Sports Betting
With so many different types of sports bets available to punters wishing to bet on football or place a bet on a horse race it can initially be quite confusing.
It can also be heavy on your wallet if you don't fully understand what each sports bet entails!
Every sports bettor has to start somewhere and what better way than by using the new account deals, or free bets, that bookies seem to love giving away!
Sports Betting Bet Types
Hopefully all of the common sports betting terms and bet type explanations below will help you if you're just starting out in the world of sports betting online.
Plus, don't forget to check out our bookie reviews section before claiming any of the free bets that bookies offer new account holders to make sure the betting portals the best for you.
Win Singles
This is the simplest and most popular of all sports bets. Basically your selection has to come first for your bet to be successful. Say for example you placed £10 to win on 'Horse A' to win the Grand National at 2/1 against. That means your basic stake is simply £10.
The odds that are offered on the horse, in this case 2/1, reflect the chance that the bookies think it has of winning. They are predicting that for every three times the race is run it will win one of them - a 33.3% chance. A simple example that explains the way odds work is the toss of a coin.
There is obviously a 50% chance of it landing on heads and a 50% chance of it being tails - presuming of course that we are discounting the possibility it lands on its side! This is effectively a 1/1 chance which is known as even money.
So going back to our 2/1 against example, let's imagine that we have placed £10 to win. If 'Horse A' were to win you would win two times your stake and your stake would be returned by the online bookie as your bet was a winning bet.
That equates to 2 x £10 + £10 = £30. If 'Horse A' were beaten you'd lose your stake.
Each-way Singles
This wager is effectively a split stake bet between win only and place only. It means that you can still get a return even if your selection does not win. Let's pretend you placed £10 each-way on 'Horse A' to win at the Cheltenham Festival at 12/1.
The first thing to realise is that your stake is now £20 with £10 on the horse winning and £10 on the horse getting a place.If 'Horse A' came first, your winnings would be £120 (£10 stake x 12) and your stake would be returned too.
As well as that the place section of the bet is also successful (though there is no differential between the horse coming first, second or third).
The fraction of the odds varies from race to race depending on how many runners there are and whether or not it's a handicap. Let's imagine that in this case the place terms are a quarter the odds for first, second or third.
Therefore in addition to 'Horse A''s £130 for a win, we get a further £40 for being placed (a quarter of 12 multiplied by the £10 stake plus the original stake).
If 'Horse A' came either second or third the win section of this bet would lose but you'd still get £40 back thanks to the place bet being correct.
First Scorer/Correct Score Double
As the name implies this bet combines the first scorer (of a football match) with the correct score. Often known as a 'scorecast' or an FS/CSD at some online bookies we feature.
First/Last Scorer Betting
This is a bet on which player will score the first (or last) goal/try in a game. The bookies normally quote any player they expect to take part in the match with the odds related to their ability to find the net. These bets are highly popular, especially in live Premier League matches.
It is worth remembering that if your chosen player has been left out of the team or is still on the bench when the first goal goes in then bets will be refunded on that player. Odds are also available for a player to score at anytime.
Correct Score Betting
This involves predicting what the actual score of a match or series will be and is most commonly used in football. The odds are dependent on the actual match odds between the two teams.
For example 'Team A', if quoted at 1-3 to beat 'Team B' at home, would be in the region of 6/1 to win the game 1-0. In contrast, 'Team C', 7/2 to beat 'Team A' at home, would be around 8/1 to win 1-0. 'Team C' are perceived as having a much smaller chance of gaining the home win than 'Team A' and therefore their odds to win 1-0, or indeed by any score, are greater.
Double Result Betting
This involves predicting the outcome of a match at both half and full-time. For example if 'Team A' were playing 'Team B' at home, three of the possible nine double-result bets are 'Team A'-'Team A' 11/8, Draw-'Team A' 4/1 and 'Team A'-'Team B' 28/1. Backing 'Team A'-'Team A' means you want them to be winning at both half-time and full-time.
This is a popular alternative to simply backing an outright 'Team A' victory which would be odds-on. Obviously the risk is greater as if 'Team A' are not winning at the interval then the bet is lost regardless of whether they win the match, say 5-1. If you fancy 'Team A' to start slowly but come on strong in the second half you would back Draw-'Team A'.
And if you think 'Team A' will make a fast start but then collapse in the second half then you would back 'Team A'-'Team B'. Obviously the likelihood of this is much less and hence the quote of 28/1.
Handicap Betting
This is a very common form of sports betting - make sure you check out British Bookmakers' article 'Asian Handicapping Explained' for a more detailed rundown on the subject.
Basically the bookies attempt to give the perceived weaker selection a start that effectively should make the two selection level.
Let's say that 'Team A' are playing 'Team B' in a Six Nations match at 'Team B's' ground then 'Team B' may be 'awarded' a 20 points start on the handicap by the bookies.
If you felt that 'Team B' had been underestimated and would either actually win the match or lose by less than 20 points you would back them on the handicap.
The prices available would generally be around 5/6 each team with 14/1 or 16/1 offered on the tie (i.e. if 'Team A' beat 'Team B' by exactly 20 points).
However if you felt confident that 'Team B' would actually win the match you may simply want to back them on the match betting odds without a handicap.
That means you wouldn't get the 20 point start but the price would be more attractive - they may be 5/1 against to win the game with 'Team A' long odds-on favourites at around 1/7. The draw (in this case an actual draw/tie in the match) would again be around the 14/1/16/1 mark.
Win Margins
This works on exactly the same principle for both rugby union and league matches. The bookies offer prices on how many points one of the teams will win by.
So let's say for example that in a particular Super League game 'Team A' are playing 'Team B' with 'Team A' rated around the 10 points favourites on the handicap.
The best bookies that we've reviewed split the various possible winning margins into sections - so 'Team A' to win by 1-5 points, 6-10 points, 11-15 points and so on up to around 46-50 points.
The bands that online bookies offer for 'Team B' (given that they are the underdogs for this contest) will probably only go up to around 21-25 points.
With 'Team A' the 10 points favourites it will come as no surprise that the shortest priced bands in this case are 'Team A' to win by 6-10 points (around a 5/1 chance) and 'Team A' to win by 11-15 points (around a 9/2 chance). A price is also offered on the draw of around 16/1.
Article 'Sports Betting' courtesy of British Bookmakers.
