Sports Betting Terms Explained
Where once sports betting was focused on backing the winning team or fighter, it has now evolved into featuring just about every statistical column and outcome possible.
The expansive nature of betting, particularly online, and its growing audience has led to the widespread use of many different sports betting terms.
To newcomers, some of these sports betting terms are far less intuitive than others. So, to ensure that everything is transparent, we’ve compiled this glossary.
Below, you’ll find a list of the general, bet type, and betting format terms fully explained.
General Sports Betting Terms
These are the more general sports betting terms explained, from what it means to get some “action” to how “vigorish” works.
Action
As a sports betting term, action simply indicates that a person has placed a bet on a game, a futures market, or a set outcome within a game. To say you have action on something is to say that you’ve bet on it.
Bankroll
Your bankroll is the exact amount of money that you have dedicated to betting. Bankrolls can be a vital part of a bettors approach as they mark a limit for how much you can lose.
Bet Slip
The bet slip is where you’ll find all of the odds that you’ve tapped on from the markets screen to bet on.
On the bet slip, you can either place a bet on a single or use the parlay or round robins options to place multiple bets.
Bookmaker (Bookie)
The bookmaker, or “bookie” for short, is the platform, business, or shop that accepts bets and pays out winners.
Cash Out
Cash out is an option that you can find across many different sports bets, from basketball betting lines to wagers on eSports markets. Before the market ends, the bookmaker will offer a sum for you to cash out your bet early. The return won’t be as much as the initial bet would win, but it can mark a win before the bet is settled.
Closing Line
The closing line looks at the values on the spread at the moment that the game starts. For example, just as kick-off takes place in any game in football betting.
The spread, which is described below, will move based on the oddsmaker’s information and the amount of action to either side. So, the closing line, in theory, best represents the expectations of the audience.
Dead Heat
A dead heat is the name for an occurrence where two or more of the participants in an active market are tied. It’s a rare situation that’s most commonly seen in horse or greyhound racing.
Favourite
The favourite is whichever participant or outcome on a given market has the shortest odds, and thus, is deemed the most likely to succeed when bet on.
For example, in hockey betting, the futures market for the next Stanley Cup champion might have the Panthers at +650, Hurricanes at +750, and Avalanche at +800, making Florida the favourites.
Hedging
The practice of hedging your bets is when you back both of the opposite outcomes available. You can do this in any two-choice market, be it the over-under on the total runs in Pesapallo betting or the winner of a match in a tennis bet.
If you place a bet and then hedge the bet without seeing the odds move significantly, more often than not, you’ll lose money overall – even if the hedge would guarantee a return of some size.
In-Play Betting
The in-play betting section has become a staple of sports betting. Now, even after a game has started, you can bet on a whole host of outcomes in real time. You’ll get live odds that reflect the play so far, which can leave opportunities for those who can sense the momentum shifting.
Limit
The limit is the maximum size of bet that a bookmaker will accept.
Longshot
A longshot is an outcome in a betting market that’s considered to be very unlikely of winning.
An example would be, for the 2025 season, the Colorado Rockies in the World Series odds at +750.
Odds
The odds reflect both the presumed likelihood of an outcome occurring as well as how much your bet will return should it win. Naturally, more likely outcomes have shorter odds and return less as a multiplier of the amount staked.
Off the Board (OTB)
Off the board of OTB refers to the moments where the sportsbook will freeze betting on a certain option. This is quite common in live betting, especially when major events pause the play.
An example would be in soccer betting when a team has a penalty. When this happens, the odds for a player to score or the scoreline will be off the board.
Opening Line
The opening line is the very first set of odds that the bookmaker puts out for the market, reflecting the calculations of the oddsmakers and being untouched by the sway of bettors.
Push
You can think of a push being the case when the bookie pushes back your stake, like when you tie with the dealer in blackjack. If neither outcome wins in a bet, it’s a push and you get your stake back.
Stake
Your stake indicates how much money you’ve placed on a given outcome or set of outcomes.
Take the Points
You can say that you take the points when you bet on the underdog on a point spread market. This is because the underdog option gets points added to their score to decide the bet’s outcome, so you take those points.
Underdog
The underdog is the team that is considered to be the least likely to win the game, shown by their longer odds compared to their opponents.
Value Bet
A value bet is a wager that is more likely to win than the odds would otherwise suggest.
Terms for Different Bet Types
Next, we’ll delve into the more specific sports betting terms that pertain to the different types of bets available.
Against the Spread (ATS)
When you bet against the spread, you’re placing a bet on one of the spread options, hoping that it will win with the given handicap to the final score.
Cover
Another term for betting on the spread, when a bet covers, it means that it has beaten the spread by the assigned handicap, be it with a plus to their final score or a minus. You cover when you win a spread bet.
Fixed Odds
Fixed-odds betting is where you place a bet on an event, like the winner in boxing betting at predetermined odds. Most online sports bets are at fixed odds as once you’ve bet on those odds, they’re the odds you’ll get paid out at if you win.
Handicap
Similar to the spread, but not specifically determined by the bookmaker, a handicap bet lets you place an imaginary minus or plus number to either team’s final score. You win if they win on the scoreline with your plus or minus applied.
Moneyline
These are the bet types where you’re simply betting on the team or competitor to win the game at hand. Ties are taken out of the moneyline, resulting in a push should one occur. You can find moneyline bets in just about every sports market, from baseball betting to UFC and MMA bets.
No Action
No action occurs when a bookmaker cancels the line of that bet, often resulting in the bettor getting their stake back.
Outright
Outright is a sports betting term that may be more familiar as “Futures.” These wagers pertain to end-of-season markets, such as on the winner of an upcoming race in Formula One betting or the winner of a whole tournament in cricket betting, such as the winner of the ICC T20 World Cup or The Hundred.
Parlay (Accumulator)
Parlay bets, also known as accumulators, are bets that combine several outcomes from different games to create an accumulation of predictions that go into one bet. You’ll need every selection of a parlay to succeed for the bet to win.
Point Spread
The point spread is a popular betting line in North American markets. The sports betting term refers to the market that has a predetermined handicap placed on both teams or competitors in an upcoming match.
Whether it’s for an NBA, NFL game or in netball betting, the plus or minus to each score brings the odds closer. A point spread bet needs the selection to still win on the final scoreline once the plus or minus has been applied to them.
Prop Bet (Proposition Bet)
These are the bets that require much more specific outcomes than the spread, moneyline, under-over, and such. Many pertain to player performance, such as in Premier League betting, where you can bet on a certain player to score a goal, have so many shots, or get a booking during that particular game.
Straight Bet
Much like in roulette, the sports betting term “straight bet” refers to a bet on a single outcome.
Teaser
Teaser bets are a form of point spread bet and parlay combined. With these bets, you can change the value of the point spread within the multi-leg teaser.
Total (Over/Under)
Totals betting sets a mark for points and then lets you bet on whether you think there’ll be over or under that number in the given game. A good example of this can be seen in the popular total points lines for volleyball betting.
Betting Formats
There are three kinds of betting formats, but luckily, all of them relay the same information, just in a slightly different way.
American Odds
Shown as plus or minus, American odds show more likely outcomes with lower minus numbers and less likely outcomes with higher plus numbers.
Decimal Odds
Decimal odds uniquely reflect your potential returns, including the stake. Evens is 2.0, while anything that returns evens is shown as a 1.X value. As the number increases, the greater the return would be with a win.
Fractional Odds
On fractional odds, you’re essentially looking at what you’ll return with the left number if you bet the number on the right, and then you’ll also get your stake back on top.