How Sports Betting Works – A Complete Guide to Placing Bets, Choosing Sites, and More

If you want to learn how sports betting works and how to get started placing bets, you’ve come to the right place.

We will cover several topics to help you better understand sports betting. That includes how to place bets, how betting works, what sports betting is, and much more.

By the end, you’ll be ready to head over to your favorite sportsbook and place your first wager. Let’s start with an explanation of where you can place your bets.

Where to Bet on Sports Online

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You have two options for where to place bets — land-based sportsbooks or using online betting sites.

Above are the top five sites that you can sign up at. They all offer a generous welcome bonus to help get your account started as well.

The largest welcome bonus is at BetUS, which gives you 125% of your first deposit in free bets.

Unregulated betting methods, such as using a bookie, can be very risky. It’s better to stick to a reputable site to handle all your sports betting needs; that way, you aren’t putting more on the line than your actual wagers.

Land-based sportsbooks are available in many parts of the world. But sports betting is illegal in many areas as well. In some places, the book is in a casino, and others, the book is a standalone business.

Online books are available anywhere you can access the internet, but they’re also illegal in some parts of the world. Even where sports betting is illegal, most people can find an online business willing to take their bets.

You should always learn about the sports betting laws where you live before placing sports bets.

Bookies are individuals who take sports bets, and, in most areas, they operate outside the law. In many areas, the authorities ignore bookies, but if you place bets with an illegal bookie, understand that you may be opening yourself up to possible problems.

Some bookies also offer betting cards or parlay cards where you pick a few games for a bigger possible payout than making straight bets. These cards are usually a huge profit center for bookies, which should tell you that they should be avoided.

Betting with friends and acquaintances is the best way to place bets without paying vig. But it can be difficult to find enough people willing to bet on the opposite side of the game that you want to bet on if you make many bets.

We firmly believe that betting online is the way to go for most people. It’s far more convenient than land-based sportsbooks and far safer than bookies and betting with friends — but only if you join a quality online sportsbook.

If you’re interested in signing up at a reputable sportsbook, the above options all look great. If you want a little more insight for some of my personal favorites, read on:

How do you bet on sports, you ask? Well, for starters, you’ll want to make sure you’re signed up at the best site for sports betting. That just so happens to be BetUS.

BetUS offers a wide variety of betting markets (over 20,000, to be exact), and they give you a generous welcome bonus to help you get started.

They give you a 125% welcome bonus deposit boost, which maxes out at a whopping $2,500. Other sites will only give you a few hundred, but BetUS goes above and beyond.

Their betting odds are competitive to others, it’s easy to place your bets, and they have a highly rated mobile experience. BetUS is the top choice for sports betting, and I strongly recommend signing up.

BetUS is arguably the best sportsbook around, but maybe there’s a reason you don’t want to join. There are plenty of other great options to choose from, such as Bovada. Bovada is another site that offers tons of different betting markets.

You can bet on obscure leagues, such as Korean Baseball, Handball, Darts, and more. Yes, you still get to bet on the most popular sports, but if you’re looking for more unique markets, Bovada is a site to consider signing up at.

Maybe you are mainly a casino player, but have lately been wondering, “how does betting on sports work?” In that case, Bovada makes even more sense for you.

Not only can you dive more into the sports betting realm, but you can also still enjoy your favorite casino games.

You came here wondering, “How does sports betting work?” Well, my goal is to help you understand and become a pro sports bettor yourself.

The basics of how betting works are quite simple. Two or more parties agree on a bet on whether something will or won’t happen. Something of value is wagered, usually money, and typically odds are involved.

Whoever is correct wins the bet, and the other party or parties must pay out accordingly.

Sports betting is what it sounds like. You place a bet on a sporting event and win a set amount of money if the team or player you bet on wins.

If the team or player you bet on doesn’t win, you lose your bet. You can place a wide range of different bets and find many different places to bet and ways to make the bets.

Only a few people can make money in the long run by betting on sports, but millions bet on events yearly.

According to the Daily Mail, the global sports betting market may be as high as three trillion a year.

The article states that most of that amount is made in illegal ways. You’ll learn more about legal and illegal betting later on this page.

The important thing to do is learn if what you want to do is legal or illegal, so you stay out of trouble.

If you’re wondering, “How does sports betting work,” chances are, you’re looking to place a bet right now. You can absolutely do that, and a physical trip to the casino is not always necessary.

Online sports betting has taken the gambling world by storm, and you probably want to see what all the fuss is about. If so, understanding how the whole process works is necessary.

In-person casinos can be found in a lot of different areas. There’s probably one that’s within driving distance of you right now. The difference is that online casinos and sportsbooks take the gambling experience online.

So, how does online sports betting work? It’s the same concept as in-person, except you can do it from the comfort of your home by using your phone, computer, or any other mobile device.

Use the best real gambling apps, and you’ll have a stress-free experience, outside of your actual bets, of course.

Now that you know how online sports betting works, let’s figure out how you actually place bets at an online sportsbook.

There are a few steps you have to take, but it’s a pretty simple process. Once you make your first bet, you’ll pretty much understand how it all works.

First, you fund your betting account at your preferred sportsbook. As I said earlier, all sportsbooks give you a generous welcome bonus.

Next, you find the betting market you desire on their site. If you want to bet on an upcoming NFL game, you should head to the “Football” section and then hit “NFL.”

Choose which bet you want to place (spread, moneyline, total, etc.) and enter the amount you want to wager. Hit the “Place Wager” button, and you’re ready to go!

The outcome of whichever event you bet on will decide if you won or lost.

So, how does online sports betting work? Just follow these steps we discussed, and you’ll be a pro in no time. If you need some help getting started, then this guide will show you how to sign up at a preferred sportsbook.

Now that you’re all set up, let’s find out about the most popular bets you’ll be able to find. You might’ve wondered, “How does the spread work in sports betting” before. Let’s find out.

Once you browse around a sportsbook, you’ll find a lot of plus and minus symbols. If you see a number in the 100s next to a plus or minus sign, that has to do with your return on your investment.

This is the return on your investment if you bet $100. For example, a $100 bet with +100 odds would payout $200, $100 of that in profit. If the odds are -110, then you win $90 for every $100 you bet.

How does the spread work in sports betting, you ask?

Well, both teams are generally given an amount of positive or negative points. Think of this as bonus points for the underdog or extra points the favorite has to win by. Here’s an example.

In this game, Miami is playing at Dallas, and Dallas is the favorite, and Miami is the underdog. The home team is usually listed second.

If you bet on Dallas, you give 3 points. This means that for you to win, Dallas has to win by 4 or more points.

If you bet on Miami, you get 3 points. This means you win if Miami wins the game outright or if they lose by 1 or 2 points. You also win if the game ends in a tie.

If Dallas wins by exactly 3 points, the bet is pushed, and you get your money back.

The -110 for each team is the odds. In this case, you have to wager $110 to win $100.

Lines aren’t always whole numbers. Half points are often part of a plus or minus line wager. This makes a tie or push impossible.

Here’s an example.

In this example, if you bet on Philadelphia, you win the bet if they win the game outright or lose by 4 or fewer points.

When you bet on New York, they have to win by at least 5 points for you to win.

How do you bet on sports? One of the most popular methods is to bet on the spread.

In terms of value, spread bets have more than other types of wagers. The odds are typically at -110 for either team, whereas moneyline wagers could be -300 and worse.

Since spread bets typically have more value, does that mean you should avoid moneyline wagers altogether? Not at all. In fact, certain moneyline wagers have better odds than spreads.

Moneylines are a type of bet where you bet on who you think will win the contest. On a moneyline bet, you don’t need to worry about how many runs or points a team wins by.

The moneyline is still listed with a plus or minus number, but they signify the odds – or how much you need to bet or can win.

Favorites are listed with a minus number, and underdogs are listed with a positive number. At first, it can be confusing to understand how to read moneylines, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll quickly be able to see the possible bets.

On a moneyline for a favorite with a negative number, you have to bet this much to win 100. Here’s an example.

This means that you have to risk 200 for the chance to win 100.

On a money line with a positive number for an underdog, the number is the amount you win if you bet 100. Here’s an example.

This means that if you bet 100, you win 180 when San Diego wins.

In evenly matched games or contests, you might see a money line with both teams at – 105 or – 110. This means you can bet on either team by betting 105 to win 100 or betting 110 to win 100.

You don’t have to bet 100 on the plus lines or the total amount on the minus lines. You can bet any amount the sports book will accept between the minimum and maximum amount. The numbers are adjusted to fit your wager.

If you want to bet on San Diego at + 180 but only want to bet 50, here’s how the numbers work. Since you can win 180 if you bet 100, you can win 90 if you bet 50. If you want to bet 25, you can win 45.

To quickly determine the amounts, divide 100 by your bet amount and then divide the line by the result. 100 divided by 50 is 2, and 180 divided by 2 is 90.

You can use the same concept if you want to bet less on a minus money line. If you want to bet 100 instead of 200 on Baltimore at – 200, you bet 100 to win 50.

If you want to bet more than 100 or the negative line, multiply the possible win by your bet divided by 100 or the minus line.

How do bets work in sports betting? Moneyline wagers are about as simple as it gets. This guide to moneyline wagers can help you become an expert.

How do bets work in sports betting? Well, The over/under is a bet on the combined score of both teams in a game.

Let’s say that the score of a football game is 24-21. In this case, the total would be 45. Your job is to decide if the preset number will be higher or lower than the actual total points scored.

Here’s an example of what it looks like at a sportsbook.

In this example, you bet on whether the total score of both teams will be over or under 48.5.

If you think the two teams will score more combined points, you bet on the over and bet on the under if you think the final scores will total less than the line.

Over/under bets are an easy way to get started betting on sports, but the sportsbooks are good at setting these lines, and you may quickly learn that picking winners is harder than it looks.

You can find over/under lines on basketball, baseball, American football, football that’s known as soccer in some places, and many other sports.

How does betting on sports work? You can take a look at it from the casino’s perspective to get a better idea.

The vig is the main way sportsbooks make a profit. It’s a fee you pay when placing bets.

The fee is built into money line bets and is represented by the difference in the lines. If the favorite is listed at – 200 and the underdog is listed at + 180 the difference between what you can win and have to wager creates an area of profit for the book.

The most common form of vig is when you bet on point spreads. You usually need to risk more than you can win in these situations.

When the sportsbooks accept the same amount of bets on each side of a contest they lock in a profit. Here’s how it works.

The book takes $11,000 to win $10,000 on team A and $11,000 to win $10,000 on team B. If team A wins the book gives the winners back their 11,000 and 10,000 from the losers.

This leaves a profit of 1,000 for the book. The same thing happens if team B wins.

Sportsbooks rarely receive the exact same amount on each side of a contest, but over the course of hundreds or thousands of games or matches they lock in a profit as long as they post good lines.

The books also adjust the line when they get too much bet on one side of a game. They move the line to encourage more bettors to place wagers on the side they have a lower amount of money bet on.

When they move the line this way it also discourages more bets on the side they have more money wagered on.

So, how does sports betting work? It’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it.

The first thing you want to do is sign up at a reputable sportsbook. I mentioned earlier how these sportsbooks offer generous welcome bonuses to help get your account started

In addition to the welcome bonuses, these sites all have great online gambling banking options available.

You can fund your account with many different payment methods, so be sure also to give those a look.

There are a ton of different markets that you can bet on, so you won’t have trouble finding your favorite team.

No one becomes a pro gambler overnight. You might get lucky here and there, but it takes time to hone your skills. Keep your wagers small to start with until you get more comfortable with how the process works.

So, how does sports betting work? We’ve covered a lot here, but I recommend reading our complete guide to sports betting if you still want to learn more.

Footnotes:

• Daily Mail provided insight into the sports betting industry.