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USA Sportsbooks Bet Types
If you’re just dipping your toes into sports betting in USA, you may be surprised by the variety of bets you can make. Players aren’t limited to the team, fighter, driver that’ll win. Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned punter brushing up on your knowledge, this guide will provide a rundown of the main bet types in the US. Some terms may sound strange, but learning how to bet on sports will help you better appreciate your sports betting options. You can add many more options as you gain experience, but for now, let’s start with the option most punters are likely already familiar with—moneyline bets.
Moneyline Bet
Moneyline bets may look quite complicated to newbie punters, but they are one of the simplest bets. You’ll typically see them offered on sports such as boxing, tennis, and NASCAR, where point spreads are pretty much immaterial. Some bookies may, however, even offer moneyline bets on soccer bets USA, where point spreads are important. A typical moneyline bet may appear with Raiders -130 and Dolphins + 120. In this example, the Dolphins are the underdog and the Raiders are favored to win. The moneyline reveals the odds, for which punters get $120 when they bet on the Dolphins and they win. For the Raiders, you would need to bet $130 to win $100.
Points Spread
Understandably, a lot of bettors will think of point spread bets in the context of football. Football point spread betting on US sportsbooks is essentially a national pastime. Punters will, however, also see point spreads in other sports, including soccer and basketball. Point spreads are based on each game having a favorite and an underdog. While the former is expected to win, the question is by what margin? Point spread bets, therefore, attempt to predict this number. Using our previous example, point spread bets may be listed as Raiders +5(+130) and Dolphins -6(-120). The numbers in the brackets reveal the odds, but you only win if the Raiders win by 5 or more points, or the Dolphins lose by less than 6.
Total Points (Over / Under)
Total points are arguably the simplest sports bets to make. As such, they are usually favored by new and inexperienced bettors. In this wager, rather than attempt to predict which team or player will win, punters bet on the cumulative score both sides would have made at the end of the match. Using a new set of teams this time, if the Seahawks are playing against the Broncos sports betting websites may believe both teams will score a total of 135. Your job is to predict if the actual score will be lower or higher than the bookie’s prediction.
Prop Bets
Proposition bets are usually made just for fun. Punters hope to win, but don’t really expect to do so. You can place prop bets on events that may happen during a sporting event. For example, bettors can wager on which team will score first, which football player will be the first to make an interception or the length of the national anthem. You get the idea. Punters can even make proposition bets on events that are harder to predict. For example, in cricket betting USA, you can bet on whether they’ll be a wicket in the 15th over.
Parlay
Parlays bets combine a series of wagers on multiple games or events. This type of bet is more challenging to win, as every prediction on the bet slip should have a positive outcome. For example, if you predict that five NBA teams will all win their weekend games, getting four of them right is the same as losing all five. A lot of top sports betting sites, however, usually have promotions that may return your stake under such circumstances. As you may imagine, parlays have massive potential returns. Winnings from each leg of the bet automatically feed into the next leg. If that bet wins, the cumulative wins then go to the third leg and so forth.
Futures Betting
As their name suggests, futures bets are wagers on events that aren’t imminent. Examples of futures betting markets include the NBA Finals, MLB World Series, Super Bowl, and US Open Golf. The list goes on. US sports betting fans can make their selections while the regular season is underway, but better odds are available earlier in the season. That’s because the season usually has a lot of ups and downs. A key player in the league favorites may suffer an injury or an underdog team may prove to be a new force to reckon with. The odds on futures bets tend to be steeper, but the potential payouts are also significantly much larger.
Sports Betting Promotions and Bonuses
Did somebody say free money? We did, but don’t get too excited yet. The online gambling industry is very competitive, and bookies have to be innovative to gain an edge on the market. Most sports betting sites USA, therefore, offer their customers bonuses, free money, promotions, and VIP perks just for joining and betting on their platform. You would be making the same wagers that you planned on making anyway. However, US betting sites are not in the business of dishing out entirely free money. Our usbetting.xyz experts have loads of combined experience in the industry and will explain what each type of bonus means.
Free Bets
The best betting sites USA offer new customers free bets. While these free bets provide excellent value, they aren’t exactly what their name sells them out to be. Here’s what we mean. When US online gambling sites offer you a free bet, you’ll not receive real money to bet with. What you’ll get instead is a risk-free bet. If you get a free bet up to $50, you can expect to get a refund if your bet loses. The offer, however, only applies if you lose. And if you win? You’ll collect your winnings and continue betting as usual.
Reduced Juice
If you’re familiar with juice, vig, or vigorish, then you know it’s always a positive to reduce how much of it you pay. Simply put, juice refers to the fees that US gambling sites charge for facilitating bets. Reduced juice helps players get more on their wins and lose less on their losses. The standard point spread odds are -110, but with reduced vig, the line may become -105. This 50% reduction in fees may not make a lot of difference, but over time, it can have a significant impact on your overall returns.
Cash Back
A lot of online sports betting sites award their customers with a certain percentage of their losses as a cashback bonus. Usually, cashback bonuses range from 5-10% of your net losses per week or month. For example, if you wager a total of $100, win $20, and lose $50, your net loss would be $70. As such, a sports gambling platform with a 10% bonus will give you $7 as cashback. It may not seem like much, but it is money that you’d, otherwise, have lost. Depending on the specific bookie, you may receive the $7 in real cash or as a bonus.
Deposit and Reload Bonuses
Match deposit and reload bonuses are so common that they should have been on top of our list. As their names suggest, you receive the bonuses for making deposits. For example, top betting sites may offer new customers 100% of the first bonus as a bonus, up to $500. This means for every $1 you deposit, the bookie will credit your account with a $1 bonus. Deposit $500, and you’ll have $100 to bet with. Reload bonuses work the same way, but for existing customers. Reload bonuses also typically offer smaller percentages than welcome offers.
No Deposit Bonus
A no deposit bonus is a close cousin of the deposit and reload bonuses. But unlike deposit bonuses, where you have to fund your account to get the rewards, you simply register and get a bonus. You’ll usually find no deposit bonuses at new betting websites USA that are still trying to make a mark in the industry. The offers allow customers to have a feel of the online sportsbook USA without risk. No deposit bonuses are also usually smaller. Where you’d get a deposit bonus of up to $500, you can expect to get up to $50 as a no deposit bonus.
Event-Specific and Outcome Promotions
These promotions all amount to the same thing, so we lumped them together. Betting sites USA may usually offer free bets or bonuses for betting on specific sports, events, or tournaments. Betting websites usually use these bonuses to hype upcoming events that are likely to result in a surge in betting activity. Examples include Super Bowl insurance bets, NFL Acca promotions, and more. A bonus may also be available for downloading the sportsbook’s mobile platform, as well as making an accumulator, or futures bet. The list goes on.
Refer-A-Friend
If you’ve tried a few betting sites and identified the best ones, you may want to show a few of your friends where the best deals are. The best sports betting sites give their satisfied customers extra incentive to help grow the betting community on their platforms. As the name suggests Refer-A-Friend promotions reward existing customers for bringing in other punters. Usually, the new customer who’s been referred also gets an extra bonus. For example, when you refer a friend and they register and make a deposit, both you and your friend may receive a $50 bonus.
The Big Four Sports American Bettors Prefer
The major US professional sports leagues are the highest level of professional team sports competitions. Although individual sports, such as tennis, golf, and Formula 1 are also very popular, the term major leagues is typically limited to team sports. These sports are also more favored by online sports betting fans. These major professional sports leagues are the National Basketball Association or NBA, National Football League or NFL, Major League Baseball or MLB, and the National Hockey League or NHL. The leagues currently have between 30 and 32 teams, with each one having a massive fan base from a populous metropolitan home town.
Hockey – NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL) is the undisputed supreme ruler in the world of ice hockey. As the world’s leading ice hockey league, the NHL hosts the best players in the game. Young ice hockey players the world over dream of being part of the National Hockey League. Fans, on the other hand, throng the best gambling sites and place their bets on different outcomes. The NHL started with just four teams in 1917 in Canada and quickly expanded into the US. The league continued to grow throughout the 1990s and ended up with 30 powerful squads.
The recent addition of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 signified continued growth. Other ice hockey leagues with some popularity around the world, but nothing attracts the attention of fans and the best sports gambling sites like the NHL. A regular NHL season has each team playing 82 games, split into 41 home and 41 on-the-road games. The teams play for points, which will be used to rank them within their division. Teams with the highest points qualify for the play-offs and may eventually move to the cup finals. These games provide a massive range of sports betting USA opportunities for hockey punters.
Baseball – MLB
Baseball is traditionally referred to as the American national pastime. It was also the first US professional sport. Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of professional baseball competitions in the world. The league is made up of the American League (founded in 1901) and the National League (founded in 1876). In 1903, the two leagues merged and shared a single commissioner since 1920. The MLB currently has 30 teams—29 located in the US and 1 in Canada. What’s interesting is that teams from both sides of the merger still play using slightly different rules.
During the World Series and interleague play, the home team gets to play using rules from its own league. These details about the MLB make up for exciting matchups, creative tactics, and the best online sportsbook USA betting opportunities. Even the worst MLB teams typically win over 40 games every year. As such, punters can be on the right side of upsets and get cash in on good potential returns. The MLB also hosts the best baseball players, which allows sports betting sites to provide interesting prop bets based on player performances. Some of the most influential athletes in MLB history include Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron.
Basketball – NBA
Like all the other preceding leagues, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is by far the world’s most popular basketball league. The league is home to the game’s top talent and attracts millions of online betting USA fans. A lot of these punters watch and bet on NBA games on USA betting sites, especially when superstars like Anthony Davis, Steph Curry, and LeBron James, are on the court. Of course, punters from the rest of the world also enjoy the action and place bets now and then. As a result, NBA games are covered by almost all online sports betting sites in the world.
If you’d like to start betting on basketball games, you won’t have a shortage of betting platforms to wager on. Bettors will find virtually limitless markets on individual games. The best betting sites will also have futures and outrights. You’ll find many opportunities that aren’t present for other basketball competitions. Most US betting sites also offer in-play bets on every single NBA game. The mainstream nature of the NBA also means that punters typically receive promotions at online gambling sites USA. As bookies are trying to attract as many customers as possible to bet on upcoming NBA events, they offer wager insurances, reload bonuses, odds boosts, and all kinds of promotions.
Football – NFL
The National Football League (NFL) was established in 1920 as a combination of several leagues, including the Chicago circuit, Ohio League, and the New York Pro Football League. The NFL absorbed part of the All-America Football Conference in 1949, then merged with the American Football League in 1970. Today, the league has 32 teams, all based in the US. Football betting sites have also become increasingly popular over the last few years. As a result, fans can now bet on NFL games on almost all online sportsbooks. That, however, doesn’t mean you should register and start betting on the first website you find.
Punters may, therefore, ask, where can I bet on NFL games legally? Our guides and reviews on usbetting.xyz do a great job of showing new bettors how to start on the right foot by choosing the best online football betting sites. These sportsbooks provide the best odds, markets, bonuses, and banking options. Many US bettors are also confused by the current sports betting legal landscape.
If you’re wondering, is betting legal in USA, the answer depends on the state where you reside. States like Nevada, Michigan, and Colorado have already passed laws to legalize NFL gambling.
Sports Wagering Integrity Monitoring Association (SWIMA)
The Sports Wagering Integrity Monitoring Association (SWIMA) is a non-profit organization that was established in November 2018. The organization’s main objection is to discourage fraud and all forms of illegal activity in the online sports betting USA industry. SWIMA was founded by 11 members, which included online betting sites USA operators like Bet365, FanDuel, DraftKings, 888 Holdings, and William Hill. Casino operators like Hard Rock International, Golden Nugget Inc, Caesars Entertainment, and Tropicana Atlantic were also part of the founding group.
SWIMA currently has the support of 26 companies, including industry regulators and the police, all to protect the interests of online gambling USA fans. Such an organization is helpful to everyone who’s betting on sports, as it adds an extra level of protection and prevents any unethical behavior on events that you bet on. Bettors can, therefore, get even more benefits from betting at legal bookmakers, as illegal sports betting has no protection against rogue operators and scams.
For as long as the online betting industry has existed, bookies and punters have always found ways to cheat each other and create unfair outcomes. Such an issue becomes even more relevant when new states are getting added to the online betting USA legal industry. As sports sports bets already had a tainted image in most states, the last thing it needs is to be associated with fraud on both sides.
As many as 7 out of 10 American online sports betting fans are concerned about the safety of their bets. This makes SWIMA very beneficial to both bettors, online football betting, and casino operators. The organization maintains an upstanding image for betting online USA operators, which creates a path for further legalizations across the country. It also allows easier sharing of information between regulators from different states to pass along pertinent theft-prevention information and standardize player safety protocols.
Choosing the Best Online Sportsbook
We’ve covered some of the features that you’ll typically find at the best online sports betting. However, if such advice is what you were specifically looking for in this guide, then look no further. Regardless of which sport, market, or event you’re looking to bet on, most bettors want a high-quality betting experience. The first step to getting such an experience is being able to choose the best online betting sites. We can recommend a few, but at the end of the day, you should be able to spot excellent online sports betting sites from the ordinary ones. Here are some of the key points to consider.
Licensing
Let’s be honest. Even if an online sports betting site offers all the best services, if it’s not operating legally, it’s already doomed to fail. American punters should, therefore, always strive to bet on legal online sports betting platforms. Although for quite a long time, US bettors could only access sports betting opportunities at offshore bookies, things are changing.
Residents of several states can now access legal sport betting sites. You can always trust usbetting.xyz to stay on top of the situation and update bettors on recent developments and newly licensed sportsbooks.
Available Betting Options
This one should be pretty obvious. When you’re selecting the best US sportsbook for your requirements, you need to factor in which sports and markets you’ll want to bet on the most. The NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA are US favorites. Some bettors, however, prefer international sports, such as soccer bet USA and cricket betting in USA. The types of bets offered are equally as important as the selection of sports. Bet US sports book options like moneyline, point spread, and totals are just the basics. Once you get the hang of things, you’ll soon want to place teasers, futures, pleasers, and other more advanced bets. A betting exchange is always a plus, as it’s not always when bet online USA sites allow punters to play bookie.
User Experience
All too often, bettors open a US sports bet site, give it a once over, fail to figure out how to navigate, and close the tab. Even if a sportsbook has the best odds and bonuses, if customers can’t instantly find what they are looking for, they won’t stick around. The same can be said for a sports betting app or mobile site. The website loading speed is also another critical factor. Most sportsbooks have decent upload and download speeds, but you may occasionally encounter some very slow ones. The best betting websites are quick to load and make it as easy as possible for new users to get the layout and figure out how to use the features.
Betting on the Move
As mobile devices become more powerful and the internet becomes faster, more punters prefer to place their bets on the move. You can follow live games, place bets, and request payouts using sports betting apps. The best sports betting app even allows punters to contact customer support and receive push notifications when certain events occur. Most bookies allow mobile betting online via HTML5 mobile web apps. These work excellent, but it’s even better if a bookie has an app that you can download on the Google Play Store or Apple Store.
Banking options
The best sportsbooks almost always greet new players with generous welcome offers. However, most times you have to fund your account before you can place your first sports bet. You’ll also want to receive your winnings in the least possible time if you manage to win. For these reasons, you’ll want to online sports gamble on websites that have a wide range of banking options. Most soccer betting USA sites offer payment options such as MasterCard, American Express, Visa, Wire Transfer, Skrill, and PayPal. You may also want to shop around for bookies that don’t charge transaction processing fees. These charges may seem insignificant, but typically add up over time and chew a significant amount of your bankroll.
