For example, before game 5 of the 2012 NBA Finals, the Miami Heat were expected to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder. The line read: Miami -3, Oklahoma City +3. To determine who wins against the spread, the line is either added or subtracted from a team’s final score.
In the above example, if the bettor chose Miami, he would subtract 3 points from Miami’s final score and compare that to Oklahoma City’s final score. If taking Oklahoma City, he will add 3 points to Oklahoma City’s final score.
For him to win his bet, Miami would have to win the game by 4 points or more.
And if a bettor took Oklahoma City, they would have to win outright or lose by less than 3 points.
If the final adjusted score is a tie, the bet is considered a push. This is the most common type of bet in American sports betting.
- are wagers made based on the total score between both teams. Example, if an MLB game has a total of 10.5, an over bettor will want the combined total to be greater, and the opposite for a bettor taking the under. If the combined total is the same as the proposed total, the bet is a push.
- Proposition bets are wagers made on a very specific outcome of a match not related to the final score, usually of a statistical nature. Examples include predicting the number of goals a star player scores in an Association Football match, betting whether a player will run for a certain number of yards in an American football game, or wagering that a baseball player on one team will accumulate more hits than another player on the opposing team.
- Parlays. A parlay involves multiple bets that rewards successful bettors with a greater payout only if all bets in the parlay win. A parlay is at least two bets, but can be as many as the bookmaker will allow.
The possible payout of the parlay is determined by the combined likelihood of all bets placed. A parlay of riskier bets (more underdogs) will pay greater than a parlay of more likely bets (more favorites).
- Teasers. A teaser is a parlay that gives the bettor an advantage at a lower, but still positive, payout if successful.
The bettor selects the sport(s), number of games, and number of points given.
If the bettor takes two NBA games at +6.5 it will adjust the individual bets at that rate. So a bet on a 3-point underdog at +3 will become a bet at +9.5 points, and for favorites, it will change a 3-point favorite at -3 to +3.5 points.
Although the rules to win his bet are the same as a parlay, he is paid less than a regular parlay due to the increased odds of winning.
- If bets. An if bet consists of at least two straight bets joined together by an if clause which determines the wager process. If the player’s first selection complies with the condition (clause), then the second selection will have action; if the second selection complies with the condition, then the third selection will have action and so on.
- Run line, puck line, or goal line bets. These are wagers offered as alternatives to moneyline wagers in baseball, hockey, or soccer, respectively. These bets feature a fixed point spread that adjusts payouts based on the handicap between both teams. The greater the underdog, the more a winning bet on the underdog will pay.
- Future wagers. While all sports wagers are by definition on future events, bets listed as “futures” generally have a long-term horizon measured in weeks or months; for example, a bet that a certain NFL team will win the Super Bowl for the upcoming season. Such a bet must be made before the season starts in September, and winning bets will not pay off until the conclusion of the Super Bowl in January or February (although many of the losing bets will be clear well before then and can be closed out by the book). Odds for such a bet generally are expressed in a ratio of units paid to unit wagered. The team wagered upon might be 50-1 to win the Super Bowl, which means that the bet will pay 50 times the amount wagered if the team does so. In general, most sportsbooks will prefer this type of wager due to the low win-probability, and also the longer period of time in which the house holds the player’s money while the bet is pending.
A sports book may choose to buy in-play futures wagers at a price below the actual payout before a championship is decided if the potential payout is very high (and thus, damaging to the sports book due to the money that may be lost). The most recent example of this was when Leicester City pursued and went on to win the 2015/16 Premier League.
- Head-to-Head. In these bets, bettor predicts competitors results against each other and not on the overall result of the event. One example are Formula One races, where you bet on two or three drivers and their placement among the others. Sometimes you can also bet a “tie”, in which one or both drivers either have the same time, drop out, or get disqualified.
- Totalizators. In totalizators (sometimes called flexible-rate bets) the odds are changing in real-time according to the share of total exchange each of the possible outcomes have received taking into account the return rate of the bookmaker offering the bet. For example: If the bookmakers return percentage is 90%, 90% of the amount placed on the winning result will be given back to bettors and 10% goes to the bookmaker. Naturally the more money bet on a certain result, the smaller the odds on that outcome become. This is similar to parimutuel wagering in horse racing and dog racing.
- Half bets. A half (halftime) bet applies only to the score of the first or second half. This bet can be placed on the spread (line) or over/under. This can also be applied to a specific quarter in American football or basketball, a fewer number of innings in baseball, or a specific period in hockey.
- In-play betting. In-play betting is a feature offered by some online sports books that enables bettors to place new bets while a sporting event is in progress, such as if a defense will force a field goal in the current drive or a baseball team will score a run in the current inning.
Source: Wikipedia