Sports Betting

An accumulator is the British term for a parlay. Several selections combined into one bet, with the odds multiplied and every leg required to win. Four or more selections is the usual threshold for the name.

Ante-post bets are placed well before an event, typically in horse racing, at prices longer than will be available on the day. The crucial risk is that if your selection does not run, you lose your stake entirely.

Arbitrage betting means backing every outcome of an event across different bookmakers at prices that guarantee a profit whatever happens. It works, the margins are tiny, and accounts that do it are restricted quickly.

Asian handicap removes the draw from football betting by applying fractional goal handicaps. Quarter-goal lines split your stake across two handicaps, which is why these bets can win or lose only half.

A back bet is a conventional wager on something to happen. The term exists mainly to distinguish it from a lay bet on an exchange, where you can also bet on something not to happen.

Best odds guaranteed pays you at the starting price if it is longer than the price you took. It is one of the few promotions with genuinely positive expected value, and it is largely confined to horse and greyhound racing.

A bet builder is the interface that lets you construct a same game parlay by selecting multiple outcomes from one fixture. It is the European name for the same product American books call an SGP.

A betting exchange matches bettors against each other rather than against a bookmaker, charging commission on net winnings. Prices are better, you can bet on outcomes not to happen, and winning accounts are not restricted.

Cash out lets you settle a bet before the event finishes, taking a payout based on its current position. The offer always includes a margin, so cashing out is on average worse than letting the bet run.

A dead heat is a tie for a position that cannot be separated. Payouts are divided proportionally: in a two-way dead heat for a place, you are paid half your stake at full odds and lose the other half.

An each-way bet is two bets in one: half your stake on the selection winning, half on it finishing in the places. A £10 each-way bet costs £20 and pays out if the selection wins or merely places.

A futures bet is placed on an outcome that will be decided at the end of a season or tournament, such as a league winner. Your money is tied up for months and the margins are among the highest in sports betting.

Handicap betting applies a virtual advantage or deficit to a team before the match starts, evening out a mismatch. It is the European term for what American books call the point spread.

A handicapper is either a bettor who analyses events to find value, or an official who assigns weights to horses in a race. The two meanings are unrelated and context makes clear which is intended.

Hedging means placing an additional bet against your original position to reduce risk or lock in profit. It usually costs expected value, and is worth doing when the size of the position has become the problem.

In-play betting means wagering on an event while it is happening, with odds updating continuously. It is the largest growth area in sports betting and carries higher margins and a built-in delay that works against the bettor.

A lay bet is a wager on something not to happen, available on betting exchanges. You take the role of the bookmaker, accepting someone else's stake and paying out if the selection wins.

Matched betting extracts value from bookmaker promotions by backing an outcome with a bookmaker and laying the same outcome on an exchange, so the result does not matter and the bonus is converted to cash.

Middling means betting both sides of a market at different lines, so that a result landing between them wins both bets. It requires the line to move after your first bet and usually risks only the vig.

A moneyline bet is a straight wager on who wins, with no handicap involved. Odds are adjusted to reflect each side's chance, so backing a strong favourite means risking more than you stand to win.

Non-runner no bet is a horse racing market where your stake is refunded if your selection does not run. It is the safer alternative to ante-post betting, at the cost of shorter prices.

An outright bet is on the overall winner of a competition rather than a single match. Because every entrant must be priced, outright markets carry some of the widest margins in betting.

An over/under bet is on the combined total of a match, goals, points or runs, rather than on who wins. The book sets a number and you bet whether the real figure lands above or below it.

In pari-mutuel betting all stakes go into a pool, the operator takes a fixed percentage, and the remainder is divided among winners. Odds are not fixed in advance. They depend entirely on how the pool is distributed.

A parlay combines several bets into one, multiplying the odds together. Every leg must win for the bet to pay. The payouts look spectacular and the built-in margin compounds on every leg, making parlays the most profitable product a sportsbook sells.

Partial cash out settles part of a bet early while leaving the rest running. It lets you secure some return without abandoning the full potential payout, at the cost of the same margin applied proportionally.

A player prop is a bet on an individual's statistical performance, shots, points, yards, strikeouts, usually framed as an over/under line. They are the fastest-growing sportsbook market and carry higher margins than team markets.

A point spread is a handicap applied to level an uneven contest. The favourite must win by more than the spread; the underdog can lose by less than it and still cash. Both sides are typically priced at -110.

A prop bet is a wager on an occurrence within an event rather than on its result. The number of corners, whether a player scores, the length of the anthem. Margins on props are typically much higher than on main markets.

A push is a tie between the result and the betting line, such as a team winning by exactly the spread. The bet is cancelled and the stake returned, counting as neither a win nor a loss.

A round robin breaks several selections into every possible smaller parlay, so you still win something if one leg fails. Three selections produce three two-leg parlays, each staked separately.

A Rule 4 deduction reduces winnings on a horse race when another runner is withdrawn after betting has opened. The size of the deduction depends on the withdrawn horse's price. The shorter it was, the bigger the cut.

A same game parlay combines multiple bets from a single match into one wager. Because the legs are correlated, books price them with custom algorithms that carry substantially higher margin than standard parlays.

A teaser is a parlay in which you move the spread in your favour on every leg, in exchange for a much lower payout. A standard NFL teaser shifts each line by six points.

A void bet is cancelled with the stake returned, usually because an event did not take place, a participant withdrew, or the market was priced in error. It counts as neither a win nor a loss.