Sports Betting Terminology

Online gambling can be a strange thing, especially when you’re an outsider and you don’t comprehend half of the things that are involved with it. As with most things in life, gambling – especially gambling on sports – has its very own terms and terminology which might seem a bit peculiar for the uninitiated.

So what we have done is we have created a dictionary of sorts that will better help you understand most of the terms used by online bookmakers. Next time You hear an NFL betting guy talk about a “Buck” or a “Dead hit” You now will understand. So go ahead and read it you’ll have no problem in understanding this sports betting world ever again.

•    Accumulator (Parlay) – This is a multiple bet, which contains several different matches. All of the matches have to be guessed correctly in order for the payout to be initiated.

•    Action – Any type of bet is called an Action bet if it is valid. Some sports, however, apply different rules to whether or not a bet is an action bet or not.

•    Ajax – a typical term from the United Kingdom. It means a ‘Betting Tax’.

•    All-in – A term borrowed from the game of poker, and it means placing a bet with all the funds in your account. After you place the bet, your balance will be 0.

•    All-up – This implies that the sum of a bet is bet on more than one result.

•    Ante Post – These are bets that are placed on future events. Where all bets are placed on future events, however, these imply a larger period of time to pass between the bet and the event.

•    Arbitrage - This is where a variety of different quotas offer the bettor the possibility to bet on both results (team 1 or team 2 to win) and guarantee his win.

•    Backed – A backed team is one that has a lot of different bets placed on it.

•    Banker – This is the surest win. Out of a bet placed on several matches, this is the one that is the most expected to win.

•    Bar Price – This is the minimum odd for a bet.

•    Beard – This is an American term, and it implies a friend or acquaintance who bets from your account, with the bookmaker not knowing who the bettor is.

•    Beef – A quarrel, a dispute over a bet.

•    Beeswax – Another term used in the UK which means ‘Betting tax’.

•    Betting tax – As the name suggests, the tax that the bookmaker holds for itself on every bet.

•    Bettor - The person who places the bet.

•    Book – This involves the entity that calculates the odds.

•    Bookie – The sports betting companies, that buy the odds.

•    Bookmaker - A licensed person or company that buys odds and offers them to bettors.

•    Bottle – A 2/1 odd. This term is also specific to the UK.

•    Bridge – A bettor that specializes in a wide range of bets.

•    Buck – A $100 bet.

•    Buy Price – The highest odds that are displayed at any bookmaker.

•    Buy the Rack – This is a specific term for the United States, and it means buying any double daily.

•    Canadian (or Super Yankee) – A ‘Canadian’ is a bet composed of 26 different bets with 5 selections (5 matches, for example) placed on each bet.

•    Carpet – This is another term that is specific to the United Kingdom. It means the 3/1 odd.

•    Century – 100 Pounds.

•    Chalk – The team that is considered the favorite to win.

•    Chalk Player – A type of bettor that only bets on Chalks.

•    Circle Game – A bet where the maximum bet allowed is limitded. This doesn’t happen normally, but only in cases where the bookmaker has some doubts about the bettor, the players, the teams, or even other factors (such as the weather before a game, in some cases).

•    Closing Line – The final list of betting possibilities before the game starts.

•    Combination Bet – Selecting more than one match on a bet.

•    Credit Betting – A bet placed by a bettor, which doesn’t involve him betting his own funds, but betting with funds borrowed from the bookmaker.

•    Dead Hit – A draw, or a situation where both teams win.

•    Deposit Betting – As opposed to credit betting, this involves the bettor to place a bet from his own funds.

•    Dime bet – A $1,000 bet.

•    Dividend – The expected win on any bet. For example, if you bet $1 on a game and you win $3, the dividend is calculated by subtracting the amount that you have bet, the one that was withdrawn from your own funds ($1), from the amount that you have won ($3). In this case, the dividend is $2.

•    Dollar Bet – A $100 bet.

•    Double(s) – A twin bet, or two twin bets. This involves betting on specific events, or betting on two parts of the same event.

•    Double Carpet – Yet another term specific to the United Kingdom. It means the 33/1 odds.

•    Double or Nothing – A bet where the amount that you can win (the Dividend) is equal with the amount that you bet. When you bet on this type of bet, you either double or money or lose everything.

•    Draw – A situation where neither teams win.

•    Drift – A situation where the odds vary very much.

•    Each Way – A term used in the United Kingdom for a bet on either team to win. The bet is automatically split into two, and each team’s odds are different.

•    Even Money - A bet where the odds are 1:1.

•    Favorite – The team that the bookmaker thinks will be the winner in a game. Usually, it is the team on which the most money was bet.

•    Field – This, actually, has two meanings: 1. All individual competitors from an event, and 2. The odds offered for outsiders.

•    Fixed Game – A game, or a match, where one or more of the participants influence the final result.

•    Fixed Odds – When you place a bet, it doesn’t matter how much the odds fluctuate afterwards, yours are fixed from that moment on.

•    Flag – A bet that contains 23 bets, each with 4 selections (or matches) each, on different events.

•    Flea – An irritating person that only wants to get rich without much hassle. He basically wants something for nothing, and expects to win large from a single bet.

•    Fold – This term indicates the number of different selections from inside a bet.

•    Forecast – A bet that implies the prediction of the first two winners from an event (such as Formula 1, or other types of racing).

•    Full Cover – Any doubles, triples and multiples inside a given number of selections.

•    Futures – Bets placed in advance of an event.

•    Goliath – A bet ticket that contains 27 different bets, each with 8 selections, all on different events.

•    Grand – 1,000 pounds (or, in the US: $1,000. The currency differs from country to country, while the amount (1,000) remains the same).

•    Grand Slam - The four large tennis tournaments: Australian Open, Wimbledon, French Open and the U.S. Open. Or the four great golf tournaments: The Masters, British Open, U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.

•    Heinz – A bet ticket composed of 57 different bets, with 6 selections on different events each.

•    Home Field Advantage – Usually, it has been noticed that the team that plays at home has a slight advantage.

•    Hoops – A term used to indicate the basketball games.

•    IBF - International Boxing Federation.

•    Index Betting – A split bet.

•    Joint Favorites – This refers to a game, or match, where the teams are evenly matched and one clear superior cannot be established.

•    Juice – The comission held by a bookmaker.

•    Kite – A check (this is a term used in the United Kingdom).

•    Lay a Bet – To place a bet.

•    Layoff – A bet made by a bookmaker to another bookmaker, to equalize the excess betting.

•    LBO – Licensed Betting Office.

•    Lock – Sure winner. When one team is clearly more powerful than the other.

•    Long Odds – Odds higher than 10/1.

•    Lucky 15 – A ticket that contains 15 bets of 4 selections each.

•    MLB - Major League Baseball.

•    Money Line – The sum that needs to be bet in order to win $100, or the sum that the player would win if he were to bet $100.

•    MVP - Most valuable player. This title is often given out to a player at the end of the match, or at the end of the season. Bets can be made on who would be the MVP.

•    Nap – A paper that offers the best bet of the day.

•    NBA – National Basketball Association (in the United States).

•    NCAA - National Collegiate Athletic League.

•    NFL - National Football League.

•    NHL – National Hockey League.

•    Nickel – A $500 bet.

•    Odds – The chances that a bookmaker gives to a certain tema to win.

•    Odds-against – Where the odds are larger than 2.0.

•    Oddsmaker – A person that establishes the odds.

•    Off the board – A game or event where the bookmakers don’t offer the possibility to place a bet.

•    Outsiders – Competitors who don’t have any chance to win.

•    Over/Under – A bet where the final score is over or under a certain number.

•    Parlay - A multiple bet.

•    Patent – A bet ticket that contains 7 bets of 3 selections each.

•    Permutations – The combination of selections.

•    Picks – A selection of the bets made by an expert.

•    Place – The first 3, 4 or 5 positions at an event.

•    Point Spread – The spread.

•    Price – The odds.

•    Pucks – This term is used to indicate a hockey game.

•    Punter – Bettor.

•    Return – The Dividend, or the sum that a person has to win from a bet.

•    Scalper – A person that takes advantage from the odds’ differences between bookmakers, by betting on both teams in a match, with different sums on each.

•    Shut Out – A match where the losing team doesn’t score at all.

•    Single – A selection in a bet.

•    Sportsbook – The bookmaker. In our case, it’s the online sports betting website.

•    Spread Betting – The sum that needs to be bet in order to win $100, or the amount you stand to win if you were to bet $100.

•    Stanley Cup - A hockey championship.

•    Store – Bookmaker.

•    Super Bowl - An NFL Championship.

•    System – A betting method based on mathematical calculations, which creates advantages for the bettors. Essentially, this is a tactic adopted by bettors in order to get an edge over the bookmaker.

•    Thick’un – A large bet.

•    Tie – A draw.

•    Trebles – A triple bet, made on 3 selections.

•    True Odds – While odds are set by each bookmaker, True odds are the true chances that any team has to win. This is because bookmakers tend to modify the odds in order to serve their own purposes (for example, in order to attract bettors to bet as much as possible).

•    Value – Obtaining the best odd for a bet.

•    Vigorish (or Vig.) – The comission that you pay the bookmaker when you place a bet.

•    VS – Versus, against.

•    WBA – World Boxing Association.

•    WBC – World Boxing Council.

•    Welsh/Welch – When a bettor doesn’t pay out on a bet.

•    Win Only – A bet that one of the teams or players would win – this does not imply a draw.

•    WNBA – The Women’s National Basketball Association.

•    World Series - A MLB championship.

•    Yankee – A term used to describe a bet ticket with 4 selections, 6 doubles, 4 triples and one with one selection.