bet against.
If you think that the prediction is too high, you can bet against it. If you think the prediction is too low, you can make the opposite bet.
How to Make a Point Spread Bet
For example, if a betting platform has published that Team A is predicted to beat Team B by 10 points, you can place a spread bet on this game.
If you think that Team A will beat Team B by 10 points, you can place a bet on Team A. However, if you think that Team A will not beat Team B by 10 points, you can place a bet on Team B. In order to win this kind of bet, you will have to choose one of these two options.
Benefits of Point Spread Betting
Point spread betting was designed to make the outcome of a game more exciting even if there was a clear favorite. In theory, point spread betting asks the question of if the favorite would win with a handicap. This means that if a certain number of points were taken away from the favorite, would they still win the game?
This makes the entire game more interesting and allows people to bet on an otherwise obvious sports match.
Downsides of Point Spread Betting
Sport is always unpredictable. This means that there are always risks associated with making bets in the first place. Point spread bets are based on the predicted outcome of a fixture and allow you to bet on whether the initial prediction was too high or too low.
However, the entire prediction could be wrong. In these cases, the favorite does not end up winning the game and it won’t matter whether you bet on higher or lower. While these instances are rare, they make things more interesting.
Spread Betting
Online sports betting has never been easier. With mobile apps and modern betting platforms at your fingertips, you can do the research and place your bets with just a few taps on your phone.
Point spread bets add another dynamic layer to sports betting. These kinds of bets allow you to be more accurate with your predictions, giving you better odds in the process.
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about online sports betting, feel free to browse our website for more interesting articles.
You may be interested in: What kind of football predictions exist?