Round betting is a type of betting where wagers are placed around a series of bets rather than on a single outcome. The betting is structured such that wagers are placed on a series of events that could occur rather than on the outcome of a single event. The term “round” comes from the format used in horse races where bets are placed on a single horse at the end of each quarter of a race. If a horse finishes first, second, or third in each of the three rounds, the bettor wins. There are three other types of betting, fixed odds betting, place betting, and lay betting which are discussed below.
Fixed Odds
In fixed odds betting, the odds of an outcome are fixed and do not change during the game. This makes it easy for bettors since they do not have to calculate odds every time they place a wager. For example, a bettor might place a ten dollar wager on Arsenal to win the match between Newcastle United and Arsenal. The odds of this particular wager will not change during the game and the bettor knows exactly how much they have to wager in order to win the bet. Fixed odds betting is sometimes referred to as straight betting or outcome betting because the odds of an outcome are known in advance. Sometimes fixed odds betting is used in conjunction with fractional odds where the odds of an outcome can change after the wager is placed. For example, if a bettor placed a five dollar wager on Liverpool to win the England versus Scotland match at 3:00 pm on March 21st and Scotland defeated England by a score of 3-2, the bettor’s five dollar wager would be deducted from his account since the odds of winning shifted in favor of Scotland after he placed the wager.
Place
Place betting is used when there is no specific event or outcome to wager on. A place bet is simply a wager on where a certain outcome will occur. For example, a bettor might place a five dollar wager on England to win the 1966 World Cup since there is no specific outcome to bet on (e.g. a goal or a point to earn). Place betting can be done over a series of events or outcomes or over a single event or outcome.
Although there is no specific event or outcome for a place bet, there are still predefined odds for each possible outcome. For example, if a bettor has placed a five dollar wager on England to win the World Cup, they have to wager fifteen dollars ($15) to win their bet since England is 3-to-2 against in the World Cup. If England did, in fact, win the World Cup, the five dollar ($5) wager would be paid out with a 3X return since it was wagered on England to win the Cup and they did. If England did not win the World Cup, the bettor would lose their five dollars since it was not placed on an event that occurred (win or lose).
Lay
A lay bet is where the bettor does not want to reveal their hand until the game ends. In a lay bet, the bettor places a wager on the outcome of an event that will occur before the end of the game. For example, if a baseball player bets odds on the game’s result before the eighth inning, they are placing a lay bet. The player does not want to reveal whether they are betting on the Yankees or the Red Sox so they cover their bet with another bet (e.g. the 7-to-2 bet on the Red Sox). If the Red Sox win the game, the lay bettor will win their original seven dollars ($7) since they were betting on the Red Sox to win the game (and they did). If the Yankees win the game, the Red Sox bettor will win eighteen dollars ($18) since they were betting on the Yankees to win the game and they did. However, if the Red Sox and the Yankees each win one game, the Red Sox bettor will only win the original seven dollars ($7) since they did not reveal their true feelings about who would win the series in advance (i.e. they were betting on both teams to win).
Round
Round betting is where wagers are placed on a series of events that could occur rather than on the outcome of a single event. For example, suppose a football fan has placed a five dollar chip on Manchester United to win the next match between Manchester United and Arsenal. The fan has backed their horse since they think its strong chance of winning makes it a good investment. However, when it comes to the actual match, United loses 4-0 and the fan loses their money since their horse did not win any matches during the round.
There are three other types of betting which are discussed below.