Sports betting is an activity that has a long history and is popular in numerous cultures. It involves predicting the results of various sports and placing a bet on the result. Popular sports which are generally focussed on include football - both association and American, basketball, baseball, hockey, track cycling, auto racing, mixed martial arts and boxing - professional or otherwise. Additionally, it may also incorporate non-physical events like reality shows competitions or political elections as well as animal activities like horse racing or greyhound racing.
Sports betting offers bettors a choice of either placing their wagers through legal, regulated bookmakers/sportsbooks or clandestine private companies known as bookies. These entities use books to monitor bets, disbursements and obligations. In some instances, online sportsbooks may be based in different jurisdictions to the punters they serve, in an attempt to get around gambling legislation.
Types of bets
• There is no spread or handicap on moneyline bets, and the chosen team must win the game outright. Favored teams pay lower odds than underdogs; thus, they serve mostly as an incentive to take the underdogs. In order to increase the payout of a parlay, some bettors pair this type of bet with the favored team.
• Bookmakers assign a spread, or line, to handicap one team and favor another when two teams face each other and one is viewed as more likely to win. Spread betting is when you wager against the spread. As a result, the favorite "gives" the final score, and the underdog "takes". To avoid the possibility of a tie, this number can also be expressed in half-point increments (.5), even though very few sports have a .5 point scoring system (i.e., The Ryder Cup).