Our Sports Betting Glossary – Addressing the Key Terms
Posted by Harry Kane on Friday, April 12, 2024
Sports betting remains all the range in the UK, with this vertical set to be worth £3.58 billion ($4.56 billion) by the end of 2024. It will also peak at an incredible £4.46 billion ($5.69 billion) by 2029, as the market expands at a projected CAGR of 4.53% over the course of the next five years.
When you first engage in sports betting, however, you may find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer litany of terms and examples of jargon. However, many of these terms have a direct impact on your sports betting experience and can help you to make more informed and effective picks. So, here’s a selection of the most seminal sports betting terms!
Accumulator Bets
Accumulator bets combine multiple selections within a single wager, usually between four and 20. The odds of each individual betting line are then multiplied together to create a single, extended price, allowing you to wager at enhanced odds. However, each pick will have to win for the bet to deliver a payout, while you can improve your chances of winning by prioritising the selection of short price favourites! This may help you to create value when match betting too.
Asian Handicap
Next up is the term ‘Asian handicap’, which enables you to afford a heavy betting favourite a virtual disadvantage, so that you can back them at enhanced odds. Your pick will then have to beat the spread if your wager is to be successful. Asian handicaps are more popular than European alternatives, as they use half points (such as –1.5) to eliminate the draw as a potential outcome.
Bankroll Management
Bankroll management is key to responsible gambling and ensuring that you wager within your means at all times. This term refers to how you set, manage and allocate your bankroll, with a view to maximising your potential returns over time. Ideally, your bankroll should never exceed an amount that you can’t afford to lose, while this should cover a finite period of time or tournament.
Commission
In order to ensure that make at least a nominal profit, sportsbooks factor in so-called “juice” or “vigorish” when calculating their odds. This serves as a commission on each individual bet, which will typically range between 10% and 15% depending on the bookmaker in question. You’ll also need to understand this as a bettor, especially if you want to engage in value betting and identify the most rewarding lines.
Each Way
An each-way bet is particularly popular in horse racing, but also commonplace in other sports. It comprises two separate wagers in a single bet, as you split your stake evenly between a ‘win’ and a ‘place’ bet. You’ll then receive a payout so long as your pick finishes in the top four or five of the competing field, so you can increase your chances of banking a return by engaging in this market!
Exposure
In the realm of sports betting, exposure refers to the amount of money you could lose across one or a number of active wagers. Effective bankroll management and various wager types can help you to minimise this and reduce the risk of loss over time. Sportsbooks also have to consider their exposure across a much broader range of active bets, while they may also calculate this value based on specific events and tournaments.
Home Field Advantage
Home field advantage refers to the statistical advantage that teams have over an opponent when playing at home. This exists in virtually all team sports, although it varies in terms of its impact and strength. For example, 57.6% of NFL matches are won by the home team on average, whereas this increases to more than 69% in soccer and leagues like the MLS. You should consider factoring this into your bet picks and selections.
Odds
Odds are applied to all sports betting events, while they dictate how much you stand to win in relation to your stake. They can also be used to calculate the implied probability of a particular outcome occurring and help you identify value in a specific market. Odds are also presented in alternative formats, including decimal, fractional and American (which are commonplace in the US).
Over/Under Betting
Over/under betting is popular across a number of sports, and enables you to bet on the goals, run or points totals in a particular match. Sportsbooks will set a number of totals as individual betting lines for each game, and you’ll have to pick one before wagering on whether the actual total will be over or under this threshold. You can inform your picks using form and performance analysis.
Proposition or ‘Prop’ Betting
Prop bets are essentially exotic wager types, which enable you to speculate on team and player performance metrics that occur during matches. These can include ‘micro bets’ and often focus on metrics that aren’t directly correlated to the final outcome. Popular examples include picking the next or first goal scorer in a game of soccer, or the number of points, assists and rebounds recorded by a player during an NBA encounter.
Quarter Betting
You may have heard of full and half-time betting, but you so-called “quarter wagering” is a subset of these markets. Associated with NFL and NBA matches (which are split into quarters), this wager type lets you bet on one of the two completing teams to prevail during a specified quarter. You can also wager on totals and point spreads during specific quarters, while this is especially popular among live bettors.
Unit Betting
We’ll close with unit betting, which requires you to establish how much you’re willing to stake on each individual bet. Typically, a single unit bet will be relatively small, although this can be scaled in line with your preferred strategy and betting system (and according to the terms of each individual bet). There are various systems that enable you to establish a unit bet, such as the Kelly Criterion and percentage wagering.