Sports Bet Types

Money line Draw no bet Totals over/under Futures markets for tournament or season winner

Points spread and Asian handicaps have their own page.

Money line

It is simply betting on the outcome of a game. Will the home team win or will the away team win? Some sports also offer the option of a draw, which is sometimes referred to as a 3-way, or 1X2.

Money line, also called:

• Head-to-head
• Match odds
• Result
• Winner
• 2-way (if a draw is not possible)
• 3-way (if a draw is possible)
• 1×2

Draw no bet

A draw-no-bet market is betting on the result of a game by choosing which team will win. A draw means the bet is canceled and your stake is refunded.

Draw no bet is a popular option for games where draws are common, like

• soccer
• cricket

This bet type is occasionally offered in baseball (specifically for the First 5 Innings market) or in international basketball leagues where games can end in a tie during regular-season play before overtime rules apply.

As for basketball, in the MLB, games cannot end in a tie, but in the NPB (Japanese League) and KBO (Korean League), games can and do end in ties after 12 innings. Sportsbooks frequently offer DNB or 3-way lines for these leagues.

Totals over/under

Totals over/under (sometimes written as “+/-“) are betting whether the total amount of points scored in a game will be over or under a given number. For example, in an NBA game, will there be over 191.5 points scored or under 191.5 points scored?

This can be an exciting bet because it keeps the interest going right till the end of the game, even if the game is not close.

You will normally be betting over or under a number of points with a .5, called a “hook”. This is to eliminate the possibility of a draw.

If a sportsbook took bets on over or under 191 points being scored, and exactly 191 points were scored, they would have to refund all the bets; this is called a “push”. But there can never be 191.5 points scored, so points totals with a hook can never end in a draw.

When the over/under total points number represents the market’s view of exactly how many points will be scored, the odds are 50:50 or pick’em. That is to say, the same for over as for under, for example

The same bet type can work for over/under anything you can count, not just the score. For example, will there be over or under 4.5 quarterback sacks in an NFL game?

Futures markets for tournament or season-winner

Futures refer to betting on the overall winner of a season or tournament. New bettors are attracted to these markets because they provide interest for the duration of the season. People think there would be less variance because, although the best team can lose on any given day, over the course of a season, the cream should rise to the top.

This is a classic rookie mistake. If you think a selection will win something that involves them winning several individual games, you are better off backing them in individual games with a staking plan.

Futures markets have higher sportsbooks’ overround, which means less value for you.

For example, A standard game might have a 4–5% overround, while a “To Win the Super Bowl” market with 32 teams might have an overround of 15–25%.

If you are right about that team being the eventual champions, you have found an edge. Betting on individual games gives you more chances to take advantage of your edge and apply a staking plan to it.

This is true for leagues, as well as knock-out tournaments like the FIFA World Cup or a tennis grand slam. The same applies to “Tournament Goals Per Team” and “Total Tournament Red Cards” or any futures bet where you can bet on the same thing in individual games.