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Betting glossary – sports betting terms explained

Sports betting is a world of its own, in which specific terms are used which laypeople often don’t understand right away. Whether understandable or less understandable: In our betting glossary we explain the most important terms briefly, from A for arbitrage betting to Z for payment methods.

Betting terms and betting glossary explained in a few words

We have to admit: On rare occasions even we come across a betting term that we have to look up first. That’s why we have collected the most important terms and would like to share our knowledge with you. In the following sections you will find the most important terms on the topic of sports betting. Please note: We don’t claim that this glossary contains all betting terms! If there’s an important term missing in our glossary, please let us know and we will add it to our glossary along with an explanation.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

A

American Football Betting

Although every bookmaker offers these, they don’t count towards the most popular bets. American football betting is particularly popular during the Super Bowl.

Arbitrage Betting

Arbitrage Betting is another name for Surebet. In this case, a secure profit is achieved through the clever distribution of stakes on all possible outcomes to a game.

Asian Handicap

An Asian variation of the handicap bet. A team starts the match with an imaginary lead or disadvantage, which is added to the regular result. In Asian handicap betting, the stake is returned if the handicap bet ends in a draw.

Away team and draw

Your bet is a winner if the away team wins or draws the match.

 

B

Bankroll Management

Using this strategy, you simply stake a fixed percentage of your bankroll on each bet. As your bankroll grows, the size of your stake increases, and if you encounter a losing run, your stake decreases, ensuring that you are always betting in proportion to the amount of money in your betting bank.

Basketball Betting

Basketball betting is part of the range of every online bookmaker. The focus lies on the games in the NBA, the top European leagues and the Cup competitions.

Bet Balance

Your “Available to bet balance” is your account balance, minus the (current) exposure associated with any bets you have placed that have not yet been settled.

Betting Account

The account with which you can place your bets. There’s a handful of bookies at which you can place bets without having an account.

Betting exchange

Bookmakers allow customers to place a bet on any outcome of an event, then they lay the bet themselves offering up their own money in the event the customer’s bet wins.

Betting Limit

In short, a betting limit is the maximum that you can stake on certain bet.

Betting Offer

Bonus or betting offer that bookmakers offer their customers. For new customers, there is usually a new customer offer of a certain percentage up to an amount specified by the bookmaker.

Betting Offer with no deposit

Bookie’s betting offer for which you don’t have to pay in a deposit.

Betting Strategies

There are several betting strategies which can more or less help you when you wager. It also depends on your individual way of betting

Betting Voucher

You can receive vouchers in exchange for a small amount of credit which will be added to your bet balance.

Bookmaker/Bookie

Another term for betting provider. The bookmaker provides the bets, sets the odds and pays out your winnings if a betting slip is correct.

Both Teams To Score (BTTS)

To win a BTTS bet, both teams need to score at least one goal, making any result from 1-1 and upwards, a winning bet.

Boxing Bets

Various bets can be placed on boxing. The most popular is the classic win bet, but bets on a knockout win and the number of rounds are also very popular.

 

C

Cash Out

A function that allows you to sell a bet early at a bookmaker’s offer. Once the Cash out has been used, the bet is immediately terminated.

Combination Betting

Combination bets cover a number of possible outcomes, enabling you to hedge your bets – reducing the amount you stand to lose if you’re unlucky and making it more likely that you’ll earn an overall profit from your sports betting. The trade-off is that because you’ve divided your bankroll over a greater number of bets, the potential payout will be smaller than if you’d risked a greater amount on a single bet. A large payout is likely only if two or more of your selections win.

Comparing Betting Sites

Comparing betting sites helps to find the right bookie that suits your requirements best.

Betting on how many corners will be played in a match. Alternatively, live betting is also possible: Which team will get the next corner kick?

 

D

Darts Betting

Darts betting is now offered by every decent bookmaker. The most popular bets are win, set and leg. Especially popular during the 2021 World Darts Championship.

Deposit Bonus Offers

A betting offer that the customer receives on a deposit. Each deposit bonus offer is linked to certain conditions.

Double Chance Betting

In order to win a double chance, bet you must cover one of these selections.

 

E

eSports Gambling

eSports Gambling is very popular and offers betting opportunities on virtual sports. It is also popular in live betting. The leading betting provider for eSports betting is bet-at-home.

 

F

Fantasy Sports Betting

Fantasy Bets are bets that the bookmaker comes up with. Example: Which one of the two teams scores the most goals? However, the two teams do not play directly against each other, but against other teams on the same matchday.

Favourite

The team which is expected to win the match. The odds are clearly worse in comparison to the underdog.

Final Result Bet

A final result bet sees you pick which team you think will be the winners of the game at the end of regular play, or if you think it will end in a draw.

Football Betting

The most popular betting type of all. The focus lies on 3-Way, over/under and double chance betting. Live betting is also very popular for football matches.

Free Bets

Free bets are bonuses that you can use to place a bet in part or full, up to the total value of the free bet bonus you have been awarded. Usually, you don’t need to pay in a deposit. If you are unsure which market and bets you need to select to make use of your sports free bets, please refer to the Terms and Conditions of your free bet.

Futures Betting

A futures bet is a wager on an event, series or an award that will finish in the future. This is different than a wager on the outcome of a single game, but almost as popular. The result of a futures bet is for an event or season that is completed in the future, not the day the wager is placed.

 

G

Gambling Addiction

Gambling Addiction can be cause by various categories of gambling such as Poker, Slot Games, Sports Betting etc. It’s especially common in online betting.

German betting providers

German betting providers are becoming more and more popular. Among the most popular are Tipico, Bet3000, Neobet and sportwetten.de, for example.

 

H

Half-Time / Final Score

Betting variant in which both the half-time and final scores have to be guessed correctly. The odds are very high.

Handball Betting

Every bookmaker offers handball betting. Most popular are matches in the German National League, the HBL, and the EHF Champions League.

Handicap

Handicap betting, also called “point betting,” or “line betting,” is used to even out the playing field between two teams who are not evenly matched. The bookmaker gives a virtual advantage to the weaker team, and a virtual disadvantage to the stronger side.

Head-to-Head / 2HH

For a head-to-head bet, you’re betting on the outcome of the match, either win or lose – or in the case of football, draw. Like 1X2 betting, head-to-head betting doesn’t seek to even out any difference between the teams or players – unlike Asian handicaps or totals.

High Roller

A person who gambles recklessly or for high stakes. High Rollers prefer Single Betting or Value Betting.

Home team and away team

Your bet is a winner if the home team or the away team wins the match.

Home team and draw:

Your bet is a winner if the home team wins or draws the match.

Horse Racing Betting

The oldest form of sports betting to exist. The popularity of horse racing betting has drastically decreased in the past 10 years. However, it is still offered by almost every bookie.

 

I

Ice Hockey Betting

Every online bookmaker offers ice hockey betting. There are also several bets on the various leagues in the live betting section.

 

J

 

K

Kelly Criterion

With the help of the Kelly Criterion, you can calculate the optimal wager size for a bet. It is closely linked to Value Betting.

L

Lay Betting

To lay a bet is to back something not to happen. For example, to lay Manchester United to win their match is to back them NOT to win. If you were to lay them, you would win your bet if they either lost or drew their match.

Live Betting

Every Online-Bookie offers live betting. There’s live betting on almost any sport and you can do it in many different ways.

Live Streams

An offer from the bookmaker to watch the matches via live stream. Only a few bookmakers offer a live streaming service.

 

M

Matched Betting

Mаtched bеtting is a betting technique used by individuals to profit from the free bets and incentives offered by bookmakers. It is generally considered risk-free as it is based on the application of a mathematical equation rather than chance.

Minimum Bet

Minimum Bet is essentially the lowest stake value you can place on a wager which varies from bookmaker to bookmaker.

 

N

New Betting Providers

New betting providers appear on the market every week. Not all of them are worth a visit. You’ll find out more through our bookmaker-test.

No Bet

In a betting market, the draw No Bet option simply eliminates the outcome of a draw on three-way markets, meaning punters are left to bet on either a home or away win.

 

O

Odds Boost

An “Odds Boost” opportunity could be a sportsbook increasing the payout for a moneyline, point spread or totals (over/under) bet on a certain game. An Odds Boost always moves the “odds” in the favour of the punter. The sportsbook operator will give up some or all of the vig (vigorish) for these specific wagers.

Odds Comparison

An offer on various websites with which you can compare the odds of several providers. It’s beneficial if you want to choose the best odds.

Over Bet

An over bet is a wager in which a bookmaker will predict a number for a statistic in a given game (usually the combined score of the two teams), and punters wager that the actual number in the game will be higher than that number.

 

P

Payment methods

Different ways which a bookie offers you to either withdraw money from your account or pay money in.

PayPal Sports Betting

PayPal is a popular payment method for sports betting. The money gets transferred through your E-Wallet at PayPal.

Profit

The amount you collect with a winning bet. If your betting provider charges a betting tax, 5% will be deducted from your winnings.

 

Q

 

R

Reload Bonus

A reload bonus is a bonus that is available to existing customers. This bonus will be activated if a customer decides to deposit more money onto a site. For instance, let’s say that a client hasn’t played on a site for a year.

Rollover

A rollover is a multiple of a deposit that you must bet in order to cash out any winnings from that sportsbook. If you deposit £200 with a 10x rollover bonus, you need to make £2,000 worth of bets to ever see that money.

 

S

Single Bet

A bet on a single match. A single bet is possible pre-match and live.

Sports Betting Apps

An app which bookmakers offer for smartphones or tablets, so bets can be placed faster and easier.

Spread Betting

Spread betting is any of various types of wagering on the outcome of an event where the pay-off is based on the accuracy of the wager, rather than a simple “win or lose” outcome, such as fixed-odds (or money-line) betting or parimutuel betting.

Sure Bet

A Sure Bet allows you to benefit from the differences found between odds set between bookmakers. A profit is guaranteed regardless of the outcome of the event – if there isn’t, you don’t need to worry because you’ll win your money back.

System Bet

A system bet is a type of bet where you only need a few legs or selections of your bet to land for you to win.

 

T

Team Goals

You are betting on one team to score a minimum amount of goals in a game. It doesn’t matter how many they concede or whether they win, lose or draw. They simply have to score a minimum number of goals for your bet to be successful.

Tennis Betting

Tennis Betting is very popular amongst punters. On every bookmaker’s page, you’ll find a lot of pre-match and live matches which you can bet on.

Tipster

A tipster is someone who regularly provides information on the likely outcomes of sporting events on internet sites or special betting places.

 

U

Under Bet

An under bet is a wager in which a bookmaker will predict a number for a statistic in a given game (usually the combined score of the two teams), and punters wager that the actual number in the game will be lower than that number.

Underdog

The team that has few chances to win is the underdog in a match. Therefore, the rate on the underdog is high.

Units

Units measure the size of your bet on a game. Since all punters that are betting on a game will have different sized accounts, a unit will differ from person to person.

 

V

Value Betting

Value betting is the ability to identify an edge against a bookmaker or another user on the exchange. If a bet is priced for less than it’s worth, then it offers value.

 

W

Welcome Offer

An offer which new customers receive when they sign up for a new bookie. The amount of the offer depends on the guidelines of the bookie.

 

X

X (Draw)

You bet on the fact that a match or a duel will not reveal a winner (will end up in a draw).

X2 (Double Chance)

Bet on a double outcome “X 2” means a bet on two possible options: either the team at number two wins or a draw is fixed in the match. The player receives a win on both outcomes. Losing at this bet will be only if the team wins number one.

 

Y

Yankee

A Yankee is a four-selection wager that consists of 11 different bets: six doubles, four trebles and a four-fold accumulator. It is very similar to a Lucky 15 but doesn’t include the four single element. You don’t need all 4 selections to win to receive a payout.

Yield

Yield – characterises the ratio of the total winnings to the sum of all bets. Simply put, this is tipster’s profitability, how much they bet and how much they have won for the entire period. Yield provides other player information.

 

Z


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