Frequently Asked Questions
- Where can I bet legally on Sports?
- What sports can I bet on?
- What is "the spread"?
- Why do I have to bet $11 to win $10?
- What are all of the different types of bets?
- Who makes the odds?
- What is the minimum bet that must be reported to the IRS?
- What is betting on totals?
- Is online sports betting legal in the United States?
- What does 'juice' mean?
- Can you explain how hedging a bet works? What are the pros and cons?
- What are betting propositions?
- Where can I bet legally on Sports?
Aside from various forms of animal racing, there are only a couple of ways to bet legally on sports.
You can bet legally at licensed Nevada Sports Books. Most of the following describes the ins and outs of gambling at sports books. There are two points worth noting here. First, Nevada Sports Books can set up phone accounts, but will not accept wagers across state lines. Second, odds with illegal bookies are often worse than those one can get in Nevada.
Betting with international sports books is on the rise, and the services are offered through phone and internet based services. From the point of view of bets and odds offered, these books are similar to licensed Nevada Sports Books. The legality of these services is still controversial. There are claims and opinions on both sides of the argument. Some offshore books are run by trustworthy firms, while some are scams.
- What sports can I bet on?
You can bet on any sport the Sports Book you are wagering with covers. At most books, this includes professional and college sports games and animal racing. Every now and then Sports Books will offer proposition bets on events like professional golf tournaments and the Indy 500, but not on a regular basis for other events in those sports. When betting through online betting sites based around the world, the addition of the popular sports in that area will also be included, such as cricket, European football and many more.
- What is "the spread"?
The spread is a point advantage given to a weaker team that is expected to lose by X number of points. This is the odds makers’ way of making even bets possible for a Sports Book. Usually if you bet against the spread you make an 11-10 bet. This means that you win $10 if you bet $11 for a total of $21 if your team covers the spread.
A team covers the spread if it wins the game with the score modified by the spread. If Dallas and Washington are playing and the spread is (Dallas -7), then Dallas has to win by at least 8 points to cover. Half-point spreads are also possible.
- Why do I have to bet $11 to win $10?
This is one of the many ways the Sports book makes its money. In an ideal situation, the same amount of money will be bet on both sides of the line and the Sports Book will take its 10% from the losing side. If $55000 ($50000 and an addition $5000 to make the bets) was bet on
Washington and $55000 bet on Dallas, no matter who wins the game the SB will make $5000. In case of a tie, all money is refunded. This is a rather simplified version as the spread moves when one side becomes more heavily bet on.
- What are all of the different types of bets?
Proposition bet
A prop bet is a bet the SB offers at odds and conditions of its choosing. Prop bets can be exotic bets like which team will score the most touchdowns, which team will shoot the most three pointers, which running back will rush for the most yards, etc. Most prop bets are offered at 11-10 odds, but some of the exotics will be offered at better or worse odds, depending on the bet.
Money Line Bets
A money line bet is a bet on the straight up total of an event or the odds for a straight up prop bet. There are two totals given for either side on a money line bet. A negative and a plus side.
Dallas -170
Washington +150
What this means is that for every $17 you bet on Dallas, you win $10 if they win. For every $10 you bet on Washington, you win $15 if they win. This is the way SB's make money off games by not giving points.
Spread Bets
These are the standard bets to make. Basically a proposition bet at 11-10 odds where the conditions are you give or take points on the team you are betting on hoping that the modified total of your teams score beats the other teams’ straight score. Bets on the spread are often known as straight bets because they pay even money (minus the 10% vig).
Tampa Bay +19 1/2
Miami -19 1/2
This means that if you bet on Miami, Miami needs to score at least 20 more points than Tampa to cover. If you bet on Tampa, the score must be at least within 19 for you to win. The bottom team is almost always the home team.
Over/Under Bets
These are also 11-10 bets on what the total of the game will be. If the total posted on a game is 39 1/2 points, then you can wager that the total score of both teams added together will be either over or under the posted total. Betting the over is known as "betting on the ball", betting under is known as "betting on the clock".
Chicago -5 1/2 -180 1:00 pm
Atlanta +5 1/2 +150 42 1/2
This gives the money line, the point spread, and the total for the game. It also tells you that Atlanta is the home team, and the game starts at 1:00 pm. As far as I know, this is the standard posting at most Books.
Parlays
A parlay bet is betting on the outcome of two or more events, and getting higher odds than betting on the outcome of both events. The drawback is that the odds aren't right and that you must win all of the events to win the parlay.
# of plays Standard Odds True Odds
---------- ------------- ------- ---------
2 plays 13-5 3-1
3 plays 6-1 7-1
4 plays 10-1 15-1
5 plays 20-1 31-1
6 plays 40-1 63-1
7 plays 80-1 127-1
The more events parlayed the worse the odds shift in the casinos advantage. The advantage for the player for parlays lies in the fact that he can bet more on the same game (spread and over/under) and he can bet more on two teams who are playing at the same time.
In order to be competitive, some casinos offer ties-win parlay cards. This greatly helps the player. The Las Vegas Hilton SB is one of these.
Teasers
A teaser bet is a bet where you can move the spread by a set amount, but have to pay to do it. You must bet at least two teams like a parlay and win both. You can move the spread by on all the games by the set amount.
Buying a half point
You can shift the spread a half point in your favor by laying 6-5 odds instead of the standard 11-10. This is called buying a half point. You usually want to stay away from this bet except on three point spreads on football games. This is also known as "buying the hook".
- Who makes the odds?
Las Vegas Sports Consultants Inc., establishes the odds for about 75% of the licensed Sports Books in Nevada, as well as for the Oregon State Lottery. Most illegal books in and out of Nevada draw their odds from what is posted at the various casinos. Transmitting gambling information across state lines for the purpose of placing or taking bets is illegal. News items about point spreads and the like can be reported for informational and entertainment purposes only.
- What is the minimum bet that must be reported to the IRS?
All gambling wins and losses are supposed to be reported to the IRS at the end of the year, but if you bet more than $10,000 at once, you must fill out some IRS paperwork at the ticket counter. All money won must be reported to the IRS.
- What is betting on totals?
Overs/unders, more commonly referred to as totals, are a type of betting opportunity offered to gamblers where they may bet that the final score of a game is over the bookmaker's posted total or it goes under the number. The winner of a totals bet is determined by adding the final score of both teams.
- Is online sports betting legal in the United States?
The safe answer to the question regarding the legality of Internet gambling is to say that it is currently illegal, even though that is using a pretty generous interpretation of the law. Still, no arrests have been made in the United States for merely placing bets online.
With the WTO ruling of Dec. 21, 2007, it's highly unlikely that anything will change in the U.S. in the near future, as there is no longer any incentive to make any type of concessions to the gambling sector.
- What does 'juice' mean?
Juice, also known as the 'vigorish' or simply 'vig', is the commission that sports books collects for taking your bet. In a perfect world the action on both sides of each game would be evenly split, and the books would use the monies collected from the losing bets to pay the winning ones. The difference (juice or vig) goes to the house. The norm is around 10-percent for most side and total bets, and it most cases you pay when you lose. For example on an average football bet you would lose $110 if your team fails to cover the spread, yet win only $100 if your team does cover the spread. In money line sports there is normally a 10-cent price difference between the favorite and underdog in order to account for the vigorish. That is why you see the favorite at -150 (for example) and the underdog listed at only +140.
- Can you explain how hedging a bet works? What are the pros and cons?
Hedging is defined as this: "To reduce the amount of risk by wagering on the opposite side of a previous bet." If the situation presents itself, a bettor can guarantee a lower rate of return by betting the other side (or hedging) of a previously placed wager. For example if prior to the NFL season you selected the Cowboys to win the Super Bowl, and they do make it to the big game, rather than risk winning or losing the entire amount depended on the outcome, you could place a wager on the other team and eliminate that risk. It will take some figuring; but what you are doing is accepting a smaller payout while eliminating any chance of going home empty-handed.
The Pro would be that you guarantee some sort of payout; the con of course would be that you aren’t going to win the big amount either.
- What are betting propositions?
Some sports books may post odds on these events as a publicity stunt, but these odds are for amusement only. They are not real betting lines. Under Nevada state law, wagers must involve the outcome of "athletic contests" rather than elections or votes of any kind. This means you cannot even bet on who will win awards such as the Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and the like. Even so, "wacky" proposition bets can sometimes be found in Las Vegas sports books. They are often linked to the Super Bowl or another major sporting event.
For instance, in Super Bowl XXXV gamblers could bet on whether the Ravens would score more touchdowns than the Chicago Blackhawks scored goals on Super Bowl Sunday – and that was just one of countless "wacky" propositions.
As another example, to generate interest in Monday Night NFL games, many sports books offer odds on which player will score the first touchdown in the game. These "wacky" bets can be lots of fun, but odds and details vary tremendously by casino, so read the fine print before getting involved.