The term ‘spread’ refers to the amount of money that you’re wagering on an outcome. When you bet on sports, your spread is usually the amount you wager on the winning team. For example, if you put $100 on the New York Yankees and they win, you’ll earn $200 (2×$100). Conversely, if the Yankees lose, you’ll lose your $100. Your profit or loss is determined by the size of your spread.
Nowadays, the spread on betting is usually very slim. When betting on sports, you’ll usually find yourself at odds of almost 2-to-1 or greater. Furthermore, most sportsbooks will list the over/under spread along with the favourite/against line. This makes it much easier for bettors to find the value of betting on sports.
Why Are Odds Usually So High?
The main reason that odds are usually very, very high is simply because there are so few sportsbooks that offer legitimate odds on a particular game. If you look at the list of top-rated sportsbooks on Google Play or the App Store, you’ll notice that most of them are American books with limited offerings that cater to American sports fans. Furthermore, most of these books only offer odds on a handful of sports.
With so few options for people to bet on, the price of a single wager is usually very, very high because there aren’t that many takers. If you want to place a bet on a game that has larger odds, you’ll have to do so at an English book or one that offers odds on lots of sports.
How Does the Spread Work?
The spread works in a similar way to the over/under line on a lay bet, except with sports betting, your spread is predetermined. This means that the bookmaker knows how much you’re willing to wager on a certain side, and then creates the odds to tempt you into placing a wager. Your task is to pick the winner of the sporting event, not to maximize your winnings or minimize your losses as you would with a lay bet. Since the spread is predetermined, the bookmaker removes the emotion from the equation when setting the odds. This makes it easier for both sides to have a level playing field and honest lines. In most cases, you’ll find that the favorites are the overwhelming favourite, making it very, very hard to beat the spread.
To get an idea of how the spread system works, let’s go back to our example above and say the Yankees are the 2.5-to-1 underdogs. This means that the bookmaker is offering 2.5 points above the odds of winning for the Yankees. In this case, if the Yankees win, your profit will be 2.5×$100, which could be $250 or more. Conversely, if the Yankees lose, your loss will be $100 with no bonus for trying.
As you can see, the spread really does make betting on games a lot easier because there aren’t any hidden agendas or tricks. It also means that you don’t have to do any research to find out the outcome of a game. If you want to bet on the New York Yankees, all you need to do is research the odds and choose whether you want to bet on them to win or lose. This removes the guesswork and reduces the number of incorrect results that come from using a free odds calculator.
The Value Of The Spread
As you’d expect from the information above, the spread has great value proposition because it removes the guesswork involved in betting games. Because the spread is set and there aren’t any tricks or gimmicks involved, it makes it easy to value wagers and determine whether you’re winning or losing. This value is multiplied by the fact that most sportsbooks only offer a very small spread, if any, which makes it difficult for people to place large bets.
A good example of this is the NBA Finals. The Golden State Warriors are favoured to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals, but the spread is so small that most people aren’t willing to risk that much on a single bet. In some instances, the spread can be as small as 2 or 3 points, which makes it very difficult to place winning wagers. In these cases, online sportsbooks that offer a larger spread can prove beneficial for bettors.
Where Do I Place My Bet?
It’s important to remember that, even though the spread is predetermined, this doesn’t mean that you have to place your bet at the same spot as the favorite. If you look at our example above, the Yankee’s are the 2.5-to-1 underdogs. In this case, if you want to bet on the Yankees, you’ll need to do so at a sportsbook that offers this game. As we’ve established, most books don’t offer odds on the Yankees, which means you’ll have to search for a different game.
If you want to bet against the Yankees, you’ll also need to look for a different book. One thing to keep in mind is that, because the spread is set, the odds won’t change at the end of the game once the final whistle blows. In this situation, you could try your luck at a different book or bookmaker that offers the same game, but at different odds.
The Biggest Winners And Losers
Since the majority of sportsbooks only offer a small spread, it’s rare for anyone to win a large amount of money from gambling on games. To put this in perspective, between 2010 and 2016, less than 200 people have won more than $100,000 playing sports. This is equivalent to winning the Mega Millions jackpot five times in a row, which is extremely rare.
On the other hand, in the 16 years between 1994 and 2010, more than 50,000 people won more than $100,000 playing sports. This means that anyone can theoretically win large if they bet the right way and play a winning game, but the house edge makes this extremely unlikely. To give you some perspective on how unlikely it is to win big, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 175,000,000. This means that it would take you nearly 200 years to win the jackpot with a single ticket.
How To Place A Winning Bet
To place a winning bet on the Yankees, you’ll need to do so at a sportsbook that offers this game. Since they’re the 2.5-to-1 underdogs in our example and that’s the largest spread that this book offers, this means you’ll need to wager at least $250 to win $100. In most cases, betting on the underdogs is a good idea because the bookmakers take this into consideration when setting the odds and will give you the biggest benefit.
Once you’ve found the game that you want to bet on, look for a sportsbook that offers the spread you want to use in conjunction with your wager. For example, if you want to bet on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018 NBA Finals, you’ll need to look for a sportsbook that offers 3 points or more.
The Rarest And Most Valuable Wins
In most cases, if you want to win big, you’ll need to look for the rarest and most valuable win that can be applied to your betting. In the category of rarest wins, you’ll need to look at the NFL season and the MLB season. In the case of the NFL season, there are only 16 games per season where the spread is 3 points or more, which makes it very difficult to win big with this method. This is multiplied by the fact that there are 16 games per season and only one winner per team.
In the case of the MLB, almost all of the games have 5.5 points or more as the spread, which makes it very difficult to win large. Furthermore, the MLB season is much longer, so you’ll need to wait until the end of the season to make winning wagers.
Some Final Thoughts
Before we wrap up, it’s important to remind you that this article is just an overview of what the spread is and how it works. The truth is that there are a lot more to it than what is covered here. This is a complicated subject and it’s a good idea to research it further if you’re interested in betting on sports.