Betting Terms Glossary

Gambling can be complicated. Here is a beginners guide to anything you may come across as you learn more about our project. 

Dog: Dogs are what we are all about. They are believed to be the least likely to win and have plus odds. Sometimes they come out on top. 

Asian handicap: Common in soccer, Asian handicaps range from .25 goals to 2.0 goals and do not include draws. 

Against the spread odds:  Bets that establish a number of points/goals that a team must win or lose by in order to win the bet. They are designed to create equal action on both sides of an event. Think of a handicap in a golf competition.

Bookmaker: A person who takes bets daily and controls their odds. They also must have a license in order to operate legally. 

Buy Points: Bettors can buy points to gain a winnable favorable line. If a spread is set at +2.5 points a player can move the line up to + 3.5 points but must decrease their payout on the bet. 

Covering the Spread: When a favorite wins and wins by more points than the spread. If a favorite wins by fewer points than the spread this bet would not cash. 

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Draw: A draw is a tie. Most of the time a draw will result in a push and your original bet amounts will be returned. 

Even money: Odds that return the exact amount of the original bet. A $100 bet on Fractional (1/1) American (+100) or Decimal (2.0) odds would return a $100 profit.

Exposure: Amount of money a bettor or bookmaker stands to lose on any given wager.

First half bet: A wager that only takes into account the first half of a sports competition. 

First/Last/Anytime Scorer: High payout and high risk bets that only cash if predicted correctly. 

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Futures bet: Bets are bets that will not cash within the week they are placed. Long Jets super bowl winners in 2022-23. 

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Game total bet: More commonly known as Over/Under bets; if a basketball game has an over of 210.5 there must be 211 points or more to win the bet. These bets include overtime.

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Hedge: Common risk management tool used by sportsbooks. Hedging consists of taking the opposite side of an original wager to limit exposure to certain outcomes. 

House Edge: The percentage of money the house will take over a long period of time determined by probability.

Laying points: Betting on a team favored to win. 

Moneyline: A bet without any point spread where bettors need to predict the outright winner. Favorites are posted with a negative (-185) odds while underdogs are listed with a positive (+165) price. -185 means a bettor must risk 185 dollars to win 100. +165 means a bettor must risk 100 to win 165 dollars. 

Odds: American money lines posted at (-110) are the same as 1.91 decimal odds and 10/11 fractional pricing. All three formats return a $100 profit on a winning $110 wager.

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Off the board: Shortened to OTB, off the board games are displayed on betting boards but don’t have odds attached to them. An injury to a star player may cause bookmakers to pull odds off the board.

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Over bet: Opposite of an Under bet on game total options. This bet includes overtime.

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Parlay: This bet is a single bet where a bettor must predict multiple outcomes of events and combine them together. The bet only wins if all predictions are correct.

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Payout: The amount a bettor collects on a winning wager. This is their initial plus their winnings.

Proposition bet: Well known as a prop bet, these are special wagers that are offered on player point totals and other unique outcomes.

Puck line: A point spread for hockey. Different puck lines will pay out different odds but most are set at -1.5 and +1.5.

Stake: The quantity of money a bettor risks when placing a bet.

Straight bet: A single wager on moneyline, spread or game total. 

Ticket: A receipt given to a bettor to confirm their wager.

Under: Opposite of Over on game total betting. If the total on a Lakers vs. Clippers match is set at 238, players who place under bets need the combined final score to be 237 points or less.