How Live Betting Works for Sports – 2024 Beginners Guide

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Before, in order to bet on your favorite sport, you had to go to the nearest bookmaker, fill out a ticket and pay a certain amount of money. Over time, as everything became available online, so did gambling. Live betting involves placing bets on sports events at the time they’re held. The rules are simple and similar to the traditional ones – only in this case you have some additional options.

Countless sports betting providers on the Internet allow you to place a bet on various world events, including basketball, football, formula racing, horseback riding, or anything available option that comes to your mind. Besides, you can invest money in every imaginable event that could happen during the game. For example, you can predict which player will score the first goal or which result will be at half the time. Place your bets in fanduel.com, an amazing site that offers different sports to bet.

There are several possibilities at your disposal, and it’s up to you to evaluate the outcome and the result as it will depend on whether you win or lose. You’ll find this and everything else you should know as a beginner in our guide. Let’s take a look together at the points you should pay attention to in case you want to experience these games for the first time.

About favorites and underdogs

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One of the first steps that bettors take after actually deciding to bet on a game is choosing favorites and underdogs. A favorite, as you can logically conclude, is the team that’s considered the most likely to win the game. Next to the odds for this team there will be a minus sign (-). On the other hand, the team that represents an underdog is expected to lose the game and there will be a plus sign (+) next to the odds.

Of course, the team deserves the title of favorite based on the previously achieved results. If you are already familiar with all these facts, it means that you’re following these events actively, but if that isn’t the case, we advise you not to start before you’re well informed about everything.

Spread points

The first way to bet, when we talk about favorites and underdogs, is to spread points. If you invest in a team that’s expected to win, and, let’s say, they’re favorites with 6 points (-6), they must win at least one point more to get a bet. If they win exactly 6 points, you get back the amount of money you invested, and if they win 5 points or less, you lose money.

On the other hand, if you have invested in a team that has points in the plus, they need to win at least 1 pointless to get a bet. This method is available for different sports, but players opt for it when they follow some of the sports that achieve better results, such as basketball.

Moneylines

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This is the name for another betting method based solely on which team will win the match. Favorites are marked with -200 or -500 or some other number with a minus in front. These odds represent the amount of risk. If they win, you win a half of the amount, but if the team loses, you lose the entire sum.

In the case of underdogs, the situation is reversed. The money you invest in their victory will be doubled if the outcome is a victory. Yet, if they lose, you lose only as much as you invested. Of course, since they aren’t expected to win, the risk and the rewards are higher. This type of betting is used in lower rating sports such as hockey.

Totals

We can’t go without mentioning this way of betting on sports matches, in addition to those that refer exclusively to favorites and underdogs. ‘Total’ means the total number of points that the teams scored together during the match. Bettors can try to predict whether this number will increase or decrease.

The rules are rather simple. If the total number of points scored is 300, you can bet that at the end of the game the total number of points won will be higher or lower. If you guess what the end result is, you get the money – otherwise, you lose.

Making sure this is legal in your country

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Maybe this step should be the first though, but it doesn’t hurt to mention it here anyway. Don’t get involved before you find out if this activity is legalized in your country. The legalization of sports betting is spreading around the world and you certainly have more opportunities than ever – all you need to do is do some research and get informed, preferably online.

Some countries that stand out for legalization and wagering via mobile devices are West Virginia, Colorado, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The best sportsbooks online are legally reliable. Also, sbo360 emphasizes the importance of a good financial base, speed, and reliability of the online platform you access when wagering, as they’re also following this ideology.

How much should you bet?

We can’t give you an answer to the question about the specific amount of money you should bet with each time, as you need to decide on your own. Yet, considering the fact that there’ll probably be ups and downs, or lucky days and those that will be less lucky for you, it’d be best not to risk more than how much you would be willing to lose. This is a golden rule that you should always keep in mind.

It’s advisable to risk only 1-5% of your bankroll in each match. With precautions like these, you’ll prevent yourself from going bankrupt and getting into huge problems.

Moving lines

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The sports betting market is volatile and the odds situation is changing from hour to hour. During the day, they adjust depending on the changes that are happening, as well as on some news that affects the possible end result. These include information about player injuries or changes in weather conditions. Also, the odds can be increased depending on whether the vast majority of bets are on a particular team.

You can follow all these changes online, through websites and mobile applications and thus be up to date with the current situation, as it will probably never be the same as the previous time you checked.

Have you understood the basics? If so, now you’re ready to enter the world of live sports betting. With smart and meaningful moves you can make the biggest earnings in your life, while making bad decisions can cost you that much, as well. Everything’s relative –  and it’s up to you to decide whether you’ll go up or down. Good luck!