Sports betting is a straightforward activity. It is the process of risking money on the outcome of a sports event. It comes in many forms. You can bet on the winner—this is the most popular bet type.
Alternatively, you can bet on total points, spreads, correct scores, or the number of corners in a soccer game. If you’ve never placed a sports bet in your life, don’t worry.
In this guide, we’ll delve deeper into how sports betting works. We’ll show you how to place your first bet. What’s more, we’ll review the evolution of online sports betting over time. Let’s get started.
Placing Your First Sports Bet
These days, the majority of sports bettors use online sportsbooks. Mobile betting means you don’t need to leave your home to bet on football or hockey. All you need is a betting app, access to the Internet, and a way to fund your account.
How to Find a Sports Betting Site
Finding a betting site in 2023 is straightforward. Many countries allow sports betting to some degree. In the US, sports betting legalization varies from one state to another. New York, New Jersey, and Nevada all permit mobile betting. Hawaii, Utah, and Texas don’t.
In the UK, nearly all forms of online gambling are legal. As such, finding a betting app takes one Google search. Around the world, betting laws vary from one country to another.
If you live in a place where sports betting is legal, conduct some quick research online. Find out the best sports betting sites in your country. Choose a mobile-friendly site with support for your favorite sports and leagues.
Also, look out for bonuses, quality odds, and in-play betting. Bonuses boost your account balance to help you maximize your profits. Good odds ensure you make maximum returns from every bet. On the other hand, live betting allows you to wager on games while they’re happening.
Reading Betting Odds
Before you bet on sports, you need to select a bet. Professional punters select bets they can predict comfortably. If you’re a beginner, focus on match winners. With time, you can try parlays and spreads.
When it comes to odds, learn to differentiate decimals from fractions and American odds. Decimals and fractions describe the same odds—they’re just expressed differently.
American odds are based on betting or winning $100. Favorites are described using a minus (-) sign. Underdogs have a positive (+) sign. Let’s say Jon Jones (-120) is the favorite to beat Francis Ngannou (+150) in a potential fight.
For you to win $100 from a Jones win, you need to bet $120. If you think Francis will win, backing him with a $100 bet will win you $150. In both cases, you also receive your stake.
New Changes in the Sports Betting Industry
Two decades ago, online sports betting was a small industry available in a few countries. Today, sports betting is a $90 billion industry with hundreds of millions of stakeholders. What changed? What’s new in the iGaming sector?
Sportsbooks Pay You for Referrals
Betting isn’t the only way you can make money from a sportsbook. If you’re good with words, recommend your favorite sportsbook to your friends. If it has an affiliate marketing scheme, you could earn money for your marketing efforts.
Some people make a living through referral marketing. How do you get started? Learn more about sports betting affiliate programs at https://uffiliates.me/en/. Choose one or more programs. Market its sportsbooks through a blog or social media.
As a marketer, you earn a commission for every customer you convince to join a sportsbook you’re marketing. Bookies have no limit to the number of people you can recommend to them. And of course, you can join multiple marketing programs.
Mobile Betting
As we mentioned earlier, technology has made sports betting easy. In the early days, you needed a desktop computer to bet online. That meant you had to be in your office or home to bet.
In this age of mobile betting, you only need your smartphone. You can download an app, but it’s optional. Most sportsbooks have websites that run on mobile websites.
But that’s not even the best part. Mobile betting sites can be customized to optimize your betting experience. A bookie can personalize your bonuses, preferred sports, and leagues.
Live Betting
Live betting is a relatively new feature in the online betting space. As stated, it involves predicting matches while they’re in action. It’s an excellent feature to have in a sportsbook.
In case you forget to bet on an NFL game, you can place your bet even after the match has started. Truth be told, in-play betting is more exciting than conventional betting.
The only catch is that bookies change odds frequently. If you want to make money from in-play betting, choose games you can watch live. This way, you don’t need to waste time checking data from third-party sites.
Improved Odds
Competition is one of the best things that happened to sports betting in the past two decades. Before sports betting exploded as an industry, most bookies had terrible odds. They knew punters had few options.
Nowadays, betting sites have improved their odds tremendously. Some of them market their sites on the premise of providing the best odds online. Obviously, quality odds are important. They help maximize your profits when you win.
That said, bookies are always competing to offer the best odds. One bookie might have the best NBA odds today. But next weekend, it will be a different site with the best odds. Due to this, consider joining more than one sportsbook. That way, you can compare odds before you place your bets.
A Wider Range of Bets
Betting sites used to provide a few bets for every sport. There were money line bets, parlays, and spreads. Over time, bookies introduced half-time/full-time bets, totals, goal-goal, and correct scores.
These days, you can also bet on the first player to score a goal. You can pick the number of cards a referee displays or the overall league winner.