One of the biggest tripping blocks for new sports bettors is understanding each of the different bet types. This page covers the options available at most U.S. sportsbooks as well as how to best add them to your betting slip.
Bettor In Green aims to provide educational betting resources for new players to help reinforce responsible and well-informed gambling habits. To that end, we put together this introduction to bet types so new players can understand the terminology before making their first wager.
In this guide, we’ll introduce 13 types of wagers you can make at online sportsbooks, along with other important terms to know along the way.
Moneyline bets are the most straightforward wagers you can make on a game or sporting event. They require the bettor to pick the winner of the contest, without accounting for other factors like the margin of victory or if the game went into overtime.
Most moneyline bets feature two markets: a favorite (the team/player with a higher probability of winning) and an underdog (the team/player with the lower probability). However, in some cases, like in a soccer match, a tie is included as a third market.
When reading the odds, the favorite will usually be indicated by a “-” symbol while the underdog will be indicated by a “+” symbol. This is because betting on the favorite yields a lower potential return than on the underdog if you use the same wager amount (or “Stake”) for a moneyline wager.
As an example, in a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, the odds may read as “New York Yankees (-140) at Boston Red Sox (+120). Because the Yankees are the favorites (more probable winners), a $100 stake on New York would win $71.43 while that same bet on Boston would win $120.
In some cases, both teams/players will have a “-” sign in front of the odds number. In that instance, the outcome with the higher number after the “-” is the favorite.
To figure out how strong a favorite is, look at the number after the “-” sign.
An easy way to think about it is to consider the number after the sign to be how much money you would need to bet to win $100. Looking at the previous example, you would need to wager $140 on the Yankees as the favorites in order to win $100.
On the other hand, numbers after the “+” sign can be used to figure out how much money you would win on a $100 wager. As you saw above, a $100 wager would win $120.
If you win your bet, you receive your cash stake back in the payout (stake + winnings = payout total).
In some sports (like football), the disparity between the teams is great enough that a moneyline wager would require too much financial risk to be worth your time. In that case, you may want to consider a point spread bet.
Point spread bets are wagers on the hypothetical margin of victory. To win a point spread bet, the moneyline favorite team must not only win outright but also beat their opponent by the spread set by the sportsbook. Conversely, a bet on the moneyline underdog can still result in a winning bet even if the team loses, as long as they lost by fewer points than the spread amount.
Let’s say the Kansas City Chiefs are playing the Las Vegas Raiders at home. The Chiefs are the moneyline favorite while the Raiders are the moneyline underdog.
A sportsbook may list the line as “Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs (-7.5).” In this example, a spread bet on the favored Chiefs would require Kansas City to win by eight points or more (this is called “covering the spread”).
However, if you were backing the Raiders against the spread, your bet would win if Las Vegas either won outright or lost by seven points or fewer.
By handicapping the odds in this way, bets on the favorite to cover offer a higher payout on a winning wager than on a moneyline bet. Similarly, by spotting the underdog a few points, the underdog is more likely to “win” the bet even in the event of a loss on the scoreboard.
Sportsbooks will adjust the spread total leading up to the game depending on the betting action. Their goal is to get exactly 50% of the money wagered on either side of the spread line so they can guarantee a profit.
Over/Under bets (also called “Totals” bets) are wagers on the combined score of the game. They don’t account for which team wins or loses but instead focus on whether they combine to score over or under a projected point total.
Using a basketball example, a game between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers could have a projected over/under total of 215.5. With that line, if you took the over, you’d win whether Boston won 109-107 or the Lakers won 116-100. As long as the combined total matches your bet, you’ll win.
Many times, sportsbooks will add a “.5” to the end of a totals bet or spread bet. This is to prevent a “push,” where a team wins by the exact spread total or over/under total.
When a push occurs, all bets are refunded and no winnings are issued. Bookmakers always want to avoid this scenario, so by adding “.5,” they can avoid a push (as teams can’t score half-points).
Prop bets (short for “Proposition bets”) are wagers that focus on specific in-game outcomes rather than on the final score. They are usually player-focused or team-focused and center around statistical milestones.
However, during major sporting events like the Super Bowl, prop bets can cover things that have nothing to do with the actual game, such as the length of time for the National Anthem, guest appearances during the halftime show, or the color of sports drink poured on the coach of the winning team.
In game-related cases, prop bets are typically over/under wagers on a player’s stat total in a given category, such as shots on goal in hockey or a golfer’s total number of birdies over 18 holes.
Another popular parlay type is betting on players to record a certain stat, such as “anytime touchdown scorer” in football or “player to score the first goal” in soccer.
Parlays are a more intricate wager in that they combine several betting outcomes into a single wager. Each outcome added to the parlay is called a “leg,” and the potential payout multiplies for each leg.
In recent years, same game parlays have exploded in popularity. By concentrating research efforts on a single contest, bettors can find multiple betting angles within the same matchup to add to their slip rather than spending time researching different games. There are also progressive parlays, where you still receive a payout if one more selections fail
Parlays require you to add at least two legs, with the ability to add as many as 16 at some sportsbooks. However, getting even a single leg wrong causes the entire bet to be scored as a loss.
The popularity of parlays is also due to the ability to win larger amounts of money even on smaller initial stakes. However, this can also lead to more frequent losses given the higher difficulty of getting all selections correct.
For example, say you had $10 total to wager and wanted to bet on the over/under for five games, all of which had odds of -110. If you picked each of those matchups correctly, you would win $9.10 ($2 wager at -110 odds wins $1.82 x 5 bets = $9.10).
However, if you put just $2 on a five-leg parlay of each of those games, your new odds would be +2346, meaning you would win $48.72 instead of the $9.10 you won before. You also only risked $2 instead of the full $10.
We highly recommend that those who are new to parlay betting limit their number of legs in a parlay to 2-5. This will help them develop sound parlay structuring strategies and lead to more consistent parlay wins.
Teaser betting is a variation on parlay betting, where sports bettors are allowed to “tease” (adjust) the over/under total or point spread by a certain amount of points in their favor. This increases their likelihood of a winning wager but it usually comes at the cost of a lower overall payout.
Teasers are most common in NFL betting, with 6-point, 6.5-point, and 7-point teasers making up the majority of options (they are also somewhat common in the NBA, where the teasers are 4-point, 4.5-point, and 5-point options). You’re effectively “buying” points on the lines while reducing the amount of money you would potentially win.
Most of the time, the line on a point spread or total will be relatively close to -110 (meaning you would need to wager $110 to win $100). With a two-team NFL six-point teaser, the odds move to -120 ($120 wager to win $100), 6.5 points to -130, and 7 points to -140.
Different sports and sportsbooks will have different lines based on the number of teams and points you’re spotting, so be sure to check carefully before placing a teaser.
As an example, let’s say the Baltimore Ravens were 2.5-point underdogs against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Detroit Lions were 8.5-point favorites against the Chicago Bears. If you were to parlay Baltimore and Detroit in a 6-point teaser bet, you’re now getting Baltimore at +8.5 and Detroit at -2.5.
Again, because it’s a type of parlay, both teams must win their respective legs for the bet to win. In this scenario, the Ravens would need to win outright or lose by fewer than eight points and Detroit would need to beat the Bears by at least three points.
Futures bets are long-term bets that typically center around season-long accomplishments. Bets usually open before the start of a season with odds changing based on the performance of players and teams involved.
Examples of futures bets would include picking a team to win the championship or a player to win the MVP award. However, they could also cover markets like team win totals, division titles, or statistical milestones.
Generally speaking, the earlier you place a futures bet, the more favorable your potential payout will be. This is because odds movement will shift to a small potential payout as contenders drop throughout the year.
Didn’t get your wager in before the start of the game? Don’t fear, live betting is here!
Also called in-play betting, live betting covers many of the same markets that were available before the start of a sporting event with adjusted odds based on how the action has unfolded.
Successful live betting requires the ability to understand game flow so you can take advantage of a friendly line before the odds change. You’ll also need to be able to quickly decide when to bet and how much to wager, as it may take a moment before bets are open (meaning the sportsbook is accepting wagers at those odds).
For that reason, we highly recommend you only live bet on games you’re actively watching (not just keeping on in the background while doing chores or playing games on your phone). Box scores and social media highlights don’t tell the full story.
Another parlay variant is the round robin bet, where bettors choose a list of bets to make and create parlays from within that list of how many legs they expect will win. The name comes from the round-robin tournament format where all teams play each other once to determine a winner.
Round robin bets allow a virtual safety net by allowing some losses within the wager while still offering a chance at a payout.
Let’s create a hypothetical round robin with NFL odds. Using lines from Week 1 of the 2024 Season, we’ll create a four-team round robin.
Our four selections would include: Dallas Cowboys ML +110 against the Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints -4 against the Carolina Panthers (at -108), Houston Texans -3 against the Indianapolis Colts (-102) and the Minnesota Vikings ML -125 against the New York Giants.
A two-pick round robin would create six two-leg parlays from within these four selections (Cowboys/Saints, Cowboys/Texans, Cowboys/Vikings, Saints/Texans, Saints/Vikings, Texans/Vikings). A $5 stake for each game ($30 total) would issue a payout for each combination of those wagers that won.
Let’s say the Cowboys, Texans, and Vikings all won their games while the Saints lost. Your winning parlays from the round robin would be Cowboys/Texans, Cowboys/Vikings, and Texans/Vikings, unlike a traditional parlay where all four teams would’ve needed to win for a payout.
These odds would’ve paid a total of $114.14 using a $30 round-robin wager if all teams won. However, a standard parlay with that same $30 stake would’ve paid out $432.51; the round-robin payout is smaller but the likelihood of winning some combination of bets is increased, thus the payout difference.
Continuing the more advanced betting types is the If bet, which allows you to connect two straight bets with a conditional wager on the second leg.
Using a college football example, let’s say Ohio State plays Michigan on a chilly November afternoon while Stanford hosts Oregon later in the day, with Ohio State and Stanford both three-point favorites at -110. By placing an “if” bet on Ohio State and Stanford to win on the money line, your Stanford bet would only be accepted if the Buckeyes beat Michigan.
Using a $110 wager for this example, an Ohio State win would earn you $100 for the win and collect $210 (stake + winnings). Then, a second $110 stake would roll over to the Stanford game, with another $100 win and $210 payout if the Cardinal covers.
However, if the Wolverines won the first game instead of the Buckeyes, your Stanford bet isn’t placed and you’re only out your initial $125 stake.
Here are the four potential outcomes for those games, along with the potential payouts:
In three of the four scenarios, you are losing money on your bets, limiting the upside of an if bet. However, if bets are safer than picking both Ohio State and Stanford with separate moneyline wagers because you’ll manage your risk by limiting exposure based on your previous results (only exposing $110 as your stake rather than $220).
A reverse bet (sometimes called an “action reverse” bet) is similar to an if bet in that it once again strings together wagers that are contingent on other selections. However, a reverse bet places a second wager that reverses the order of your selections from an if bet, potentially doubling your payout.
By placing a second bet using the inverse order, you can set yourself up for a bigger payday but can also carry more risk because now you’ve doubled each outcome. Using the same example as for if bets above, your new potential payouts would be:
Once again, the profit is higher than if you placed individual spread bets on Ohio State and Stanford ($400 profit on reverse bet, $200 profit on spread bets). However, you’ve also doubled your exposure to at least $220, matching the risk of individual spread bets.
Head-to-head bets are wagers on the outcome between two participants in a particular event. They are especially common in motorsports events and golf tournaments where the field of participants is much larger.
Typically, these head-to-head bets revolve around who will finish in a higher ranking during the competition. However, they could also center around stat performances within a certain range, such as which golfer will have the better score on holes 11-14.
If the competitors in a head-to-head bet aren’t relatively even competitors, sportsbooks may also handicap the head-to-head bet similar to what they would do for a spread bet. They could do so by spotting one of the head-to-head entrants a certain number of points or by giving them a tiebreaker.
For example, in an NBA game, a head-to-head bet could read as “Which player will score more points: LeBron James or LaMelo Ball +6.5?” In this case, a bet on LeBron would win if he outscored LaMelo by at least seven points; in any other scenario, the bet on Ball would win.
As is the case with prop bets, head-to-head bets aren’t necessarily contingent on the outright winner of the competition.
Pleaser bets are the opposite of teaser bets; instead of “buying” extra points on the spread (and only the spread, not the total like with teaser bets), you’re conceding those points to the sportsbook in pursuit of a higher payout. They are somewhat rare at U.S. sportsbooks, so don’t be surprised if they aren’t offered at your bookie of choice.
Using our same example from the teaser bets, the Ravens are again 2.5-point underdogs against the Bengals and the Lions are 8.5-point favorites against the Chicago Bears. However, with a six-point pleaser, you’re now betting on Baltimore to win and beat Cincinnati by at least four points (you’ve “pleased” the line to Ravens -3.5) and on Detroit to win by 15 (having “pleased” the line to Lions -14.5).
By “pleasing” the line, you’ve now taken on noticeably more risk. However, with that added risk comes a much greater reward if you’re successful on the bet.
As was the case with teasers, you would need to win both legs of your pleaser bet from the example above to receive a payout.
Now that you’re familiar with the different types of bets, you’re ready to hit the sportsbooks and begin placing your wagers. We hope as you do, you’ll keep these tips in mind:
AS SEEN ON:
Bettor In Green is your go-to platform for sports betting and daily fantasy sports, designed to help you dominate player props.
Copyright: © 2026 Made with 💚 By The Bettor In Green team. All Rights Reserved.
Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Hope is here. GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support (MA). Call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY).
