Sports betting can be wonderful entertainment, casual curiosity, even professionally profitable. Several hundred sports betting websites gladly accept your wagers, regardless of where you live. You should also know that, like any form of gambling, sports betting can get people in a lot of trouble. Moderation and self-control are the key to avoid becoming one of the 2% of all adults who are helplessly addicted to gambling.

One term that all sports bettors need to understand is the word “Juice” - also known as the “Vig” or “Vigorish”. Most novice bettors think that if you bet $100 that you either win or lose $100. Not so! All sportbooks or private bookies charge a commission of roughly 10%. This is based on the standard 11/10 odds sports betting gives you. This is the sportbook’s fee for setting up the system that allows you the privilege of placing your bets. The juice covers the house or bookies’ cost of doing business and gives them a profit for their trouble.

Most legal gambling houses take the 10% from the winning side of the bet. So, if you bet $100 and lost, you would lose $100. If you bet $100 and won, you would get back your original $100 plus $90 in winnings, totaling $190, not the $200 one might expect.

There are three types of single bets used in sports betting: the money line,  the point spread and the total (over/under). The point spread is commonly used in football, basketball, and hockey. The money line can also be bet in football, but is more common to baseball and boxing. There’s more to sports betting than simple wagers. Exotic bets offer the sports fan an opportunity to make higher-risk, higher-reward wagers.

There are three major odds formats that online sportsbooks list their odds, called fractional (British), decimal (European), and American.

Know how and who sets the point spread or money line. They are known as the oddsmakers. They have charts, stat computer print outs, all kinds of information. They usually come to a consensus of several people. You should know that the point spread or money line is set only to try to split the betting public. This is why the line moves up or down sometimes. The oddsmaker wants even action on both sides of the bet. The oddsmaker has no interest in predicting the actual score of the game. For example, if more money is being bet on a favorite, the oddsmaker will give a point or two to the underdog to try to entice people to bet on the underdog to even up the action. If there is even money bet on both sides of a bet then the bookmaker is guaranteed a profit no matter who wins the game because of the 10% juice they collect. This is how sports betting operates. They are trying to split the gambling public, not predict the score. It is important to have early and late access to as many betting lines as possible. This will enable you to keep up with, or get a jump on line movement.