Why You Should Get Into Sports Betting
Let’s face it—there are currently more different types of gambling with a greater degree of accessibility than at any other point in history. In the United States alone, land based gambling is ubiquitous. Only 6 of the 50 states don’t have a state lottery and only 2 have no form of gambling whatsoever available to their citizens (Utah and Hawaii). Throw in tribal bingo halls and casinos and the massive online gambling presence and its safe to say that no matter where you live in the world you have access to multiple forms of gambling if you know where to look for it. So why should you focus on sports betting when you already have so many different forms of gambling already available to you? Sports betting is unique among the various types of gambling for several reasons: SPORTS BETTING IS A STATISTICALLY ‘BEATABLE’ FORM OF GAMBLING: Virtually every other form of gambling from lotteries to slot machines have a fixed and significant ‘house edge’ built that guarantees that the player will lose money in the long run. This edge ranges from a 50% ‘hold percentage’ that lotteries enjoy down to less than 1% for full pay slot machines in Nevada. Sports betting doesn’t have a set ‘hold percentage’. On most ‘straight bets’, there is a small ‘commission’ paid to the sportsbook on losing bets (11 to 10 or $110 to win $100). At 11 to 10 that makes a player’s ‘break even point’ is slightly above 50% (52.38% to be precise). Other types of bets don’t have a ‘commission’ as such but do have a percentage of ‘vig’ built in. It’s a significant challenge for a sports bettor to stay above breakeven in the long term but it is possible. INTELLECTUALLY DEMANDING, NEVER BORING: To gamble on sports successfully is extremely challenging intellectually. It’s always changing and evolving on both a macro and micro level and it is definitely never boring. This is in my opinion the crux of its appeal. Many (if not most) other forms of gambling are very repetitive and occasionally monotonous. Playing video poker or slots is definitely this way with players spending long hours in front of a machine. Playing poker also involves long hours of sitting and waiting only to throw away most hands you’re dealt. That’s not the case with sports betting—the different approaches you can take to sports betting are endless. You’ll never run out of new strategies to try, new types of bets to make and different sports to handicap. It’s always a challenging and fascinating process no matter your level of experience or skill. EASE OF PLACING BETS AND WORKING WITHIN YOUR LIFESTYLE: I’ve tried most forms of gambling where I have a realistic chance of beating the ‘house edge’ at various points. Not only did I find most tedious sports betting was a perfect fit with my lifestyle. In fact, no matter what your lifestyle is you can make sports betting work within it. Most other ‘beatable’ forms of gambling just can’t offer this advantage. A professional poker player has to spend hours inside cramped, smoky casinos and card rooms. Best case scenario, they spend untold hours online trying to maintain focus. You don’t even need to go into a casino to place bets if you don’t want to. Nor do you have to be at home in front of your computer. Virtually every sportsbook offers mobile smartphone wagering that gives you the luxury of betting anywhere you want. IT’S EXTREMELY ENJOYABLE AND ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE OF WATCHING SPORTS: Bottom line—it’s a lot of fun. It’s always challenging and interesting. For a sports fan, it can greatly enhance the experience of watching games. For a sports bettor, otherwise meaningless events like regular season NBA games or preseason NFL action becomes a moneymaking opportunity and a chance to learn more about the intricacies of handicapping.
The History Of The Point Spread
The advent of the pointspread literally transformed sports betting in the United States. For most of the 20th century there was little interest in sports betting and particularly on football. Many games were mismatches where the winner was a foregone conclusion. These had little, if any, betting interest since players didn’t want to lay the huge odds on the favorite nor did they want to back the underdog no matter how much they were getting in return. For that reason, horse racing had significantly more betting interest until the middle of the 20th century. Historically, there’s no real consensus as to the point spread’s origin or for that matter who came up with it in the first place. It likely came into use in the United States in Minneapolis during the 1930s with several different bookmakers claiming to be the inventor including Carl Ersine and Darby Hicks. For several decades the ‘Minneapolis Line’ became the most respected in the country and was distributed nationwide. Despite the clear evidence that the pointspread predated him by a decade the origin is often credited to Connecticut math teacher Charles K. McNeil. During the 1940’s he decided to make a career ‘pivot’ and became a bookmaker in Chicago. McNeil became successful on both sides of the counter working out of his ersatz ‘office’ at the Gym Club in Chicago. The point spread make him one of the most influential bookies in American but many of his associates thought that he was more adept at betting and viewed his handicapping ability with extreme respect. THE POINTSPREAD COMES TO THE MAINSTREAM McNeil is frequently credited with the invention of the pointspread but those with an extensive understanding of the history of sports betting dismiss this narrative. There’s even a school of thought that it began not in the United States but in Australia and New Zealand to create more interest in rugby betting. Even if McNeil didn’t invent the pointspread he’s viewed in much the same way as Henry Ford is in automotive history—as the person who brought it to the masses. He’s often credited with improving and popularizing its use. Sports book history export Mort Olshan sums it up by saying “McNeil might not have invented the pointspread but he certainly refined it”. With all due respect to McNeil’s importance in improving the pointspread and raising its profile within the gambling community the opinion that he is the primary source for its widespread uses is also highly questionable. The individual who is likely responsible for bringing the pointspread to the collective consciousness of the masses was Las Vegas bookmaker turned major celebrity Jimmy ‘The Greek’ Snyder. ‘The Greek’ found rock star like fame from being part of the top rated NFL pregame show on network television. As unfathomable as it seems now, he contributed his handicapping and betting insights on ‘The NFL Today’ along with Brent Musburger, Irv Cross and Phyllis George. What most don’t know is that Jimmy ‘The Greek’ was fairly well known long before he was hired by CBS. As manager of the downtown Las Vegas Sports and Turf Club he became the mainstream media’s top source for anything sports or betting related. He was such a fixture in the media that he earned the sobriquet ‘America’s Bookmaker’. This modest fame brought him to the attention of CBS and his stint on ‘The NFL Today’ made him a household name. ‘The Greek’ is now considered an anachronism of the 1970’s best known for his ham handed comments on the genetic origins of African American athletic ability than anything else. The reality is that he deserves credit more than anyone for introducing the point spread and basic handicapping concepts introduced the concept of the pointspread to the larger, non-gambling public. It’s not a stretch to say that he brought sports betting to ‘flyover country’ and establishing the NFL as the USA’s top betting sport.
Online Sportsbooks Are Your Best Bet
No matter where you live in the world you’ve likely got a multitude of gambling options. This is true not only for casino gambling but for sports betting as well. In fact, sports betting is one of the few segments of the gambling industry that experienced consistent growth over the past decade. Given the growth trends of the industry and regulatory changes in countries around the world its almost certain that options for sports bettors will increase in the years ahead. Despite the increased number of bookmakers of all shapes and sizes throughout the world the best option for most sports bettors remains the same. Online betting offers more advantages and fewer disadvantages than any other bookmaking option. Sports betting has a razor thin margin between success and failure, between profit and loss. Every incremental edge must be taken to maximize your chances of success. A bettor simply can’t afford to be giving up even a fractional advantage due to laziness or poor choices. THE SMART MONEY PLAYS ONLINE There are hundreds of bookmakers in the state of Nevada with most in the Las Vegas area. Even so, every ‘sharp’ bettor in the state has any number of online sportsbooks. These ‘wise guys’ know what’s what. They play online for the same reasons that you should—it’s incredibly convenient, offers a wider variety of sports and bets and a more dynamic and competitive odds environment. You’ll find a bookmaker on every corner in Las Vegas but for serious sports bettors nothing beats playing online. You can do it from anywhere—home, office even on your smartphone. You don’t have to hang around inside of a smoky, dingy casino to place and track your bets. The entire betting board is available to you anywhere with an Internet connection. Nevada sportsbook primary focus is ‘risk management’. They just want to minimize their downside exposure and hope they’ll grind out a profit every month in order to keep ‘the suits’ happy and off their backs. They’re not interested in ‘taking bets’ anymore. That’s not the case with most online books. You’ll find betting odds on sports that Las Vegas bookmakers won’t touch–European basketball and hockey, a world of soccer betting and even ones that are unfamiliar to American bettors such as snooker, cricket and darts. MORE SPORTS AND MORE BETS The variety of sports available at an online sportsbook is just the beginning. These bookmakers are the innovators in the industry and offer countless bets that you just won’t find in Las Vegas. There’s plenty of live betting offered. You’ll be able to bet on individual periods, quarters and halfs. You’ll have multiple lines offered on the same game at different prices. Most importantly, you’ll find dozens of innovative proposition bets that you won’t find anywhere else. Perhaps the biggest advantage of betting online is the variety of odds available at different ‘outs’. You can easily shop points with a click of the mouse and as every professional knows finding the best price for your bet is essential to long term success and profits.
Introduction To Live Betting
Contrary to what many novices believe live betting is nothing new. Sportsbooks have offered in-game or in-running betting for a couple of decades at least. European sportsbooks were likely the first to dabble in live betting since soccer lends itself particularly well to the discipline thanks to its low scores and leisurely pace. The reason live betting seems like a new and revolutionary concept is that technological developments have taken it to a new level with no end in site to the innovation. This digital revolution has allowed sportsbooks to offer live betting on a wider variety of sports and offer a greater variety of wagering options. Live betting is exactly what it says on the marquee—placing bets on a game while the game is in progress. At one point only a limited number of sportsbooks would offer this option but today virtually every bookmaking establishment has at least a nominal live betting presence. Many sportsbooks, however, are making live betting a focal point of their product mix. They like it because players like it and to a large degree the oddsmaking processes is automated with complex algorithms making the in-game adjustments to the betting odds by crunching massive amounts of data. LIVE BETTING OPTIONS VARY FROM ONE BOOKMAKER TO ANOTHER The specific sports and bets offered by bookmakers vary widely. At the very least, books will offer updated lines at halftime or between quarters/periods. The more serious live betting providers will offer new prices and betting options during play stoppages like time outs or TV breaks. The basic live betting options will be revised sides and totals based on interceding action from when the line was originally posted. A NFL football favorite might be -3’ before a game and quickly score a couple of touchdowns after kickoff. In live betting the line might quickly be revised to -7’. Other live betting options have been driven by the improving technology and are proliferating due to creative bookmaking and player demand. For example, many books now offer in game prop bets such as statistical over/under wagers (eg: passing yardage by a quarterback) or event driven propositions such as ‘next team to score’. Many live betting platforms offer players the opportunity to parlay these options and in some cases set up ‘open parlays’ that they can add new wagers to as play progresses. LIVE BETTING APPEALS TO PLAYERS OF ALL TYPES Sportsbooks like to offer live betting for a variety of reasons but one of the most compelling is its wide range of appeal. Recreational players and ‘action junkies’ enjoy the adrenalin rush of placing and (hopefully) winning bets in a matter of seconds. If a player likes to wager on a sporting event to ‘make it interesting’ live betting lets him take it to a even higher degree of immersion. Traditional sports wagering is essentially a passive activity. A player places a bet and waits to see the outcome. He may watch the game on television or follow along on a score ticker but that is the extent of his involvement. Live betting requires that the player play very close attention and the never ending stream of betting options makes it a very mentally and emotionally active process. Sharp players also like live betting. In fact, some bookmakers give the ‘wise guys’ credit for driving the initial adoption of live betting. It provides a greater number of wagering opportunities from start to finish and that gives an adept player countless options. He can take advantage of a bad line when they occur, he can increase the size of a pre-game or hedge due to changing circumstances. He can also get off a bet entirely or set up a middle opportunity. The discipline and comprehensive knowledge of the game that the best bettors possess can be leveraged for even more profit and winning bets.
Popular Sports For Live Betting
In theory, live betting will work with any sport. The reality, however, is that some sports lend themselves to in game wagering more readily than others. In addition, certain sports resonate more with the general public and generate a higher level of live betting interest. This article will provide an overview of the most popular sports for live betting and what you can expect when you get involved: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: It’s not surprising that the most popular sport on the planet is also the most popular live betting option. Soccer has a long history of live betting (which will more typically be referred to as ‘in running’ wagering in Europe) and technology has opened up even more options for bookmakers and players alike. Soccer lends itself particularly well to live betting. It’s deliberate pace gives players a chance to ‘get down’ and bookmakers a chance to methodically adjust the line. The deep statistical framework facilitates proposition bets and the wide array of leagues means plenty of games for parlays. AMERICAN FOOTBALL: At North American facing sportsbooks gridiron action is king. Although live betting is offered on both college and pro football the NFL is by far the most popular. Since the NFL is the most popular betting sport overall at sportsbooks in that region it’s not surprising. Football offers plenty of time between plays for players and bookmakers to do their work. There’s a ton of statistical categories that lend themselves to proposition bets. On a busy NFL Sunday there’s a lot of games going on simultaneously and they’re all televised—perfect for parlays. TENNIS: While this might be a surprise to North American bettors tennis is an extremely popular wagering sport in the rest of the world. The pace and format of tennis makes it perfect for live betting. While tennis might not offer the variety of proposition bets that other sports do it’s otherwise excellent for live betting. There’s plenty of time to post updated odds and let players get down on them. There’s a decent number of individual games and sets on which to wager and a wealth of statistical information for handicapping. BASKETBALL: Basketball enjoys international popularity as both a spectator and betting sport. It also works well for live betting. The fast pace does make it more difficult to book and bet but the relatively high and frequent scores makes up for it. There’s plenty of statistics and games and leagues all over the world. HOCKEY: Offers many of the same live betting benefits as basketball. Fast moving and exciting sport engages fans and betting only enhances that. At the same time, it facilitates many of the same bets as soccer such as ‘next to score’ and other propositions. BASEBALL: Baseball is a seriously underrated betting sport and that includes the live wagering component. Slow pace allows for plenty of time for updating odds and placing bets. Extensive statistical information available making it easy to set prices and handicap bets. With nine innings of play there are new betting opportunities all of the time. Lends itself well to proposition bets such as ‘next team to score’, game/inning/team totals, and on game events such as ‘will there be extra innings This list just scratches the surface of the live betting options available online. Your best strategy is to check out the live betting interface at some of the better online sportsbooks and see what other sports and bet types are available. You might find you enjoy watching and betting a new sport like cricket or darts—both of which are easy to find on live betting boards.
Live Betting Up And Comers
There was a time when live betting options were limited even at the best sportsbooks. You’d be able to find limited live bets and only on nationally televised games in major sports like football or soccer. Thanks to technological innovation and 24/7 connectivity that is no longer the case. Extensive live wagering is available not only on major sports but lower profile sports as well. In this article we’ll discuss some of the live betting ‘up and comers’. These are sports that might not have widespread adoption yet but that are on the upswing in popularity. CRICKET: Cricket already has a fairly strong live betting presence and given its worldwide popularity that’s not a big surprise. In fact, cricket is the second most popular sport in the world behind soccer with somewhere between 2 billion and 3 billion fans. Betting has always been ubiquitous in cricket but the advent of live betting is something new. The sport might be unfamiliar to North American fans but it lends itself nicely to live betting with a fairly leisurely pace and a deep statistical set that facilitates plenty of proposition wagers. VOLLEYBALL: It can be played on a beach or in a gymnasium but in either venue volleyball has surprising international popularity. By most metrics it is the sixth most popular betting sport in the world and is now finding traction with live betting. Offers some of the same matchup advantages as tennis but also provides some easy to understand proposition wagers including handicap bets, totals and even/odd score bets. HORSE RACING: Horse racing is synonymous with betting and enjoys worldwide popularity. A recent trend is ‘in-running’ horse racing wagering. Live betting on horse racing primarily involves ‘to win’ wagers and allows bettors to get down after the race begins. Traditional pre-race odds are offered and after the race starts the ‘to win’ prices are updated for each horse several times throughout the race. Turns horse racing bettors from passive viewers to active participants during the race. At this point, there’s not much variety in bet types but with a fanbase of experienced and enthusiastic bettors this could really catch on. GOLF: Golf is generally an underrated betting sport and that extends to live wagering. With a large field of players, multiple rounds and eighteen holes there’s plenty of opportunities for in-running bets. Live betting markets are offered for the winner of the tournament, leader at the end of the current round and the winner out of the group playing each hole. Additional prop bets are available for score over/unders, player matchups over the entire round and a group of three holes. Players can bet if any player in a group will be under or over par for an individual hole. RUGBY: Not surprising to find it on a betting board given its huge popularity in many countries and that includes live betting. For players at North American facing books live betting options will be minimal—in running odds on the winner and a final score over/under. In other parts of the world and particularly in Europe you’ll find a much more extensive selection of rugby betting odds. ESPORTS: Professional competitive video gaming is a booming spectator and betting sport. Live betting is the next frontier and quite a few online sportsbooks offer markets on games like League of Legends and Dota 2. You can bet on the overall winner of a game or tournament updated in real time and at some books you’ll find game specific props like ‘Total Map Wins’ and ‘Correct Score’ in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Tough for a newcomer to bet as there’s something of a learning curve in learning the intricacies of the game.
The Most Unusual Live Betting Sports
Most sportsbooks are conservative by their very nature and make it a priority to minimize their downside risk. For that reason, they’re hesitant to deviate from the traditional mix of betting sports. There are a few exceptions that have no problem trying new things even if they border on the bizarre. This article lists some of the most unusual live betting sports that bookmakers have posted. Every one of these has been on the board taking action at at least one sportsbook in the world within the past month. In most cases, they’re currently on the board at the time of this writing. PRO WRESTLING: Despite the fact that the matches are ‘worked’ and the outcomes predetermined there’s a surprising amount of pro wrestling betting at online sportsbook. A few have started to offer live betting during big events like Wrestlemania. Players can bet on updated odds to win the match as it progresses plus take a shot at props like ‘next wrestler to get a near fall (2 count)’ or ‘will either wrestler be thrown out of the ring before the end of the match’. Since a good deal of the in-ring action leading up to the finish is improvised, this one actually makes sense. LOTTERY: A few Eastern European sportsbooks allow players to bet on lottery games ‘in running’. Many jurisdictions offer keno-like games that are played several times per day. Players can wager on the specific numbers drawn and a laundry list of props related to these numbers. Wagers are available such as ‘Will any drawn number be divisible by 5?’ and ‘Will the difference between the highest number drawn and lowest number drawn be Over or Under 17.5?’ As strange as it sounds, it wouldn’t surprise me to see lottery live betting become much more widespread. You can’t handicap it so sportsbooks don’t have to deal with ‘sharp’ money and the general public remains fascinated with the lottery particularly when the jackpot hits the nine figure mark. CHESS: Most European sportsbooks take action on major chess events and a fair number of these take live betting on games as they are in progress. High level competitive chess is a perfect fit for live wagering due to having several minutes between moves. The ‘to win’ odds are adjusted throughout the match as are odds on the draw. Doubtful that chess will ever replace NFL football in the minds of the betting public but with a ton of statistical data to work with it’s actually a decent betting sport. VIDEO GAMES: Not to be confused with esports which are competitions among professional video game players. Several Eastern European sportsbooks offer live betting on random video games contested by unknown players and streamed to the world. Available games at the time of this writing are Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters, Tekken and even Angry Birds. There’s also plenty of sports games including Rugby Fifteens, Madden NFL 18, EA Sports PGA Tour, Dirt Rally Racing, F1 2017, FBL Floorball, and even WWE 2K18 among many others. Betting on random games of Street Fighter might not be your cup of tea but the sports games are essentially the same experience as the increasingly popular ‘Virtual Sports’ offered at many sportsbooks. TWENTYONE: Better known to many as ‘Blackjack’. A couple of Eastern European sportsbooks offer live betting on computer simulated blackjack games. The amazing thing is that they come up with dozens of prop bets on a hand of blackjack. There’s ‘to win’ betting on the player and the dealer, player and dealer totals, prop bets odds on the player busting, getting specific suits or ranks and even a +1200 prop bet on each player getting a specific face card.
The Future Of Live Betting
Sports betting is one of the few areas of the gambling business that has been experiencing any growth during the past decade. Casino gambling has fallen off dramatically due to a confluence of factors including poor management, a saturated market and an aging customer base. The casino industry is living on borrowed time since the the younger generations coming up don’t gamble as much as their predecessors nor do they enjoy the same types of gambling. The companies that successfully find a product mix that resonates with the so called ‘millennial’ generation and players slightly older will survive and prosper. Those that don’t have an uphill battle for long term survival. You can expect live betting to be a significant part of any successful product mix targeting players under the age of 40. Live betting has been a big growth area in sports betting in recent years and not only appeals to traditional sports bettors but the legion of fantasy sports enthusiasts. Esports betting should also continue its growth with the underlying sport not showing any signs of cooling off. Live betting on esports is already being offered at some sportsbooks and you can expect this to be expanded significantly going forward. FINDING THE RIGHT MIX On a macro level, the gambling industry isn’t completely clueless. They have some idea of what the younger generation of potential customers do like and understand the minutia of their consumer behavior. Sports betting in general should be a huge growth area but there’s one potential problem there as well—the ‘millennials’ don’t enjoy the traditional bigtime sports to the same degree as previous generations. This is one of the reasons that all of the professional sports leagues are rushing to embrace esports. The development of the gaming industry in the next decade will be interesting since they’ve got some strong cards to work with but nothing that’s a slam dunk. Sports betting should continue to grow and live betting will be a larger component of that. Here’s some things you can expect to see in live betting’s future: –TIGHTER INTEGRATION WITH FANTASY SPORTS: This is a no-brainer. Live betting and daily fantasy sports games go together like peanut butter and jelly. Look for live betting to introduce daily fantasy sports based bets that will give players the opportunity to change or hedge their position while the game is in progress. –EXPANDED ESPORTS COVERAGE: The esports boom hasn’t been lost on land based and online bookmakers. In Las Vegas, several esport arenas are under construction and they’ve received regulatory approval to take action on it. Online, you can expect expanded coverage of esports with sportsbooks adding more game titles and more bet types—including live betting. Expect an ‘arms race’ of sorts with the dedicated esports betting sites putting pressure on legacy sportsbooks to stay on the cutting edge. –MORE LIVE STREAMING, VISUALIZATION AND DATA: It’s very common for European sportsbooks to offer live streams of games. Expect that trend to reach North America as the professional leagues find ways to get a piece of the sports betting pie. The generation coming up is used to getting information online, not from television. For that reason live betting interfaces will need to include more game visualization and betting data to keep them engaged. –A MASSIVE CHALLENGE FROM DECENTRALIZED BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: An in-depth analysis of this is well beyond the purview of this article but here’s the reality of the situation—blockchain based decentralized betting platforms could change everything. There’s plenty of amazing technology already at work with even more ‘in the pipeline’ in the blockchain space. This includes a sizable number of gambling related platforms looking to disrupt esports gambling, sports betting and casino gambling. There’s any number of industry incumbent that failed to adjust to a drastically changing market landscape and paid for it—Blockbuster, Circuit City, Radio Shack, Tower Records, etc. Don’t be surprised if this type of seismic change comes to the gambling industry.