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Sports betting is the general activity of predicting sports results by
making a wager on the outcome of a sporting event. Perhaps more so
than other forms of gambling, the legality and general acceptance of
sports betting varies from nation to nation. In the United States, the
Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1994 makes illegal
to operate a "betting, gambling or wagering scheme", except for in the
states of Delaware, Nevada, and Oregon. Nevada, however, is the only
state currently allowing sports gambling, while in many European
nations bookmaking (the profession of accepting sports wagers) is
highly regulated but not criminalized. Proponents of legalized sports
betting generally regard it as a hobby for sports fans that increases
their interest in particular sporting events, thus benefiting the
leagues, teams and players they bet on through higher attendances and
television audiences. Opponents fear that, over and above the general
ramifications of gambling, it threatens the integrity of amateur and
professional sport, the history of which includes numerous attempts by
sports gamblers to fix matches, although proponents counter that
legitimate bookmakers will invariably fight corruption just as
fiercely as governing bodies and law enforcement do. Most sports
bettors are overall losers as the bookmakers odds are fairly
efficient. However, there are professional sports bettors that make a
good income betting sports.
Types of bets
Aside from simple wagers--betting a friend that one's favorite
baseball team will win its division, for instance, or buying a
football "square" for the Super Bowl--sports betting is commonly done
through a bookmaker. Legal sports bookmakers exist throughout the
world (perhaps most notably in Las Vegas). In areas where sports
betting is illegal, bettors usually make their sports wagers with
illicit bookmakers (known colloquially as "bookies") and on the
Internet, where thousands of online bookmakers accept wagers on
sporting events around the world. There are opposing positions on
whether the winner or loser can be construed as paying the vig, but
this debate is not especially meaningful. If you view $110 to win $210
on a fair coin as $100 at risk, then it will appear as if the loser
pays the vig; if you view the same line as $110 at risk, then it will
appear as if the winner pays the vig. It happens that standard
practice among bookies is to adjust odds so the amount at risk remains
constant from the winning side of the proposition, hence the common
perception that the loser pays the vig. Vigs expressed as percentages
suffer from the same perceptual bias. On the line as given in this
example, for a fair coin, the bookie has an expectation of making $5
for each $110 bet placed, which is often divided out and expressed as
4.5% Odds on teams or adversaries are quoted in terms of the favorite
(the team that is expected to win, thus requiring a riskier wager) and
the underdog.
In sports such as basketball or American football, betting on the
point spread is more popular, although money line odds are usually
offered as well. A point spread wager typically requires a bettor to
risk $110 to win $100, the extra $10 being the bookmaker's vigorish if
the wager loses. However, bettors backing the favorite collect only if
their team wins by more than a specific victory margin, which is set
at the time of the wager. This is called "covering the spread".
Similarly, underdog bettors can collect even when their team loses, as
long as they win against the point spread by losing by fewer points
than were quoted by the bookmaker. For example, suppose that a college
football game between Kansas State and Kansas had Kansas State as a 27
point favorite.
Another common
online casino available for sporting events involves predicting
the combined total score between the competing teams in a game. Such
wagers are known as "totals" or "over/unders." For example, the Kansas
State/Kansas football game described above might have a total of 55
points. A bettor could wager that both teams will combine for over 55
points, and play the "over." Or, he could predict that the score will
fall under this amount, and play the "under." As with point spreads,
bookmakers frequently set the totals at a number involving a
half-point (i.e., 55.5), to reduce the occurrence of pushes.
Sports betting guide
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Sports betting
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