Beginners Guide

If you are new to sportsbetting, placing your first bet can be a little bewildering.

Here at No Charge Sportsbook we’ve got all the basics covered for you.

Different Bets– there are lots but here are the most common:

Straight Wager: The most popular sports wager predicting the final score of a single game.

Totals Wager : A bet on whether the combined number of overall points/goals in the game will be over or under the bookies prediction.

Parlay: A bet on two or more sporting events. You need to win all games to win the overall bet. Parlays can prove to be lucrative bets.

If Bet: Similar to a parlay, it is a series of two or more linked bets but the bets remain individual and do not collapse if one bet is lost.

Future Wager: As it sounds, a bet on a future event, for example, a bet made at the start of the season on the winner of the Premier League. Stakes on events that are far in the future often offer great odds.

Different Odds

Different sites have their own format of betting which may be one of the following three:

• European Style (Decimal Odds)

Expressed as a decimal that shows your winnings. Example: Odds of 1.80 for your team to win show you that you could pick up 1.80 times your stake.

• UK Odds (Fraction Format)

This format is used in Europe, Canada and Australia and shows the profit on a winning bet. Example: Odds of 4/5 would have winnings of 4/5 times your stake.

• American Odds

American odds are in two forms: positive (for favorites) and negative (for underdogs).

A positive bet of +150 shows that for every $100 dollars you bet you can win $120. For a negative bet of -150 you will need to bet $150 for every $100.

Different Terms

Just the basics to start you off…

• Single action – within an ‘if bet’ – a bet that is processed only if the precedent bet wins.
• Even Money – a bet with odds of 1/1.
• Handle – the total amount of bets taken.
• Hedging – placing a back-up bet on the opposite side to guarantee a minimum amount of winnings.
• Juice or Vigorish – The bookmaker’s commission on a losing bet, typically 10%.
• Past Post - It means betting after the game or event has already begun.
• Point spread – the bookie’s predicted scoring differential between two opponents.
• Prop (Proposition) Bet – a specific, special wager such as who scores the first goal.

So there you have it in a nutshell, No Charge SportsBook have de-mystified the basics for you. We have obviously just scratched the surface here but hopefully you will feel a little more confident when visiting online sportsbooks.