How Betting Works: Odds, Bet Types and Where To Bet Online

BetOnIt.org is an independent guide to betting on sports, entertainment, politics and more. We explain how odds and betting markets work, the different types of bets you can make, and the options available for betting online, whether it’s your first wager or you’re trying to understand a new market.

Our guides cover the biggest leagues and events, from the NFL and NBA to the Super Bowl, World Cup and Kentucky Derby, along with beginner guides to reading betting lines, managing a bankroll and understanding sportsbook bonuses. Below you’ll find a quick introduction to how betting works, the different ways you can bet online, and links to our most popular guides.

How Betting Works

Reading The Odds

Betting odds tell you two things: how likely an outcome is, and how much you’ll win if it happens. In the US, odds are usually shown in American format. A favorite has a minus sign, such as -150, which means you’d risk $150 to win $100. An underdog has a plus sign, such as +150, which means a $100 bet would win $150. Our guide to understanding betting odds covers American, decimal and fractional odds in detail.

The Most Common Bets

  • Money Line – A bet on which team or player will win.
  • Point Spread – The favorite must win by more than a set number of points, while the underdog can lose by less than that number and still cover. In hockey and baseball, this is called the puck line or run line.
  • Total (Over/Under) – A bet on whether the combined score will be over or under a set number.
  • Props – Bets on specific events within a game, such as a player’s passing yards or who scores first.
  • Futures – Bets on outcomes decided later in a season, such as the Super Bowl or World Series winner. Learn more in our futures betting guide.

Fixed Odds vs Pari-Mutuel Betting

Most sports bets use fixed odds, so your price is locked in when you place the bet. Horse racing usually uses the pari-mutuel system instead, where all bets go into a shared pool and the payout depends on how much was bet on each horse, so the odds can keep changing until the race starts.

Where Can You Bet Online?

There are several types of platforms for betting online, and which ones are available to you depends on where you are:

  • Licensed sportsbooks offer the full range of sports bets in the states and provinces where they’re licensed.
  • Prediction markets let you buy and sell contracts on the outcome of games and events, trading with other users rather than betting against a sportsbook.
  • Daily fantasy sports apps let you pick players and compete based on their stats rather than betting on game results.
  • Online horse racing sites take pari-mutuel bets on races from tracks across the country.

Our USA sports betting guide explains which options are available where, along with our guides for California and Texas.

Popular Betting Guides

Our guides to the biggest leagues and events cover the schedule, recent results and how the most popular bets work:

Our Latest Articles

What Can You Bet On?

Sports

Sports betting is by far the most popular form of betting. From the Super Bowl to the World Cup to the Kentucky Derby, there’s a betting market for virtually every major sporting event, along with season-long futures and player props. Some of our most popular sports betting guides:

View all sports betting guides

Television and Award Shows

Entertainment betting has grown significantly in recent years, with markets on award shows like the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes, covering categories such as Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress. Check out our betting blog for the latest entertainment betting guides.

Politics

Political betting attracts some of the largest novelty markets in the world, on events like the US Presidential Election and Canadian Federal Election, and prediction markets have made election contracts especially popular. See our guide to betting on US elections for more.

Poker

Betting on poker can mean two different things: wagering on the outcome of major tournaments like the World Series of Poker as a spectator, or playing poker yourself for real money. Our poker page covers more.

Casino Games

Our casino games section explains how popular games like blackjack, roulette and slots work, and the odds behind them.

New To Betting?

If you’re just getting started, our betting guide covers everything you need to know before placing your first bet, including how sportsbook bonuses work, how to manage your bankroll, how live in-play betting works, and general betting tips.

Betting should be entertainment, not a way to make money. Set a budget before you start and stick to it. If betting stops being fun, help is available 24/7 by calling 1-800-GAMBLER.