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 1992 makes it illegal to operate a scheme except for in a few states. In many European nations bookmaking (the profession of accepting sports wagers) is highly regulated but not criminalized. The NCAA has threatened to ban all playoff games in Delaware if the state allows betting on college sports. New Jersey, which is also interested, has been similarly threatened. 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, many of which utilize sports information services.
Odds
Odds for different outcomes in a single bet are presented either in European format (decimal odds), UK format (fractional odds), or American format (moneyline odds). European format (decimal odds) are favoured in continental Europe, Canada, and Australia. They are the ratio of the full payout to the stake, in a decimal format. Decimal odds of 2.00 are an even bet. UK format (fractional odds) are favoured by British bookmakers. They are the ratio of the amount won to the stake. Fractional odds of 1/1 are an even bet. US format odds are favoured in the United States. They are the amount won on a 100 stake when positive and the stake needed to win 100 when negative. US odds of 100 are an even bet.
In Asia betting markets, other frequently used formats for expressing odds include Hong Kong, Malay, and Indonesian-style odds formats. Odds are also quite often expressed in terms of implied probability , which corresponds to the probability with which the event in question would need to occur for the bet to be a breakeven proposition (on the average).
Many online tools also exist for automated conversion between these odds formats.
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. (In the United States, the legality of Internet wagering is ambiguous, due to the fact that online bookmakers generally operate outside of the U.S. Some online bookmakers do not accept wagers from the U.S. due to these unresolved legal questions.) The bookmaker earns a commission or "vigorish" by regarding the money at risk as less than the size of the bet placed. A common line is a $110 bet on a fair coin which pays $210 to win and $0 to lose. On this line, it costs $220 to bet both sides of the same coin simultaneously, but the combined bet always pays $210. The $10 loss constitutes the vig. 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 .
Bookmakers generally offer two types of wagers on the winner of a sporting event: a straight-up or money line bet, or a point spread wager. Moneylines and straight-up prices are used to set odds on sports such as association football, baseball and hockey (the scoring nature of which renders point spreads impractical) as well as individual vs. individual matches, like boxing. For these sports, bookmakers in Europe and Asia generally use straight-up odds, which are quoted based on a payout for a single bet unit; for example, a 2-1 favorite would be listed at a price of 1.50, whereas an underdog returning twice the amount wagered would be listed at a price of 3.00.
American bookmakers generally use moneylines, which are quoted in terms of the amount required to win $100 on a favorite, or the amount paid for a $100 bet on an underdog. The amount "won" in a bet is the net amount over and above the initial bet. If a person wins $200 on a bet of $100, the bookmaker actually pays the winner $300 (i.e. $200 plus the initial bet of $100).
For example, a baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs might have a moneyline on Milwaukee (the favorite) at -200 and Chicago (the underdog) at +180. A bettor looking to take Milwaukee must risk $200 for every $100 he wishes to win over and above the initial $200 bet. A person wagering on Chicago will win $180 for every $100 he bets.
The +180 moneyline on Chicago includes a 20 cent "dime line". Bookmakers generally use a "dime line" with moneylines to calculate the vigorish they receive on losing wagers. Without the 20 cent dimeline in the example above, the Chicago moneyline would be +200.
Generally speaking, for favorites of -120 to -150, the difference between the favorite and underdog is 10 cents; i.e., the underdog to a -120 favorite is priced at +110. The discrepancy between prices generally rises for favorites of -160 or higher.
Unlike point spread bets, a moneyline wager requires only that the team wagered upon win the match. In sports such as baseball, where certain teams can be heavy favorites against weaker opponents (sometimes as much as -350 or higher), the moneyline system requires that a hefty sum be risked on the favorite, while enticing underdog players with a higher payout. Note, however, that moneyline wagers are really just special cases of point spreads bets, where the spread is assigned a value of zero.
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 Team A and Team B had Team A as a 27 point favorite (quoted as Team A -27, or Team B +27):
- If Team A defeats Team B by more than 27 points, they have covered the spread and bettors on Team A would receive $100 on a $110 bet. Team B bettors lose the $110 they wagered.
- If Team B defeats Team A, bettors on Team B would receive $100 on a $110 bet. Team A bettors lose the $110 they wagered.
- If Team B loses by less than 27 points, they have won against the spread. Bettors on both sides are then treated exactly as if Team B had won the game.
- If Team A wins by exactly 27 points, the wager is called a "push", and neither side wins. Standard practice by U.S. bookmakers is to return the stakes of all bettors on the game in full. To prevent pushes and ensure that they receive their commission on losing wagers, bookmakers often set point spreads that include a half-point.
Another common wager 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 college 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.
In Breinstein Q'Kurja , each-way online footballpoker betting is serviced by twenty or more bookmakers, some of which, including the larger UK, Irish and Isle of Man bookmakers, bet in running. Before the tournament starts, bookies pay out on a quarter
Free Flash Sport Games Online, Free Online Sports Games from Shockwave ...
Free Flash Sport Games Online and Free Online Sports Games available from Shockwave.com.
Home Page [www.tobaccofreesports.ca]
Tobacco-Free Sports is an international initiative which aims to reduce the harm of tobacco by addressing the relationship between tobacco use and sport.
FS4U IS BACK!
You are not logged in or you do not have permission to access this page. ... Contact Us - Free Sports For You - Top
Free Sports Info
FreeSportsInfo.com is not about yesterday's news, it's about knowing today what will be news tomorrow. At FreeSportsInfo.com there is never anything to buy, just so much to gain by ...
About Us
South African Institute for Drug Free Sport - the custodians of fair play and ethics in South African sport.
Career Opportunities - The National Center For Drug Free Sport, Inc ...
At Drug Free Sport, we work in a serious business as we tackle some of the biggest challenges in sport today. Working here, your day-to-day efforts will not only impact your future ...
Free Online Sports Games - Fun Free Sports Games Online - Addicting ...
Only AddictingGames.com delivers the fun free sports games you want! This is the largest source of free sports games online.
Drug-Free Sport
UK Sport works in partnership to lead sport in the UK to world class success by supporting world class performance, worldwide impact and world class standards.
UK Sport - Leading the UK to sporting excellence
1000 DAYS TO GO AND THERE IS STILL TIME TO BE ON THE PODIUM IN 2012. Today marks 1000 ... Drug-Free Sport; International Sport Development; International Policy; Standards in Sport
Free Sports Picks, Lines, Odds, Matchups & News
Sports Rumble provides the latest sports news, scores odds and more. – Free forecast for NFL, NCAA Football, NBA, Major League Baseball, NCAA Football, NHL, and more!