Sports betting glossary
Every term you'll see on the board, explained in plain English with a worked example.
A
An alt line (alternate line) is a spread, total or player prop set at a different number than the main line, with the price adjusted to match.
American odds show how much you risk to win $100 (minus numbers) or how much you win on a $100 bet (plus numbers).
An anytime touchdown bet wins if the player scores a touchdown at any point in the game.
B
Your bankroll is the money set aside only for betting, separate from bills and savings. You size every bet as a share of it.
A bonus bet is sportsbook credit you can wager but not withdraw. If it wins you keep the winnings, but the stake itself is not returned.
Breakeven win rate is the share of bets you must win at a given price just to avoid losing money. It equals the price's implied probability.
C
A cash-out is a sportsbook offer to settle an open bet early for a set amount, before the game or season is over.
Closing line value (CLV) measures whether you got a better price than the final price before the game started. Beating the closing line consistently is one of the best signs of a real edge.
D
Decimal odds show the total amount returned per $1 staked, including your stake. They're common in Europe and on some exchanges.
E
Expected value (EV) is the average amount a bet would win or lose per play if you could make it many times. Positive EV (+EV) means the price is better than the true chance.
F
Risking the same amount, usually one unit, on every bet instead of raising or lowering stakes based on feel or recent results.
A futures bet is a wager on an outcome settled later, like a league champion, an award winner or a team's season win total.
G
The mistaken belief that a random streak has to even out soon, so a result is 'due' after it hasn't happened for a while.
H
A hedge is a bet on the other side of an earlier wager to shrink how much you can lose, at the cost of how much you can win.
The sportsbook's built-in margin on a market: the share of all money bet it expects to keep if action is balanced across every side.
The hook is the half point on a spread or total, like the .5 in -3.5. It removes the chance of a push.
The belief that a player or team on a streak is more likely to keep it going than the numbers support.
I
Implied probability is the win chance a price suggests. It turns odds into a percentage so you can compare them with your own estimate.
K
The Kelly criterion is a bet-sizing formula that sets your stake as a share of your bankroll, based on your edge and the odds.
L
Line movement is when a sportsbook changes a spread, total, prop or price after it opens, usually because of news or the money coming in.
M
A staking system where you double your bet after every loss so one win recovers everything. It risks huge stakes to chase a small gain.
A middle is when you bet both sides of the same game at different numbers, so a result that lands between them wins both bets.
A moneyline bet is a wager on which team or fighter wins outright, with no point spread involved.
N
No-vig odds are a market's prices with the sportsbook's margin removed, showing the probability the market really gives each side.
O
The opening line is the first price a sportsbook posts on a game or market, before news and betting money start moving it.
P
A parlay combines two or more bets into one ticket. Every leg has to win, and the payout is the odds of each leg multiplied together.
A player prop is a bet on an individual player's stat line, such as passing yards, points, rebounds, strikeouts or shots on goal, rather than on the game result.
The point spread is a handicap that evens out a matchup: the favorite has to win by more than the spread, and the underdog covers by losing by less than it or winning outright.
A profit boost increases the winnings on one bet by a set percentage, usually up to a maximum stake.
A push is a tie against the betting line. Your stake is refunded, with no win or loss.
R
The habit of giving the latest games or results more weight than they deserve when you predict what happens next.
A referral bonus is a sportsbook reward, usually bonus bets, that you and a friend both get when they sign up with your link and meet the deposit and betting requirements.
The tendency for an extreme result to be followed by one closer to average, because luck helped make the first one extreme.
S
A same-game parlay (SGP) is a parlay where every leg comes from the same game, such as a team winning plus its quarterback throwing for a lot of yards.
A preset amount you can lose in a day, week or month. Hit it and you stop betting until the period resets.
T
A teaser is a parlay where you move the spread or total in your favor on every leg in exchange for a smaller payout.
A total, or over/under, is a bet on whether the combined score of both teams lands above or below a number the sportsbook sets.
U
The underdog is the side the market expects to lose. On a moneyline it usually has a plus number, and on a spread it gets points.
A unit is a fixed slice of your bankroll, commonly 1% to 2%, used to size every bet so stakes stay consistent.
V
The vig, also called juice or the hold, is the commission a sportsbook builds into its prices so it profits no matter which side wins.
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