Denis's Gambling Blog from Ontario

How Does Online Betting Work with Sports?

How Does Online Betting Work with Sports

When it comes to our money, we all want to get the most bang for our buck, especially if we can do it from the comfort of our home.

Nowadays, you don’t have to go to Las Vegas or Saratoga to place bets on your favorite slot machine or a horse. Gambling online provides a wide range of safe sports betting sites where you can place wagers and bet on sports. That said, most people aren’t quite familiar with how online sports betting works, despite its popularity. The success of knowing simple, but perhaps overlooked and concealed information can lead to many people missing the boat. This article provides a general framework for understanding the basics of online gambling.

Knowledge Is Power

When faced with making an important decision, most of us take the time to research the subject matter, do our fair share of analytical assessment and often ask friends for their opinion. The same set of ideas and guidelines can be applied to online betting. Some of the most frequent questions about gambling online are basic ones, like how to join a betting site, is online betting safe, what personal information to provide, how to deposit funds online, or what sports we can bet on. Some of the answers to these questions can be complex and even boring at times. But facts are facts, and they are a starting point we use as a reference for furthering our learning experience.

In regards to addressing the legality of online betting, there are no general rules and laws that apply to gambling online on a global level. For example, in the USA, betting on horse racing online is legal in most states, (38 to be exact). In fact, most laws about online gambling have been designed and geared towards the companies providing the services, and not the bettors themselves.

Also, the list of sports you CANNOT bet on is short. It is safe to say that enough time has passed to allow for the industry reputation of some sites to be developed, and conversely, a list of rogue and blacklisted casinos.  Fortunately, the quality of these online casinos is paving the way for meeting the general criteria for all of us. It is also important to look for licensed online betting sites. If a site is unlicensed, it is very likely that it is operating illegally. The pertinent information is usually found at the bottom of each page on the website, indicating that it runs in a fair and ethical way.

For example, the rogue and blacklisted online casinos will usually have a bogus license seal, predatory retroactive terms and conditions, will take illegal bets, will have unethical casino practice or will be connected to cheating software scandals, etc.

The basic principle on which sports betting works is that the house should not lose money. The serious players are very diligent about understanding details of individual players, teams, or horses. However, the way it works is actually simple enough and fun.

The most popular sports to bet on are hockey, football, and baseball. However, moneyline as a wager can also be placed on which team wins in just about any other sport, NASCAR racing included.

In comparison to other betting, sports gambling is simplified and very user-friendly. You are just a few clicks away from placing a bet from your laptop or your smartphone, and it’s fast and convenient. The player can put money on a win or a loss of a particular team, or the exact score. The bet is primarily made on these three options of the outcome.

Quick Payouts at Your Fingertips

The deposit methods available, as well as the minimum amount of deposit, vary depending on the site. However, these are the most widely available deposit methods: Credit cards, Debit cards, E-wallet, Prepaid cards, Check and Cash transfers. Also, the minimum deposit is usually $10, but it is not uncommon for it to be even lower. Pretty simple, right?

Another thing to factor in is the odds of winning or losing. When it comes to the money bet, the fact that you are “chasing” an exact value of the reward means that the monetary risk remains the same whether you bet on the favorite winning or on the underdog. After all, the winning bet on the favorite will pay out a significantly lower reward per dollar invested in the bet. Since the moneyline tells a player how much they need to wage to win a certain amount, it differs from the points spread, which is also concerned with how much that team will win by. That is to say, points scored play an essential role in determining a winner.

In the example of moneyline as the most basic way to bet, simply choosing who is going to win will make you money by showing current odds. However, payoffs are based on true odds. The moneyline basically shows how much you are going to win with a $100 bet. Or looking at it from a different point of view, it tells you how much you need to wager to make a $100 profit. In the following example of an NFL game, the moneyline wager can be offered as follows: New England Patriots (-120) vs Pittsburgh Steelers (+130). In this case, the Patriots are favored to win and the Steelers are the underdog, illustrating the point that if you bet on the Patriots, the bet of $120 is necessary to win $100.

On the other hand, the spread is a little more complicated, and it comes with a few variables, but it is still easy to comprehend. It lets you pick by how much your team will win or lose. This will be represented by negative points for the favorite, e.g. -3.5, meaning that the team has to win by four or more. Unlike the moneyline, the spread requires greater accuracy on the outcome of the game. Here, payoffs are based on fixed odds.

Making a Commitment

However, there are also some things “they don’t want you to know.” Just like in the world of business, the term ‘margin’ is also inevitable when betting online. Your local bookie holds the key to this secret. Although you will place a bet legally through your sports book, its outcome will result in your bookie making money no matter what. Simply put, your bookie will make a certain percentage of your bet whether you win or lose. This percentage is called the margin. If you are a meticulous bettor, this information can come in handy. It can offer you the edge and increase your chances of winning.

Sports aficionados are always willing to devote more time to the subject matter, to go the extra mile to learn about, and support their favorite team. The passion and dedication of football fans, for example, coupled with the knowledge they acquire about the opponent, can make a difference between winning or losing a bet. Betting on a favorite sport or team, for those who stand firmly behind it, brings satisfaction knowing they are supporting their favored.
But ultimately, as Grantland Rice, a 20th-century sportswriter once said, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”

Leave a Reply
