What is sports betting?

The short answer

Sports betting is placing a wager on the result of a sporting event, or on something that happens during it. You stake money, a licensed sportsbook quotes a price, and the bet pays or loses once the result is settled. The wager can be on who wins, by how much, how many points are scored, or how one player performs.

It differs from a casino game in one useful way: the price on a sports bet is set by a market, and you can read it and compare it. That makes it possible to judge whether a price is fair, which is the skill this site is built to teach.

The kinds of bet

Most beginners start with the first three. Our guide to moneyline, spread and totals compares them, and separate articles cover moneyline bets, prop bets and parlays.

What a price tells you

In the United States, prices are written as American odds. A minus number shows the stake needed to win $100. A plus number shows the profit on a $100 stake. At -110, a $25 stake wins $22.73 in profit, and at +200 a $25 stake wins $50.00. A winning bet also returns your stake.

Every price implies a chance of winning. At -110 it is 52.4%, and at +200 it is 33.3%. That figure is the break-even rate: the share of bets at that price you must win to come out even over time. The guide to American odds shows how it is worked out.

Who sets the price

The sportsbook sets it. It estimates how likely each outcome is, then builds a margin into the price so that the implied chances on both sides add up to more than 100%. At -110 on both sides they add up to 104.8%, and the extra 4.76% is the margin. Prices then move as bets arrive and as news changes the picture. For a fuller explanation see how sportsbooks make money.

Is it legal where you live

That depends on the state. Some states allow online betting, some allow it only in person, some only through tribal operators and some do not allow it at all. Rules also change. Our state law table shows what we have verified against official pages and the date we read them, and it lists the states we have not verified yet. The state regulator is always the authority. To bet online you generally must be physically in a state where it is allowed, and you must meet the minimum age that the state sets. Check the rule for your state with its regulator.

What it costs

Every bet carries an average cost because of the margin. If a bettor had no edge over the market at -110 on both sides, the margin would work out to an average loss of roughly 4.5% of every dollar staked over time. That does not mean every bet loses. It means a single bet is a gamble with a negative average, and the long run follows the average more closely than a single night does. Treat the money you stake as the cost of entertainment, not as income.

What to decide before your first bet

• How much you can afford to lose in a month, written down as a number.
• Your stake size, which should be small enough that a losing run does not matter.
• Whether betting is legal and the app is approved where you are.
• What tools the app offers for deposit limits, time limits and taking a break.
• What you will do if a night goes badly: stop, not chase.

Common misunderstandings

Many people think that betting on a favorite is safe, that an underdog price is a bargain, or that a streak of wins shows skill. None of those holds up. A favorite price is short because the favorite usually wins, so the payout is small and one loss erases several wins. An underdog price is long because it usually loses. A streak of wins is common in a small sample and says little about future results.

Another misunderstanding is that apps are all the same. Prices, markets, rules and tools differ. We do not rank individual apps on this site, because we have not verified app-level facts for them, and we point you to the regulator's list of approved operators instead.

How to learn the skill

Start with prices. The odds course teaches American odds in short steps, the odds quiz lets you practice, and the calculators do the arithmetic for any bet. The guide to how sports betting works follows a bet from pick to payout.

One bet from start to finish

Say you choose to bet $30 on a team at -140 to win a game. The slip shows a profit of $21.43 if it wins. You confirm, and $30 leaves your balance. If the team wins, $51.43 is credited, which is the profit plus your stake. If the team loses, the $30 is gone. In either case the bet is settled once the result is official, and nothing more is owed on either side. The price you were quoted at the moment you confirmed is the price that counts, even if it moves a minute later.

In person, online and in an app

A bet can be placed in different ways, and which are open to you depends on your state. Our state law table shows the pattern we have verified from official pages: some states allow online betting, Nebraska is listed as in person only, and Wisconsin is listed as tribal compacts only. An app is the online route. A licensed venue is the in-person route. The price and the basic rules are the same ideas in both, but the tools, the payment methods and the withdrawal steps differ.

How money moves

With an online account, you deposit money into a balance, place bets from the balance, and withdraw what you want to take out. Payment methods, processing times, identity checks and any fees depend on the app and on the state, and we have not verified them app by app. Read the app's banking page before you deposit, and keep a record of your deposits so that you always know how much you have put in and how much you have taken out.

A budget worked through

Suppose you set a monthly budget of $200 for betting and decide on a stake of $10 per bet. That gives you 20 bets for the month. A run of five losses costs $50, a quarter of the budget, and the run does not tell you anything about the next bet. A fixed stake keeps the arithmetic simple. Raising the stake after a loss, to win the money back, is the habit that turns a small budget into a large loss, and it is worth deciding in advance that you will not do it.

Signs it is stopping being fun

Betting is meant to be entertainment. Warning signs include betting more than you planned, betting to win back losses, borrowing to bet, hiding how much you bet from people close to you, or feeling anxious when you are not betting. If any of these sound familiar, step away and call 1-800-GAMBLER. Apps are required in some states to offer tools such as deposit limits, time limits and self-exclusion, and you can use them at any time. The responsible gambling page lists what is available.

Why prices differ between apps

Each sportsbook builds its own prices from its own estimate of the chances and its own margin, and each sees a different flow of bets. For that reason the same side of the same game can carry a slightly different price at two apps. The gap is usually small, and a small gap still moves the break-even rate. If you can legally use more than one app in your state, checking a second price before you confirm is a habit worth building. It costs a minute and it is the one edge a bettor has over the margin that does not depend on predicting anything.

Questions to ask about any app

Is it licensed in your state, according to the regulator's own list? What are its rules for settling the market you want? Which tools does it offer for limits and breaks, and how easy are they to find? How does it handle withdrawals and identity checks? What does it say about promotions, and what are the terms behind the headline? These questions do not need inside information. The answers are on the app's rules pages and on the regulator's site, and a missing or hard-to-find answer is itself information.

Words you will meet

• Sportsbook: a licensed business that takes sports bets.
• Stake: the amount you bet.
• Odds: the price of a bet.
• Margin (vig, juice): what the sportsbook builds into prices.
• Break-even rate: the win rate a price needs.

Keeping it in proportion

Sports betting should stay entertainment. Bet only what you can afford to lose, and do not bet to win back a loss. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER. The responsible gambling page lists tools and support.

Frequently asked questions