Sports Betting Terms

Action
Action means bets. Having action means having a bet.
Action
has a special meaning for baseball bets: Its means the bet counts even
if there is a change in starting pitchers. If there is a pitcher change
accompanied by an odds change, the action bettor will receive the new
odds. The default is that the listed pitchers must start; to have
action no matter who pitches, you must specify action when you make
your bet.

Advantage Player
An advantage player is a bettor who is willing to make a bet only if the bet is perceived as yielding a positive EV.

Against the Spread
There
are two common ways of betting sides: the moneyline and against the
spread. To bet against the spread is to make a wager that will be
decided by adding points to one team or the other after the game is
played.

Air Move
When a sportsbook changes
the line on a game in response to other books’ changing the line, that
line change is described as an air move. The opposite of an air move is
changing the line in response to bets received.

Angle
An
angle is a decision rule for making bets, unfortunately, most published
angles are the result of data mining, and fail to predict results of
future games.

Arbitrage
To arbitrage is to
make a combination of bets such that if one bet loses another wins.
There is an implication of having an edge, at no or low risk. Arbitrage
can also be used as a noun. Hedge has a similar meaning, but does not
carry the implication of having an edge.

ATS
ATS is the acronym for against the spread.

Bar
To be barred from betting at a sportsbook is to be told that no more bets will be accepted from you.

Bases
Bases means baseball. An alternative to saying you are betting on baseball games is to say you are betting bases.

Baskets
Baskets
means basketball. An alternative to saying you are betting on
basketball games is to say you are betting baskets. An alternate
expression is hoops.
Beard
A beard is a person who makes sports bets for someone else; that someone else is usually a skillful handicapper.

Betting Exchange
A
betting exchange is a form of betting available on the internet. You
and another person can bet on anything you wish at whatever odds you
agree upon. The winner will pay a commission to the internet sportsbook.

Bettor
A bettor is an individual who makes bets. This text assumes that bettors will be making a sports bet against a book.

Board
A
board is the list of bets available in a sportsbook. In the old days,
all books had actual boards on which clerks would write the latest
odds. Nowadays most suck boards have been replaced by electronic
displays that are updated by computer, but they are still called
“boards.”

Bonus Hustler
To offshore
sportsbooks, a bonus hustler is someone who has opened an account for
the express purpose of obtaining bonuses, and who does no intend to
gamble.

Book, Bookmaker
A book or bookmaker is a person or company that accepts bets against the lines created by lines makers.

Bookie
The
dictionary says bookie is the same thing as bookmaker, but Nevada’s
legal sportsbooks don’t call themselves bookies. Bookies carry the
implication of illegality.

Buck
To a sports
bettor, a buck is a bet size. For a bet on a dog, a buck is $100 for a
bet on a favorite, a buck is whatever amount of money must be risked to
win $100.

Chalk
To bet chalk is to bet the favorite

Cherrypick
To cherrypick is to bet only those games on which you think you have an edge.

Circled
When
a game is circled, the maximum bet on that game is lower than normal.
The circling generally is due to uncertainty of some sort, perhaps the
weather or an injury to a key player.

Correlated, Correlation
Correlation
is the degree to which the results of two bets are related. Zero
correlation means the results are not related at all. Correlated is the
adjective form, and correlation is a noun. An example of two bets that
are correlated is the Giants to lead at the half and the Giants to win
the game. Sportsbooks do not like to write correlated parlays.

Cover
To
cover is to beat the spread. For example, if Detroit is favored by 7
and wins the game by more than 7, Detroit is said to have “covered.” If
Detroit lost that game or wins by less than 7, it failed to cover.  If
the underdog wins, or loses the game but by less than the spread, the
dog is said to have covered.

CTR
CTR is the
acronym for Currency Transaction Report. This is a form the US
government requires be filled out whenever a financial institution
(which includes casinos and sportsbooks) has a transaction (or series
of transactions with one individual within a 24-hour period of time)
involving over $10,000 in cash.

Data Mining
Data
mining is derogatory. It means sorting through a huge volume of data,
extracting decision rules that seem to favor one team over another, but
without regard to whether or not there is any cause-and-effect
relationship. Data mining is the sports-betting equivalent of sitting a
huge number of monkeys down at keyboards, and then reporting on the
monkeys who happened to type actual words.

Dime
A dime is a bet to win $1000.

Dog
Dog
is short for “underdog.” If the better team wins the game, the dog is
the team that loses. The opposite of the dog is the favorite.

Dollar
A dollar is a bet to win $100.

Early line
The early line is the first line posted for a game.

Edge
Having
an edge means having the best of it. If you make only bets on which you
have an edge, you will win and you will lose but in the long haul your
winnings will overwhelm your losses.

Even money
Even
money means you risk a dollar to win a dollar. Even money is also
expressed as EV or as PK. It could be, but is not, expressed as -100 or
+100.

Exotic
Exotic bets are the same thing as prop bets.

Fade
To fade a bet is to accept it, as in the sportsbook fades your action.

Fan
A fan is somebody who bets on a team because he likes the team. To a fan, the spread is an unimportant detail.

Favorite
The
favorite is the team that is more likely to win. If there are a large
number of contestants, suck as in a golf tournament, the top few
contestants can all be referred to as favorites. The opposite of the
favorite is dog.

Field
Betting on golf
tournaments and other sports events that have a large number of
entrants often allows for a bet on the field. The field is the group of
all the entrants not listed with their own odds. The field can contain
a large number of entrants, but typically each entrant has only a tiny
chance of actually winning the event. If an entrant had a good chance
of winning, he or she would not be lumped into the field.

Final Margin
The
final margin is the final score of the favorite and the final score of
the dog. If the dog won, the final margin is negative. The final margin
can be compared to the line to see which team won for betting purposes.

Final Score
The final score of the game is the actual results as determined on the field, court, diamond, etc.

Final Total
The final total is the sum of the two final scores in a game. If San Francisco wins 35-14, then the final total is 49.

Foots
Foots means football. An alternative to saying you are betting on football games is to say you are betting foots.

Front running
Front
running is watching betting lines via computer, and betting in the
direction of line moves at a sportsbook that shows the old number

Futures
Futures
are bets that will be decided by multiple contests, or by a contest
that is more than about a week away. An example of a futures bet is a
wager on whether the Yankees will win more than 92 games in the
upcoming season.

Good Bet
To an advantage player, a good bet is a bet threat offers a positive EV.

Handicap
To
handicap is to assign a probability to the likelihood of winning a
contest or series of contests. A person who handicaps is a handicapper.

Handle
Handle
is a word used by bookmakers to describe the total amount of money
wagered. Handle usually refers to total bets over multiple games,
whereas action usually refers to total bets on one game.

Hang
When managers of sportsbooks speak of hanging a line, they mean posting it for all to see and bet into.

Hedge
To
hedge is to make a combination of bets such that if one bet loses
another wins. Hedging is usually done fore defensive purposes, such as
betting to lock in a profit after winning the first eleven games on a
twelve-team parlay. Hedge can be used as a noun or a verb. Hedge does
not carry the implication of having and edge.

Hook
When a line on a football or basketball game includes a half point, the half point is called a hook.

Hoops
Hoops
means basketball. An alternative to saying you are betting on
basketball games is to say you are betting hoops. An alternate
expression is baskets.

House Edge
The house edge is another name for the vig.

Juice
Juice is another word for vig.

Laying
You're
said to be laying odds if the amount of money you are risking is more
than what you will win if the game goes your way. You are said to be
laying points if the spread takes points away from your team. If you
are laying points or laying odds, you are betting the favorite. The
opposite of laying is taking.

Leach
A leach
is someone who watches a computer for line moves, and when he sees one
he quickly bets the appropriate team at an offshore sportsbook that has
not yet moved the line. That activity is called front running.

Line
The line is the spread and terms of a bet. If the terms are standard, e.g. -110, then the line is the spread.

Linesmaker
A linesmaker is a person who creates lines and totals for bookmakers.

Maverick line
When
a sportsbook creates its own line on a game and that line is different
from the line carried by other sportsbooks, that independent line is
called a maverick line.

Middle
To have a
middle is to have bets on competing teams and for there to be at least
one possible outcome that results in winning both bets, Middle applies
to bets on totals as well bets on sides.

Money line
When
you bet the money line, the winner of the game is the winner of the
bet. Betting the money line is one of two common ways of betting on a
side to win; the other common method of betting a side is against the
spread.

Nickel
A nickel is a bet to win $500. A big nickel is a bet to win $5000.

Off
If
a game if off, the sportsbook is no longer writing bets on it. Perhaps
the game has already started, or perhaps there is major uncertainty as
to the weather conditions or an injury to a key player.

Off the board
To
make parlay or teaser bets on games listed on the board is called
betting off the board. Sometimes you have two ways to bet the same
combination of teams: off the board and on parlay cards. Before betting
one of them, check to see if the other offers better odds or a better
spread.

Opening line
The opening line is the earliest line posted for a given sports event.

Originator
When
a syndicate bets so much money on one game that the line moves, the
originator is the first person to bet that game for that syndicate.

Over
To bet over is to bet that the final total will exceed the total posted for betting purposes.

Parlay
A
parlay is a bet involving two or more events. You can also use the word
as a verb; to parlay is to use the proceeds from one bet as the wager
on another bet. You can parlay sides and totals. You can mix sports in
a single parlay. All you teams must win for your parlay to win. One
loser and the parlay is lost. A push on one game generally causes your
parlay to convert to a parlay with one fewer game; for example a
three-team parlay with two wins and a push would be paid as a two-team
parlay.

Parlay card
A parlay card is a set of
sides, totals, and prop bets printed on a special card. The numbers on
the parlay card apply only to bets on the card, and might be different
from bets listed on the board. Typically you must select at least three
items if you want to make a bet on a parlay card.

Pick
A pick is a bet recommended by a handicapper.

Pick ‘em
Pick
‘em can mean two things. It can mean the same thing as even money. It
also can mean the spread is zero, as in “Giants is pick ‘em against the
Ravens this weekend.”

PK
PK is an abbreviation for pick ‘em.

Player
If
an employee of a sportsbooks calls you a player, the implication is
that you are a big bettor. Being called a player is not a compliment,
but it's not as derogatory as being called a sucker.

Points, point spread
Points and point spread are alternate terms for spread.

Power ratings
Power
ratings are numbers that handicappers assign to teams to estimate how
likely one team is to beat the other or by how many points.

Prop bet
When
a major sporting events come along, some linesmakers let their
imaginations run wild as they offer an interesting menu of bets, such
as which player will score first.

Public
A
public means unsophisticated bettors. Their bets are call public money.
The public includes fans and squares and people who make a bet just to
make a game more exciting.

Puck line
The ice
hockey version of betting against the spread is the puck line. On games
in which one team is a big favorite, the puck line typically adds 1.5
goals to one or subtracts 1.5 goals from the other team.

Punter
A
punter is a bettor, specifically a bettor who takes on sportsbooks or
racebooks. The term can be but is rarely used to refer to participants
in casino games.

Push
A push is a tie against the spread. Generally you get your money back on pushes.

Reverse teaser
A reverse teaser is a parlay in which each team gives up points compared to the normal spread.

ROI
ROI is the acronym for return on investment.

Run line
The
baseball version of betting against the spread is the run line. On
games in which one team is a big favorite, the run line typically adds
1.5 runs to one team or subtracts 1.5 runs from the other team.

Scalp
This
word has several meanings. One use is to bet both sides on the money
line in such a way as to guarantee profit. For example, if New York is
playing Chicago and you bet New York -140 and Chicago +155, you have a
15 cent scalp. Another use of scalp is to describe what a bookie might
do if he thinks a line is going to move. Suppose a bookie takes a bet
on Dallas -6 from a sharp, and predicts that other bookie soon will be
calling to also place bets on Dallas. If the bookie immediately bets
Dallas -6 with other bookies and simultaneously changes the line at
which he accepts bets to Dallas -7, he is said to be scalping.

Sharp, sharpie
A
sharp is what sportsbooks call an advantage player. Sharp can also be
used as an adjective. If someone calls you a sharp bettor, smile; you
have received a compliment.

Side
To bet a
side is to bet on one team against the spread. Another meaning of side
is to have bets on both opposing teams such that there is at least one
score that will give you a win on one bet and a push on the other.

Smart money
Smart money is money wagered by shaprs.

Soft
When
a line is called soft, the implication is that not many sharp bettors
have looked at it. Sharp bettors making big bets tend to move lines to
the point where it is difficult for other bettors to make a bet with an
advantage.

Sportsbook
Sportsbook is another word for book.

Spread
A
spread is a number set by a sportsbook to allow betting at 10:11 on
each of two teams. The spread is also called the line or the points.

Square
A
square is a sucker who has read the sports section of the local
newspaper. The implication is of being informed, but using the same
information in the same way as everybody else does.

Straight up
Since
bets against the spread are common; you need two ways to describe which
team won a game. You need to distinguish between which team actually
won the game and which team won against the spread. Sometimes they are
the same team and sometimes they are not. Winning straight up means
winning without regards to the spread.

Sucker
A sucker is a bettor who will make bad-EV bets without realizing how bad the bets are.

Syndicate
A syndicate is a group of people making a joint effort to win money betting sports.

Total
The
total is a number set by a sportsbook for total points to be scored by
both teams during a game. You can bet that the final total will exceed
the total 9called the “over”) or that the final total will be less than
the total (called the “under”). Betting over's or under's is referred
to as betting totals.

Tout
A tout is someone
who sells picks. The connotation is of someone who has no ability to
pick winners but sells that ability anyway.

Under
To bet the under is to bet that the final total will fall short of the total.

Vig or vigorish
Sportsbook
generally don’t give suckers a positive expectation bet, or even a
break-even bet. The vig or vigorish is the sportsbook built-in edge
over bettors. The vig is what you must overcome if you are going to win
money betting on sports.

Wiseguy
A wiseguy is a successful and well established sports bettor.