Sports Betting Glossary

Betting Straight Up – Winning straight-up means simply winning on the scoreboard without any regard to the point spread. Betting straight-up would be to take a side or a team and bet on them to win outright.

ATS or “Against the Spread,” – Betting with a point spread or line instead of on the straight-up result. Taking points on an underdog or giving points on a favorite.

Side – Like betting straight-up, a side bet is a wager on a particular team, or side to win a contest.

Betting the totals/over/under – The line on a given contest, representing the combined number of points/goals scored by the two teams; see over/under. Betting the over/under is a bet on whether the combined total of the points or goals scored by the two teams will exceed or be less than a specified number.

Half time total – Betting on a team or total in the first half of the game only.

Parlays – A parlay bet is a bet with two or more teams where all the teams must win for the bettor to be successful. Parlays are viewed by sharp gamblers as a sucker bet because the house edge (juice) is large.

Teaser – A bet on two or more teams where the line on each team is adjusted in the favor of the bettor. All bets must win in order to win a teaser.

Betting the “Money Line,” – The amount you must bet to win $100 (if betting a favorite), or the amount you win if you bet $100 (if betting an underdog). This is a bet based on the straight-up result of the game without a spread.

Betting the “Puckline,” – Used only in hockey. A “spread” usually set at exactly 1.5 goals. Favorites lay -1.5 goals while underdogs “get” +1.5 goals.

Now that we have covered the betting basics, we can breakdown some of the “exotics,” or “promotional,” bets.

Promos/exotics – Any wager other than a straight bet or parlay – also called a prop or proposition.

Betting “futures,” – Wagers made, or lines/odds posted on an event or outcome taking place some time in the future, like betting during the season on the eventual Super Bowl winner.