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Sports betting is an ancient pastime. In fact, people have been betting for as long as sports events have been in existence. From simple offline bets to more complex online bets, betting has come a long way. And while the fundamental concept of online betting is simple (making a prediction on the outcome of a sports event and placing a bet accordingly), there is more to this pastime than just that. Bettors must first understand a few things before stepping foot into the universe of online betting.
Fundamentally, online betting is safe. However, it is safe with a condition, which requires bettors to follow specific online safety guidelines. Of course, every form of gambling can be safe or not depending on how gamblers go about it. For instance, if one placed their bet at a brick-and-mortar sportsbook and went back to their home only to come back and find the bookmaker missing, it would mean that even offline betting is not safe. And what if the bettor won and the bookmaker refused to pay them their winnings? The conclusion would be the same. Now, online betting can either be safe or unsafe, depending on the precautions that bettors take.
The good news when it comes to knowing where to invest money online is that bettors don’t need to do a ton of work as only a few pro-active steps would ensure that bettors avoid scams. Of course, save for a few fake sportsbooks, most online betting sites have good reputations. They guard bettors’ financial information so jealously as though it were their own, and they have invested heavily in advanced security systems to keep hackers at bay. Their payouts are fast, and they don’t withhold bettors’ money unless there is a justifiable reason to do so. These are the sites where gamblers should take their bets to. Thankfully, the same internet that hosts betting sites is also home to betting site reviews, which prove to be helpful when looking for a safe sportsbook. Once a bettor knows which gambling platforms are reliable, the next step would be to know which of the platforms is the best.
When looking for a good betting site, it should not escape the bettor’s attention that there is nothing like a one-size-fits-all strategy. The internet presents a massive selection of excellent sportsbooks to choose from, leaving bettors with a complicated decision to make. Making the decision on the best betting site can be done based on the following aspects. It doesn’t matter what else the sportsbook does, if it does not shine in these aspects, then it is a poor choice.
Integral to sports betting, odds are essential in determining whether a sports event is worth investing in or not. Besides helping to calculate the payouts, odds represent the likelihood of a particular outcome. The higher the odds, the less likely the outcome will occur. On the other hand, low odds mean that the result is highly possible. For instance, if the world’s fastest swimmer was to face a swimmer ranked 200th, chances are that the former would easily carry the day. Thus, bookmakers would assign the latter very high odds, while the odds on the fastest swimmer would be very low.
A bettor may bet on say, Manchester City to win the English Premier League. Still, the club may come second at the end of the campaign, meaning that they have narrowly missed the title. That would mean that the bettor loses his or her bet. An each-way bet is a two-in-one bet, where a bettor wagers on a team/side to win or finish in a particular position (place). Thus, if the above scenario involved an each-way bet where the bettor predicted that the club would either win or finish in the second position, the following would happen:
Each-way betting, therefore, somehow cushions bettors against total loss, ensuring that they can still make some money even if their selection fails to come out on top.
Working out the each-way betting winnings involves applying the fraction used to the initial odds. If the bettor’s selection wins, the bettor will gain money from both the WIN and PLACE bets. However, if the selection finishes in the predicted position but fails to win the competition, the bettor wins the PLACE bet.
Sporting event competitors have different abilities, and that’s why handicap bets exist. Typically, more reliable participants enter a sporting competition as the odds-on favourites, prompting the bookmakers to give the underdogs a “head start.” This “head start” is factored into determining the event outcome. For instance, in a match where an odds-on favourite team A is playing against team B, a 2-0 handicap bet on team B would mean that team A would have to score at least two more goals than team B for the bettor to lose the bet. Any scoreline other than that would be a win for the bettor.
Unless one is a magician (and no one really knows whether magic works in betting), winning every bet is completely impossible. That is why gamblers should enter the game braced for losses. Whatever sports events they choose to bet on, there is one golden rule that should guide them; betting within their means, which literally means wagering what they can afford to lose. This prevents unnecessary frustration, despair, and regrets, among other negative connotations associated with betting.