A straight bet is an individual wager placed on a single game or event in the form of either a *point spread or a **money line bet.
PARLAYS
A parlay is a single bet that links two or more wagers, typically up to 20.
To win the bet, the punter must win all the wagers in the parlay. If he loses just one of them, he loses the entire bet. However, if the player wins all the wagers in the parlay, he will get a much higher payoff than he would have if he had placed the bets separately.
The difference? If you were placing straight bets of say $55 each on two NFL football teams you might get say -2 on one and +4 on the other and come away with a $100 profit if both teams won.
In a Parlay bet on the same two teams, you would get the standard odds of +260 that is offered for two-team parlays and for a wager of $100 you would make a profit of $260.
The odds on a 3-team parlay will increase to +600 and will keep on growing as your number of teams being wagered on and your subsequent risk increases.
FUTURES
A futures bet is a one that is placed on a game or an event typically far in the future, such as “which team will win next year’s NFL football championship?” or “which player will become the next owner of a US Open Golf title”.
PROPOSITIONS
Proposition bets, or ‘prop’ bets, are based on the outcome of events within a given game. Props are most often offered on high-profile games with wide TV audiences. These include World Cup soccer and rugby matches and big-time baseball and gridiron football clashes.
Some examples of prop bets are; “which team will hit the first home run?” or “which player will get the first touchdown?”
OVER AND UNDER TOTALS
In this form of betting, sportsbooks set a Total of the final scores in a two-team contest and punters wager on whether the combined final score will be under or over the score that has been set.
For example, if a total of 39 has been set by the sportsbook you are playing and you decide the final total will be greater, you will win if the game finishes at say 18-14 but lose if the final tally is maybe 15-12.
TEASERS
A teaser is a football or basketball wager in which the point spread is adjusted by adding points in the player’s favor in more than one game. In US football, a player may move the posted point spread 6, 6.5, 7, 10 or 14 points. In basketball, 4, 4.5 and 5-point teasers are offered.
ROUND ROBINS
A round robin is a series of parlays. For example, a 3-team round robin consists of three 2-team parlays (A + B, A + C, and B + C).
LIVE IN-PLAY BETTING
Live in-play betting is an exciting new development that enables you to place instant action bets from the moment an event has started until the time it ends. It could be on whether a team will score a touchdown with their next play, whether the batter at the plate will strike out or whether a goal will be scored in the 10 minutes to go before the end of a soccer match.
CASHING OUT BETTING
Cashing out is the second recent development in sports betting that has captured new betting fans.
Especially pertinent to parlay and round-robin betting, it enables a player to cash out prior to the completing of a bet and either cut his losses or make a greater profit than he might have done had the bet been completed.
KEY BETTING TERMS
*Pointspread
The most popular sports bets are based on the point spread. The point spread represents the margin of points in which the favored team must win by to “cover the spread.” Bets on the point spread are usually offered at 11 to 10 odds. For example, a player must bet $11 to win $10 for a total payout of $21 or $110 to win $100.
**Money line
The money line represents the odds of a team winning the game outright without the use of the point spread. The money line is expressed as a 3-digit number. For example -150 means a player must bet $150 for every $100 he wishes to win, $15 for every $10 and multiples thereof.
