Glossary of common sports betting terms: Parlay, against the spread, money line, helpful props explained

The start of the new year means there are ample opportunities to visit your favorite online sportsbook and bet on sports in the USA. USA sports betting is legal in more places than ever and new bettors are playing along with their favorite teams on a daily basis. If you are new to United States sports betting but aren’t sure where to start, it’s necessary to learn a few popular sports betting terms and sports betting lingo before you place your first bet.

At Caesars Sportsbook, there are more ways to play than ever. In fact, if you are a new registrant who is 21+ and located in an eligible state (AZ, CO, DC, IA, IN, LA, MI, NJ, NY, TN, VA, and WV)*, you can register, deposit, and get your first bet up to $1,250 on Caesars with the code GAMEFULLC. If your bet doesn’t hit, don’t worry. Caesars will give you a single free bet credit you can use within 14 days. (Terms and conditions apply. See details here. Offer expires 12/31/2022). All told, there are plenty of ways to take advantage of your sports book deposit offer.

Sports book betting guide, glossary, terms

Before you play, make sure you know the common betting terms you’ll see. There are dozens of ways to bet on sports, and this handy sports betting guide can help you figure out what some of the most popular sports betting terminology means.

Money line: Use this betting style to wager on soccer’s biggest tournament. If France is listed as a -200 favorite against English, that means that you’d need to bet $200 on France to return $100 on that side to win. If England is the +200 underdog, you could win $200 on a $100 bet if England wins.

Outright: This popular betting style requires you to pick one athlete to win an entire sporting event. This sports betting method is very often used for wagering on golf tournaments, car races and title fights.

Prop bet: The widely-popular prop bet lets you wager on outcomes other than the final score of a game, and a player prop focuses on individual player performance. Common prop bets include how many touchdowns a running back will score or how many three-point shots a basketball player will hit.

Against the spread: Spread betting is your go-to if you want to wager on football. If Minnesota is listed as the 7.5-point favorite against New York, that side must win by 8 points or more to cover the spread. New York can cover that spread as the 7.5-point underdog by winning outright or losing by 7 or fewer to cover.

Push: If neither team in a game can cover the spread, the result is a “tie” or push. If Philadelphia closes as a three-point favorite against Washington and then wins the game 27-24, neither team covers the spread and all bets are returned.

Teaser: This is a special kind of bet that lets you adjust the points spread in football. If your two favorite football teams are seven-point favorites and you are unsure if they will cover their spreads, you can use a six-point teaser to drop each team to a -1 favorite and only need two points to cover. Both the risk and reward are lower.

Parlay: This high-risk, high-reward betting method involves two or more sides on one wager and all sides must win for the bet to be a winner. A $100 bet on a four-team parlay at 11-1 odds could return $1,100, but that is only if all four sides win. If three or fewer sides win, the bet is a loser.

Over-Under: Your go-to betting method if you’re a basketball fan. If a sportsbook sets the over/under for a game between Golden State and Memphis at 200, you would bet whether you think the total of both teams final scores will hit over or under 200.

Futures: You aren’t limited to wagering on games happening right now. Futures bets let you wager on sports outcomes that will take place months from now. Even though it is January, you can place a futures bet on what basketball team will win their conference, or which baseball team will win their division next season.

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