- Apr 30, 2019 Sports betting lingo can be confusing, especially those new to the industry. The glossary below contains many of the most commonly-used terms, concepts and strategies that you will see on this site and across sports betting as a whole.
- What does 'spread' mean as a sports betting term? An abbreviation for ' point spread ' or another term for ' line.' The 'spread' is the betting line or odds used to determine the parameters for.
May 14, 2020 Simply put, covering the spread is the goal of every bettor who has placed a point spread bet. This SI Gambling 101 feature explains what it takes to cover the spread. What is a Point Spread?
Action: Having a wager on a game.
ATS ('against the [point] spread'): If a team is 5-2 ATS, it means it has a 5-2 record against the point spread, or more commonly referred to simply as the 'spread.'
Backdoor cover: When a team scores points at the end of a game to cover the spread unexpectedly.
Bad beat: Losing a bet you should have won. It's especially used when the betting result is decided late in the game to change the side that covers the spread. Also used in poker, such as when a player way ahead in the expected win percentage loses on the river (last card).
Beard: Someone who places a wager for another person (aka 'runner').
Book: Short for sportsbook or bookmaker; person or establishment that takes bets from customers.
Bookie: A person who accepts bets illegally and charges vig.
Buying points: Some bookies or sportsbooks will allow customers to alter the set line and then adjust odds. For example, a bettor might decide he wants to have his team as a 3-point underdog instead of the set line of 2.5. He has then 'bought' half a point, and the odds of his bet will be changed. Portugal gambling regulator of co2.
Chalk: The favorite in the game. People said to be 'chalk' bettors typically bet the favorite.
Circle game: A game for which the betting limits are lowered, usually because of injuries and/or weather.
Closing line: The final line before the game or event begins.
Consensus pick: Derived from data accumulated from a variety of sportsbooks in PickCenter. The pick, and its percentage, provides insight as to what side the public is taking in a game.
Cover: The betting result on a point-spread wager. For a favorite to cover, it has to win by more than the spread; an underdog covers by winning outright or losing by less than the spread.
Dime: Jargon for a $1,000 bet. If you bet 'three dimes,' that means a $3,000 wager.
'Dog: Short for underdog.
Dollar: Jargon for a $100 bet. Usually used with bookies; if you bet 'five dollars,' that means a $500 wager.
Edge: An advantage. Sports bettors might feel they have an edge on a book if they think its lines aren't accurate.
Even money: Odds that are considered 50-50. You put up $1 to win $1.
Exotic: Any wager other than a straight bet or parlay; can also be called a 'prop' or 'proposition wager.'
Favorite: The expected straight-up winner in a game or event. Depending on the sport, the favorite will lay either odds or points. For example, in a football game, if a team is a 2.5-point favorite, it will have to win by three points or more to be an ATS winner.
Fixed: A participant in a particular game who alters the result of that game or match to a completely or partially predetermined result. The participant did not play honestly or fairly because of an undue outside influence.
Futures bet: A long-term wager that typically relates to a team's season-long success. Common futures bets include betting a team to win a championship at the outset of a season, or betting whether the team will win or lose more games than a set line at the start of the season.
Halftime bet: A bet made after the first half ended and before the second half begins (football and basketball primarily). The oddsmaker generally starts with half of the game side/total and adjusts based on what happened in the first half.
Handicapper: A person trying to predict the winners of an event.
Handle: The amount of money taken by a book on an event or the total amount of money wagered.
Hedging: Betting the opposing side of your original bet, to either ensure some profit or minimize potential loss. This is typically done with futures bets, but can also be done on individual games with halftime bets or in-game wagering.
High roller: A high-stakes gambler.
Hook: A half-point. If a team is a 7.5-point favorite, it is said to be 'laying seven and a hook.' Seven feathers casino oregon jobs.
In-game wagering: A service offered by books in which bettors can place multiple bets in real time, as the game is occurring.
Juice: The commission the bookie or bookmaker takes. Standard is 10 percent. Also called the 'vig/vigorish.'
Layoff: Money bet by a sportsbook with another sportsbook or bookmaker to reduce that book's liability.
Limit: The maximum bet taken by a book. If a book has a $10,000 limit, it'll take that bet but the book will then decide whether it's going to adjust the line before the bettor can bet again.
Lock: A guaranteed win in the eyes of the person who made the wager.
Middle: When a line moves, a bettor can try to 'middle' a wager and win both sides with minimal risk. Suppose a bettor bets one team as a 2.5-point favorite, then the line moves to 3.5 points. She can then bet the opposite team at 3.5 and hope the favorite wins by three points. She would then win both sides of the bet.
Money line (noun), money-line (modifier): A bet in which your team only needs to win. The point spread is replaced by odds.
Mush: A bettor or gambler who is considered to be bad luck.
Spread Gambling Term Stocks
Nickel: Jargon for a $500 bet. Usually used with bookies; if you bet 'a nickel,' that means a $500 wager.
Oddsmaker (also linemaker): The person who sets the odds. Some people use it synonymous with 'bookmaker' and often the same person will perform the role at a given book, but it can be separate if the oddsmaker is just setting the lines for the people who will eventually book the bets.
Off the board: When a book or bookie has taken a bet down and is no longer accepting action or wagers on the game. This can happen if there is a late injury or some uncertainty regarding who will be participating.
Over/under: A term that can be used to describe the total combined points in a game (the Ravens-Steelers over/under is 40 points) or the number of games a team will win in a season (the Broncos' over/under win total is 11.5). Also used in prop bets.
Parlay: A wager in which multiple teams are bet, either against the spread or on the money line. For the wager to win (or pay out), all of them must cover/win. The more teams you bet, the greater the odds.
Pick 'em: A game with no favorite or underdog. The point spread is zero, and the winner of the game is also the spread winner.
Point spread (or just 'spread'): The number of points by which the supposed better team is favored over the underdog.
Proposition (or prop) bet: A special or exotic wager that's not normally on the betting board, such as which team will score first or how many yards a player will gain. Sometimes called a 'game within a game.' These are especially popular on major events, with the Super Bowl being the ultimate prop betting event.
Push: When a result lands on the betting number and all wagers are refunded. For example, a 3-point favorite wins by exactly three points. Return on investment (ROI): In PickCenter, ROI is the amount (according to numberFire) that a bettor should expect to get back on a spread pick.
Juice: The commission the bookie or bookmaker takes. Standard is 10 percent. Also called the 'vig/vigorish.'
Layoff: Money bet by a sportsbook with another sportsbook or bookmaker to reduce that book's liability.
Limit: The maximum bet taken by a book. If a book has a $10,000 limit, it'll take that bet but the book will then decide whether it's going to adjust the line before the bettor can bet again.
Lock: A guaranteed win in the eyes of the person who made the wager.
Middle: When a line moves, a bettor can try to 'middle' a wager and win both sides with minimal risk. Suppose a bettor bets one team as a 2.5-point favorite, then the line moves to 3.5 points. She can then bet the opposite team at 3.5 and hope the favorite wins by three points. She would then win both sides of the bet.
Money line (noun), money-line (modifier): A bet in which your team only needs to win. The point spread is replaced by odds.
Mush: A bettor or gambler who is considered to be bad luck.
Spread Gambling Term Stocks
Nickel: Jargon for a $500 bet. Usually used with bookies; if you bet 'a nickel,' that means a $500 wager.
Oddsmaker (also linemaker): The person who sets the odds. Some people use it synonymous with 'bookmaker' and often the same person will perform the role at a given book, but it can be separate if the oddsmaker is just setting the lines for the people who will eventually book the bets.
Off the board: When a book or bookie has taken a bet down and is no longer accepting action or wagers on the game. This can happen if there is a late injury or some uncertainty regarding who will be participating.
Over/under: A term that can be used to describe the total combined points in a game (the Ravens-Steelers over/under is 40 points) or the number of games a team will win in a season (the Broncos' over/under win total is 11.5). Also used in prop bets.
Parlay: A wager in which multiple teams are bet, either against the spread or on the money line. For the wager to win (or pay out), all of them must cover/win. The more teams you bet, the greater the odds.
Pick 'em: A game with no favorite or underdog. The point spread is zero, and the winner of the game is also the spread winner.
Point spread (or just 'spread'): The number of points by which the supposed better team is favored over the underdog.
Proposition (or prop) bet: A special or exotic wager that's not normally on the betting board, such as which team will score first or how many yards a player will gain. Sometimes called a 'game within a game.' These are especially popular on major events, with the Super Bowl being the ultimate prop betting event.
Push: When a result lands on the betting number and all wagers are refunded. For example, a 3-point favorite wins by exactly three points. Return on investment (ROI): In PickCenter, ROI is the amount (according to numberFire) that a bettor should expect to get back on a spread pick.
Runner: Someone who makes bets for another person (aka 'beard').
Sharp: A professional, sophisticated sports bettor.
Spread: Short for point spread.
Square: A casual gambler. Someone who typically isn't using sophisticated reasoning to make a wager.
Steam: When a line is moving unusually fast. It can be a result of a group or syndicate of bettors all getting their bets in at the same time. It can also occur when a respected handicapper gives a bet his followers all jump on, or based on people reacting to news such as an injury or weather conditions.
Straight up: The expected outright winner of the money line in an event or game, not contingent on the point spread.
Teaser: Betting multiple teams and adjusting the point spread in all the games in the bettor's favor. All games have to be picked correctly to win the wager.
Total: The perceived expected point, run or goal total in a game. For example, in a football game, if the total is 41 points, bettors can bet 'over' or 'under' on that perceived total.
Tout (service): a person (or group of people) who either sells or gives away picks on games or events.
Underdog: The team that is expected to lose straight up. You can either bet that the team will lose by less than the predicted amount (ATS), or get better than even-money odds that it will win the game outright. For example, if a team is a 2-1 underdog, you can bet $100 that the team will win. If it wins, you win $200 plus receive your original $100 wager back.
Vig/vigorish: The commission the bookie or bookmaker takes; also called the 'juice.' Standard is 10 percent.
Wager: A bet.
Welch: To not pay off a losing bet.
Wiseguy: A professional bettor. Another term for a 'sharp.'
Spread betting is particularly suited to short-term trading as it offers the ability to deal in and out of stocks in small sizes in a cost-efficient way where the leverage serves to magnify the potential return on capital. You spot a market opportunity, you open a spread bet trade, and then get out within a few hours or days, hopefully for a profit. Interestingly, there is even an old market adage that says that a long-term position is simply a short-term one that went wrong (and to some extent this is true).
However, in some cases it can make sense to use spread bets for holding a position over several weeks or even months. In fact recent data from IG Index showed that one in five spread traders would prefer to be longer-term traders as they don't use daily bets. This is particularly evident from bets on individual share bets where clients tend to have a longer-term view, which could be as much as weeks, months or, in some cases, even years. And of course there are future contracts which you can spread bet on if you have a longer-term time horizon for a trade and you can purchase contracts that are up to 9 months in advance. Indeed, even with rolling daily contracts, given the prevailing very low interest rates it is often advantageous to hold positions for longer periods but do keep in mind that you are paying daily financing interest (which at prevailing interest rates sums up to around 5% if holding a position for a year). In this respect longer-term trading has never been so cheap or more attractive but do keep in mind that this could change if rates were to start heading back to their long-term averages.
Most traders use spread betting for holding short to medium-term contracts as the spreads are very tight for rolling contracts. Another reason that most traders prefer to take shorter-term punts could be the leverage, which magnifies losses if the trade goes against you and makes it more difficult to run trades without having a very wide stop loss. Having said it was David Jones of IG Index himself who was quoted saying that the spreadbetters who hold their positions longest make the most profit. In practice, the timeframes spread bets are normally left open ranges from a minute by minute basis to a quarterly basis.
'Bulls tends to hold longer term positions while those who go short do so for only a few days, perhaps hitting a stock that has or is expected to issue a profit warning. With interest rates so low, it is quite cheap to hold a longer-term position. However, if you intend to hold positions over for the long-term, then you have to accept that a trade may go against you for long periods of time so you have to use larger stops or take on smaller trade sizes. It is also prudent to deposit more margin funds in your account than is required so as not to make full use of the leverage on offer.'
Indeed unlike options or warrants most spread bets can be rolled over indefinitely if you want to maintain the position, assuming you keep sufficient funds in your account to avoid any margin calls. I'd also say that because of low interest rates, it is quite cost-effective for medium-term traders to use rolling daily bets while quarterly contracts are more suited for running long term positions as these have the financing already built into the price quoted. When trading longer time-frames it is somewhat easier – less activity to monitor and record and less need to having to keep a constant eye on the markets. Note also that when trading long term positions it is important to give the market more space to move around (i.e. set wider stops) without knocking your trades on normal day-to-day market volatility.
Beware however that short-term spread betting requires that you are able to react swiftly to market movements as a few points can make a whole difference between a profit and a loss. For this reason, unless you have constant access, it may well be worth evaluating more medium to long-term trading timeframes. The thing is that spreads won't be that much of a problem if you look to trade decent moves but if short term/day trading the spread will slowly eat your account till your money becomes the broker's money. For a short-term trader apart from a trading platform, the pressure of having to frequently check the screen and being continually on the alert can easily lead to spread betting mistakes and indecision.
Whether you trade short term or long term depends to a certain extent on your trading personality and on the time that you have available for trading. If you have a 9 to 5 full-time job and can only trade for an hour at the end of the day, then swing trading might be easier for you as you are then able to take advantage of medium-term trends in the markets.
I've concluded that if holding for say 3 months+ then its more cost effective to use futures, and these can still be rolled over when they expire. However, one thing to keep in mind is that there is also time decay on quarterly bets. They are future bets and over time the price (not spread) decays towards the market price, making another expense that nobody really sees although I still think they have a useful place.
Spread Gambling Terms
In the past the typical spread better used to male, of about 40 years of age coming from a professional background i.e. mass affluent. However, I'm not sure if this description still applies today. In practice, I'd say that spread betting investors make up a mix of traditional, long-only private investors looking to hedge some short-term downside exposure by running short positions against their equity holdings; and pure speculators looking to make short-term trades using spread betting. So while spread bets may not be the ideal vehicle for the long term buy-and-hold investing, it definitely has a place in any investor's portfolio given the product's flexibility. In fact, some investors use spreadbets for hedging purposes or to help with portfolio diversification.
Spread Gambling Term Losses
Ultimately, the most important thing when trading over longer timeframes isn't to do with interest rates. The important thing is to trade the way that suits you. The bottom line is that the profits will come from being correct in your view. This means you need the price to move strongly in your favour over the period.
Spread Gambling Term Capital Gains
'Running trades over longer periods requires a different approach – traders will often use quarterly contracts instead of rolling daily bets in order to control the cost of financing. Additionally, when trading on longer term scales, stops losses need to be placed further away than for shorter-term positions. This contrasts with short-term trading where you need to be ready to re-evaluate your view if the facts change, or face needlessly painful losses.'
