Learn How Sports Betting Works – A Detailed Guide

Dec 03, 2020
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From the moment the first Neanderthal grunted “Betcha I can jump that far” to his mate a quarter of a million years ago, betting has been ingrained in human nature. We’ll never know whether Grug survived his leap of faith and claimed his extra slice of woolly mammoth from Gorp. What we do know is that, in 2020, there are more Grugs and Gorps than ever before – sports betting has never been more popular.

Neither Grug nor Gorp had a clue about how sports betting works. Today, however, there are millions of people worldwide who are better at placing a bet than boiling an egg.
If you’re looking to become a modern-day sports betting expert, you’ve come to the right place. Take a deep breath, because we’re about to dive headfirst into this fascinating industry.

What Is Sports Betting?

Before we can introduce you to the intricacies of sports betting, we first need to establish exactly what it is. Let’s start as basic as possible with a definition of betting. In essence, this is the act of making a prediction about a certain event and then supporting that prediction by offering up something of value, usually money, against an opponent. If you’re right, you not only keep your money, but also win your opponent’s money. If you’re wrong, you lose it all.

Betting on sports is one of the most common forms of gambling. The only difference between this and other forms of betting is that it focuses purely on sporting events. In its simplest form, you might bet your friend five quid that a certain team or player will win their next match. If you win, you walk away with £10, and if you lose you end up with nothing.

The reasons for placing sports bets are fairly self-explanatory. Some people see sports betting as a serious way to make money, while others simply want to prove their knowledge of sports.

However, most people are in it just for the fun and excitement sports betting brings.

No matter why you’ve decided to bet on sports, it can be a truly fun and exciting experience. The more you learn about the process of sports betting, the more likely you are to win and take home a substantial amount of money.

Odds Explained

Betting with a bookmaker is rarely as simple as making a wager with one of your mates. Why? Because of a little mathematical devil known as “odds.”

If you’re a rookie bettor, you probably need to have sports betting odds explained before you place your first bet. Fail to understand them and you’ll be left sifting through a bunch of random numbers. The good news is that once you figure out how sports betting odds work, determining which team to bet on becomes much easier.

Fractional (British) Odds

Adding to the confusion for new bettors is the fact that odds can be expressed in several different ways. In the UK and Ireland, fractional odds – also known as British odds – are used.

Fractional odds aren’t the easiest to grasp, but if you remember learning fractions at school, you should be fine.

The second number in fractional odds is the denominator and it signifies the amount of the stake. The other number is the amount your stake will yield if your prediction is right. It’s crucial that you get these two numbers in the right order, otherwise you’ll find yourself betting at dramatically different odds than you expected.

Let’s say you’re placing a bet on a football match. You predict that Liverpool will win in a home game against Leeds United. The odds the sportsbook has set for that game are 2/5 (pronounced two-to-five). In this specific situation, you’d win £2 for every £5 you wager if you’re correct. So, if you were to stake £10, you’d get £14 back (your original stake of £10 plus the £4 you won). If the original stake were £50, your return would be £70: your stake of £50 plus your winnings of £20.

Decimal (European) Odds

If you’re still trying to understand how sports betting works, decimal odds are surely your best bet. This straightforward expression of odds is popular across continental Europe, as well as in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

To work out your potential payout, all you need to do is multiply your stake by the decimal odds. So, let’s say you bet £10 on Rafael Nadal to win Wimbledon at odds of 4.50. If Rafa wins the tournament, you’ll get a £45 payout (your stake of £10 plus £35 in winnings). This is surely the easiest way to calculate winnings.

Decimal odds are also helpful when working out the favourite in a head-to-head match. The key is to look at which of the two players or teams has the lower odds; the smaller the number, the greater the likelihood of winning and vice-versa.

Let’s stick with Rafa and look at his odds of winning a match against Stefanos Tsitsipas. If Nadal is listed at odds of 1.40 and Tsitsipas is paying 2.90, you can rest assured that Nadal is a comfortable favourite to win. Most sites allow you to choose how odds are expressed, and we’d recommend using decimal odds when just getting started.

Moneyline (American) Odds

Take a deep breath, because you’ll definitely need American betting odds explained. The first thing to look for here is a plus or minus sign. If a team’s odds are expressed as negative, then that team is the favourite. If the odds are positive, then that team is the underdog.

Let’s return to Nadal versus Tsitsipas. For the same match as above, Nadal’s American odds would be -250, which would mean you’d have to bet £250 on him winning to earn £100. Tsitsipas is the underdog at +190, which means you’d earn £190 from a £100 bet on him winning.

Generating Betting Odds

Now that you know what betting odds are and how they work, chances are you’re wondering how bookmakers generate them. The process of calculating odds is called oddsmaking and the goal is to balance the action on both sides of a wager.

Betting companies need to attract equal betting volume on both sides, because that allows them to make a 5-10% profit – also known as the “vig” or “juice” – regardless of the outcome.

Mathematics and statistics play a significant role in the process of generating betting odds. Aided by contemporary technology, oddsmakers are able to track the odds and change them in real time, allowing bettors to place bets while the game is being played. This is known as live betting.

How to Bet on Sports

Knowing how sports betting works is just the first part of becoming a good sports bettor. There’s a lot more complexity to the process of sports betting, and being aware of how the system works is a prerequisite for placing successful sports bets.

But before we dive deeper into these murky waters, let’s take a second to learn more about placing a sports bet.

The first part of the process includes choosing how and where to place your bet. There are so many bookmakers around these days that choosing a company you trust is extremely important.

If you’re wondering how to place a sports bet once you’ve chosen a bookmaker, you’ll be happy to learn that there are numerous ways to do so. For example, you can visit a brick-and-mortar bookmaking shop and place a bet in cash, or you can save yourself a trip and do it online (more about online betting later).

Some bookmaking shops even offer telephone betting services, meaning that all you have to do is let the bookie know the details of the bet you want to place. Bear in mind that the right time to place an actual bet is after you’ve become familiar with all the basics of sports betting.

How to Bet on Sports Online

It’s never been easier to bet on sports from the comfort of your home. The online gambling industry has grown a lot in the past few years, and almost every UK-based bookie now allows you to place sports bets online from your PC or mobile device.

The key to a successful online sports betting session is to find a reliable site to bet on. Renowned online casinos and bookmakers are your safest option, and it’s always a good idea to check out the licences the site holds.

For those wondering how online sports betting works, it’s quite similar to regular sports betting. All operators provide odds on their site. After registering, players can place bets as long as they’re online.

These sites also offer numerous payment and withdrawal options, making it easy for players to make deposits and pick up winnings. Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and NETELLER are just some of the banking options offered by popular UK-based operators, while some also take payments in digital currencies such as Bitcoin. Many players enjoy betting on sports online, as it allows them to place wagers while having access to various player statistics and online betting tips.

How to Win at Sports Betting

Naturally, every sports bettor wants to win. What many players fail to understand is that there’s more to winning sports bets than just relying on a hunch. We live in the age of the internet – accessing all kinds of data has never been easier. For sports bettors, this means there’s a wealth of team and player statistics you can rely on.

Take a look at any professional sports bettor and you’ll see that all their betting methods include statistics. By using statistical methods like regression analysis, pros are able to understand what outcomes are most likely to occur in a match and pick the bets they feel most comfortable about.

Of course, if you’re a casual sports bettor, you don’t have to look at statistics every time you want to make a bet. However, players who want to maximise their chances of winning should rely on more than just luck. The more statistics you analyse, the better your sports betting skills will become. Therefore, even though using statistics in betting isn’t a must, it’s a good idea to make it a part of your betting strategy in order to increase your chances of winning.

Winning Money by Betting on Sports

We’ve already talked about gamblers who see betting on sports as a way of making money. Even if you’re not betting to supplement your income, it makes sense that you should aim to win something.

But how exactly can you win money by betting on sports?

The most important thing is to trust your head over your heart and place the right bets at the right time. Even if you’re extremely confident that a team will win, if the odds are bad, betting on them might not necessarily be a good idea. Experienced bettors advise rookies to calculate winnings before placing a bet, just to make sure the amount of risk involved is worth it.

How to Improve Your Sports Betting Skills

Predicting sports results is a skill you can nurture, just like most other skills. The more experience you have and the more effort you put into analysing sports statistics, the better you will be at predicting outcomes. So, if you plan to bet on sports on a regular basis, it’s worth spending some time practising. Once you learn how sports betting works, it’s time to look into the tips and tricks pros use to make the right predictions.

Some individuals like to follow advice from sports tipsters to increase their chances of winning. A tipster is someone who regularly predicts the outcomes of sporting events so as to help bettors make the right call. Following their advice can increase your chances of winning, but it takes more work than that to actually improve your sports betting skills.

The best strategy is to keep track of all your bets and identify reasons for losing every time you do. While there’s some useful information in this sports betting guide, there’s even more you need to learn if you want to become a pro sports bettor.

Of course, the more familiar you are with a certain sport, the better you’ll be at predicting outcomes. It stands to reason that there’s no point betting on tennis if you don’t enjoy watching the game and don’t know the players very well. Find a sport you love, start watching it regularly, and follow all the latest news on injuries, form, and player transfers. Once you’re in the loop, you’ll give yourself a much better chance of making accurate predictions.

Types of Sports Bets

A combination bet or a parley is also something you’re guaranteed to encounter when betting on sports. Rather than betting on a single game or event like in a simple money line bet, you can place a combination bet and win big if you get all the results right. In this scenario, the odds for each event you’ve bet on are multiplied to calculate potential winnings.

Point spread betting gives gamblers a more interesting opportunity to bet on games where one team is considered to be a favourite by levelling the field for both teams. Betting on the spread means predicting whether the favourite will win by more or less than a certain margin. If you look at popular sports bets, you’ll see that many players prefer point spread betting.

You might’ve also heard of pick’em betting, which refers to bets in which both teams are considered equal. In other words, the line on both teams is the same and you decide which team you want to bet on.

Whether you decide to bet on sports online or at a brick-and-mortar bookmaking shop, you’re guaranteed to come across terms such as “handicap.” While this is an important aspect of sports betting, you won’t find it in all sports betting “how it works” articles. A handicap is a form of betting used to even the contest when one side is considered to be significantly stronger than the other.

Let’s say you were betting on Michael Phelps to win a 200 m freestyle race in which he was the clear favourite. The operator could even the field by giving him a handicap of a second or a few metres.

One of the most popular types of handicaps in football is a no-draw handicap. For instance, the sportsbook could give Burnley a +0.5 handicap in a game against Arsenal. It means Burnley starts with a 0.5-goal lead and is considered the winner if the game ends in a draw.

The Bottom Line

We’ve provided you with plenty of information in this comprehensive guide. If you find that some of the strategies we’ve recommended are too much to handle, you can bet without relying on statistics and just have fun until you get the hang of it. Once you gain some experience betting on sports, you can start improving your skills and work on increasing your chances of predicting the right outcomes.

As long as you’re not too greedy and you bet responsibly, you’re guaranteed to have some fun. The journey, no matter how difficult it may seem, will be worth it, so there’s no reason not to get started right away. The entire world of sports betting excitement awaits you.