Betting has been around since forever, but it’s getting extremely popular today because it has found its way online and is now, more accessible to everyone. While your knowledge may be limited to and poker online, there’s a new player in the race now – sports betting.

Sports betting has been a thing for as long as there were sports. With a huge number of gamblers around the globe, the betting industry is known to generate great revenue annually via different sports. If you are a newbie and totally clueless regarding what sports betting is, fret not – you are at the right place.

We have shed light on the basics that you need to know as a beginner before you jump onto this bandwagon of sports betting.

Before we start, know that sports betting is nothing but placing bets on various sports games. When it comes to placing bets, money comes to mind. Yes absolutely, for every bet you make, you would need to shell out some money from your bankroll.

This guide has everything you should know as a bettor including all the very basic stuff you must know as a bettor that often goes unnoticed.

Types of Bettors

Well, this is very basic yet very important. Two types of gamblers are there: one who are there just for the purpose of fun, also referred to as ‘recreational bettors’ and then there are those whose sole mission is to make money through betting. You have to decide which one are you!

Restrictions

Well, different sorts of restrictions are associated with sports betting. Betting is usually considered illegal and thus in many parts of the world, betting is prohibited and therefore considered an illegal act. Thus, many online sites and apps thereby would be restricted to the one residing in such a region. That’s not the case everywhere. Some countries have legalized sports and other forms of betting.

How and Where To Place Bets

If you are intending to place a bet on any of your favorite teams of a particular sport, there should be numerous sportsbooks available that you can place bets on. There are bookmakers and online sites that can help you satisfy your craving for sports betting. The option of telephonic betting is also there. Before making a bet anywhere via any means, a little research is necessary. It would be great to opt for ones already popular amongst the gamblers so that authenticity would be guaranteed but in case you wish to try a new one, a good surf about it including users’ reviews and feedback would be great.

How Much To Bet

Betting is an addiction and nothing is as wonderful as betting on a game again and again and having consecutive wins. But, let us clarify one thing here that it’s definitely not the case every time. Betting is not only about winning but losing too. Many gamblers lose money more than they even manage to make. To decide how much you should be spending on bets is easy: just know where you stand in terms of money and spend accordingly. This advice may have sounded pretty simple and obvious to you but you will only know its significance upon reading between the lines. Some who are new to Sportsbetting go crazy and spend a lot more than they should, the key is to know how much your safe expenditure would be. Let’s say risking 1% to 5% of your starting amount per play would be safe to play with.

Favorites and Underdogs

Sports betting is about understanding a lot of different terminologies that you may not even have come across before. Amongst many, two of the very important ones which as a beginner you must know are Favourites and Underdogs. It’s generally decided by oddsmakers that which team would be favorite and which would be the underdog. Identifying which team is what is very easy. The team that is expected to win and bears a negative (-) sign next to its odds will be the favorite whereas underdogs are the one that is expected to lose and bears a positive (+) sign next to its odds.

Ways of Betting

There are various forms of betting known, including Spreads, Moneylines, and Totals or Over/Under.

In the case of spreads, let’s say if you choose to bet on a favorite possessing +5 if the team scores more than that, that’s how you would cover and get money in return. If your team scores by 5 points exact, you would have your money placed on the bet returned. If your team loses and attains points fewer than 5, then you would have nothing to gain.

In the case of money lines, the criterion is different; let us tell you how: Suppose you are opting for favorite and it is -500, you would have to spend 500 Dollars on the bet so could have 100 Dollars or more in return in case the team wins. But, on the contrary, if the team loses, you lose all the 500 Dollars. Whereas in the case of opting for underdogs that is on +500, if you bet 100 Dollars and the team wins, you get 500 Dollars in return and if the team loses, you lose only 100 Dollars that you placed on the bet.

Totals, over/under, are entirely different from the above two. Bookmakers combine the total score of both the teams, favorite and underdog, and the bettor can then wager on the total score that whether it would go over or under.

Bettors are not necessarily good gamers themselves. Often times, there are some players who are avid gamers, if come to the real betting field might do wonders, but they choose to refrain from it and keep games restricted to fun and time pass only; but, not all of them would have a successful betting future as some despite being good players fail to succeed when it comes to betting as they lack certain tricks and tactics required to make a betting career a success.

Betting revolves around both knowledge as well as tricks and nobody can deny that; luck also, a major factor involved when it comes to betting. After all, betting is all about making the right predictions; you do it right you win, you do it wrong you lose. There is a lot more for you to know after you take your first step of starting with betting. Just play smart and safe, enjoy the game and don’t be a fool and spend all your money over it, getting not a single penny in return.