Betting & Wagering in the USA
Knowing how to bet is often more important than knowing who to bet on. This is why Wager in America have put together a quick guide of the most popular bets in the US in order to help you to be able to dive into the great wide world of sports betting.
This guide should give you a satisfactory overview of the different types of sports bets that you can place. By reading this quick-step guide you will gain an insight in what sort of bet you should place in every given situation. Not all of these bet types are going to be for you of course. Some carry more risk than others. This is why WiA always recommends that you stay within your limits. Bet with your head NOT over it!
Moneyline bets or win bets are probably the easiest bet to understand and place. Basically the bet involves wagering on the team that you believe (or want if you’re a fan) to win in any particular match-up. So, if you are a huge Mets fan and you believe that they are going to triumph over the Red Sox, in Boston, then your moneyline bet would be, Mets to win. It does not matter how they win ( so long as it’s legal) or by how big a scoreline. You are simply betting on the Mets to beat the Red Sox, or Miami Heat to beat Detroit Pistons, or Green Bay Packers to beat Kansa City Chiefs or whatever your bet may be.
Placing a Moneyline Bet
Moneyline Odds
The odds for moneyline bets are always determined by +/- 100. With +100 being the underdog (least expected to win) and -100 being the favorite (most expected to win).
This means that if you are betting on a team at plus odds (+) the price quoted is what you will win for every $100 wagered. On the other hand, betting on a team at minus odds (-) means that the price quoted is the amount you would need to bet to win $100.
Win for the Mets
So, using the above example, if the Red Sox were considered favorites for this match-up (home advantage) and priced at -125 and your beloved Mets were priced at +145, if you were to wager $20 on the Mets and they won you would get back $29 in winnings plus your original stake of $20 giving you a grand total of $49.
This is because if you divide 145/100 this would give you odds of 1.45 or 1.45 x your bet which in this case was $20. So, 1.45 x 20 equals 29.
Win for the Red Sox
On the other hand, should the Red Sox win, because you would have had to stake $100 to win $125 the calculation is slightly different.
In our example your stake was just $20. So to work out your winnings we would need to divide 100/125 which gives us 0.8 (or ¢80 on the dollar). For every $1 you wagered you would get back ¢80 which equates to $16. You would also get back your original stake of $20 giving you a grand total of $36.
Placing a Parlay Bet
Parlay betting is an altogether more interesting way to place sports bets. It is also much more risky. Known as an accumulator bet in the UK a parlay is basically a way of spreading your stake money across two or more games.
This particular type of wager is very popular with people that like to bet on horse racing. It can be used to wager on any sport though, including American football, basketball, hockey or baseball.
Returns for this type of bet tend to be much higher than moneyline bets due to the odds accumulation. However, for this bet to win you have to guess the correct result in each part of your wager.
Example of a Parlay Bet
You decide to place a two team parlay on the games Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Minnesota Vikings, and Arizona Cardinals v Atlanta Falcons. You believe that Tampa Bay will beat Minnesota at odds of -145, and that Atlanta will beat Arizona at odds of -130.
For your bet to win both results must be correct. It doesn’t matter what the scoreline is so long as your picks win. For sake of argument, let’s suppose start times for the games mean that Tampa Bay plays Minnesota in the afternoon, and Atlanta meets Arizona in the evening.
Win for Tampa Bay
Should Tampa Bay win at moneyline odds of -145 and you staked $20 your returns would be $29 (20 x 1.45). However, you would not collect this money straight away. Instead your winnings would now be staked on the result of the game between Atlanta v Arizona.
Win for Atlanta
Now, if Atlanta were to beat Arizona in the evening game then your $29 from game 1 would win at odds of -130 giving you a total win from the two games of $37.70 (29 x 1.3). The downside is that if either of your two picks lose, then the whole bet goes down and you win nothing.
This example is a simple one. However, you should be able to see that in a five or six game parlay (yes people do bet that way) the odds against winning are enormous. On the flip side, should you ever attempt one of these bets with multiple teams, horses, tennis players etc, then the potential returns could be significant.
How to Make a Spread Bet
Another bet type common within sports betting in the USA is the spread bet. Spread betting originated way back in the 70’s. It was used as a way to make money on the stock market by betting on the fluctuation of the price of commodities.
Sometimes known as handicap betting this type of wager is extremely popular, both here in the States, and also in Europe. The principal behind spread betting is very simple, although sometimes the mathematics is less so.
It works like this. The bookmaker (based on historic and empirical evidence) will assign a point spread for a game between two teams. I will use NBA teams Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors for this example, though this principle could equally be applied to golf, tennis, football or any sport where the accumulation of points is the deciding factor.
The Spread
The Spread is essentially the margin (in points) they believe that one team will win a particular match-up by. In this example the bookies feel that Chicago will beat Toronto by 7 points. In order for you to win this wager you must bet on whether you believe that Chicago will by a greater or lesser total than 7 (the point).
If you think Chicago will win by more than 7 points you would bet ‘higher’ (+). Alternatively, if you think Chicago will win by less than 7 points, or even that Toronto will win, you would go ‘lower’ (-). The Spread, is the difference between what the actual score is at the end of the game and the point total that the bookie originally offered.
So, if Chicago ends up winning by 10 points the ‘spread’ would be +3. If you had gone higher, then your bet would win. If Chicago wins by less than 7 points (or even loses) then the spread would be negative and you would lose.
How Spread Bets are Paid Out
Spread bets are always paid out according to the moneyline odds in operation once the game begins.
Chicago Wins
In our example Chicago wins by 10 points which is +3 (3 more than the original point which was 7). You went higher and wagered $10. Supposing that at the commencement of the game Chicago was -170 on the moneyline. Because we know that in order for you to win $100 you need to stake $170 but your actual wager was $10, your winnings may be calculated as follows…
100/170 = 0.58 or a return of ¢58 on the dollar. So your winnings equate to $10 x ¢58 giving you a total return of $5.80 plus your original stake giving a total of $15.80
But wait! What if Chicago wins by less than the point score of 7? Or even, what if Chicago doesn’t win at all and Toronto wins?
Toronto Wins
If you had bet higher than the original point then you would lose your $10. On the other hand if you bet lower than 7 or on a Toronto win (against Chicago) you would be paid out at the moneyline odds for Toronto.
Let’s imagine for a moment that the odds were +225 on a win for Toronto. Your winnings would be calculated as follows…
225/100 = 2.25 multiplied by the amount of your wager $10 giving you winnings of $22.50 plus your original stake for a total of $32.50
The beauty of this bet of course, is that if you bet against the favorite you can still win even if your team loses. You will even win in the event of a tie.
How to Make a Futures Bet
A futures bet is probably the easiest bet to understand and place, and also the most satisfying. What you are doing with a futures bet is wagering on the probability of some future event occurring. Maybe the New England Patriots to win the Superbowl or Montreal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup.
These are bets generally placed at the start of the season or the beginning of a particular event or tournament such as the USA to win the world cup of Soccer , or Emma Raducanu to win the US Open ladies tennis.
All futures bets are set at moneyline odds, but unlike a match-up between two teams there are no negative (-) odds.
Proposition Bets Explained
Another fun bet type is the proposition bet or ‘prop bet’. With this bet you make an assessment of the likelihood of a particular event occurring during a game.
Examples of a prop bet might be which team will score first, or even a particular player scoring first in a game. Perhaps the number of goals in a Hockey game or the amount of ‘Aces’ made by a tennis player in a tennis match-up.
Chances are that if there is the likelihood of any event occurring during any sporting match-up, then your US bookmaker will have odds for it.
Permutation Bets Explained
If you were struggling to get your head around spread betting and moneyline then permutation betting will really mess with your head. Similar in many ways to a parlay, permutation bets do not rely on all your picks coming in.
Unlike a parlay bet which is a single bet, a permutation bet, or a combination bet, is a series of different wager types wrapped up into a single betting package.
For example, with a parlay you might wager $20 on team A to beat team B in game 1 and team C to beat team D in game 2. If both teams A and C win, your bet wins. However, if one of your chosen teams loses, your entire bet loses.
Example of a Permutation Bet
In a different example you may wish to place a single bet on team A to beat team B. Then you place another single on team C to beat team D. Finally you place a double (parlay) on both teams A and C to win.
In this scenario, if both your teams win, then all three of your bets (2x singles and a double) will win at their respective odds. If only one of your teams wins, then you will at least have some return on your initial investment. Think of it as a kind of insurance.
Of course, if both teams lose then all your bets also lose, and you are out of pocket to the tune of your original wager. Hey! That’s life right?
Bonus Wagering Requirements Explained
When you sign up for a nice fat, juicy bonus at one of our recommended online casinos you will notice a couple of things. One is just how unbelievably generous the casino is in offering you 100% welcome bonus up to $1000 PLUS 150 extra spins. The other is that in order to cash this bonus out, you will need to fulfil the wagering requirements for that particular bonus.
What Are Wagering Requirements?
Great question. The wagering requirements (WR), or play through requirements, or turnover requirements (call them what you will) at a casino, is the amount of times that you must ‘turnover’ your bonus cash before being able to withdraw.
Attached to every casino bonus is the amount of the wagering requirements. It will look something like this: WR 35x. This means that the turnover requirements are 35x your bonus cash. Let’s look at an example.
Example: You deposit $100 at xyz casino where the welcome bonus was 100%. This means that you now have $200 to play. $100 of your own money, plus $100 that the casino gave you for the bonus. Great!
Sadly you cannot simply withdraw that money and ride off into the sunset. You need to play it through first. The casino will always set a target and once you reach it then it becomes yours.
So, because the bonus amount came to $100 and the play-through amount or wagering requirements are 35x you need to turnover an amount equivalent to 35 x 100 =3500 in order to release the bonus cash to your account.
Most players will do this by playing video slots games. It is worth remembering that not all games will count for the play through requirements. Casino table games such as roulette, blackjack and baccarat will generally not be allowed as part of this type of bonus. Although they may sometimes be allowed at a lower percentage contribution. Live casino games will also be excluded, as will video poker and progressive slot games.
It is worth taking note of which games are included in the WR before you begin to play. This will avoid any potential problems later on. As a matter of course it is wise to ALWAYS read the terms and conditions of the bonus before signing up.
Why Aren’t all the Games Available?
The reason that all the games are not available for the casino bonus is all to do with game percentage. Some games have a much higher house advantage than others. Slots for example, have a house edge of anywhere from 4-8% (as a rule), this is why they count towards the casino bonus. Baccarat on the other hand has a very slim house edge (just over 1%) so that is why it never counts towards the bonus. The house edge is also constant on video slot games, whereas on table games like blackjack and roulette, the house edge can vary depending on how you play, and the types of bet that you place.