At first glance, sports betting can look overwhelming. Open a sportsbook for the first time and there might be hundreds of matches, decimal numbers changing every few seconds and markets with names such as 1X2, handicap, spread, totals, player props and
At first glance, sports betting can look overwhelming. Open a sportsbook for the first time and there might be hundreds of matches, decimal numbers changing every few seconds and markets with names such as 1X2, handicap, spread, totals, player props and correct score. A single football match can have more than a hundred betting options before kickoff.
The general idea is much simpler. A sportsbook creates a market for something that could happen in a sporting event and assigns odds to the possible outcomes. Those odds determine how much a bet could pay in return. Everything else is essentially a variation of that idea.
Sports betting starts with three guidelines: what you are betting on, what the odds mean and what must happen for the bet to win.
What You’re Actually Looking at in a Sportsbook
A sportsbook is a platform that accepts bets on sporting events. That can include major sports such as football, basketball, tennis and baseball, along with motorsport, combat sports and esports. Stake’s current sportsbook, for example, includes football competitions from countries around the world, basketball leagues such as the NBA, NCAA and EuroLeague, baseball and esports among its available categories.
Within each sport, the sportsbook creates individual betting markets.
A football match could have markets for the match winner, total goals, a handicap, both teams to score, the correct score, first goalscorer, anytime goalscorer, shots on target, and more.
A basketball game may have a moneyline, point spread, total points and player markets covering points, rebounds, assists or three pointers.
You don’t need to understand all of these before placing a first bet. In fact, learning the simplest markets first makes bets significantly easier.
How Sportsbooks Price a Betting Market
Pricing a market means estimating how likely each possible result is. Sportsbooks take into account enormous amounts of information, including team strength, previous results, player availability, venue, expected lineups and market activity.
If two basketball teams are playing and a sportsbook estimates that Team A has a 60% chance of winning, then fair decimal odds based on that would be: 1/ 0.60 = 1.67.
If Team B had a 40% chance: 1/0.40 = 2.50.
However, sportsbook markets normally include a margin, which is why the probabilities represented by all the available odds usually add up to more than 100%.
How Odds Reflect Probability
Decimal odds can be displayed as implied probability with a simple calculation:
1/decimal odds × 100
Odds of 2.00 imply a probability of 50%. Odds of 4.00 imply 25%. Odds of 1.25 imply 80%.
The sportsbook margin is built into the market, and odds may also move as conditions change. Still, implied probability is a good way for beginners to understand what a price represents.
Lower odds generally represent an outcome considered more likely. Higher odds represent an outcome considered less likely, with a larger potential return.
How Decimal Odds Calculate Your Payout
Stake.com displays decimal odds, so the calculation is simple.
Multiply the stake by the odds.
A $10 bet at odds of 2.00 returns $10 * 2.00 = $20. That $20 includes the original $10 stake, meaning the profit is $10.
A $10 bet at 1.50 returns $15, for a $5 profit.
A $10 bet at 4.00 returns $40, for a $30 profit.
The return includes the money originally wagered.
Moneyline Betting Is a Good Starting Point
In moneyline betting you are simply choosing which team or player will win. It’s common in sports where the winner is clear, like tennis and basketball.
For example:
Team A 1.70
Team B 2.10
A $10 bet on Team A at 1.70 would return $17 if Team A won.
A $10 bet on Team B at 2.10 would return $21 if Team B won.
The odds tell you both which side the sportsbook considers more likely to win and how large the potential payout would be.
Football Usually Uses 1X2
Football has one extra possibility: the draw. The symbols mean:
1 = home team wins
X = draw
2 = away team wins
Stake’s sportsbook rules define its football 1X2 market in exactly this way, with the standard market based on the result after regular time. Regular time includes injury or stoppage time but doesn’t include extra time or penalties.
Take a real example from Stake’s football sportsbook. Sporting against Galatasaray was priced:
Sporting 1.84
Draw 3.95
Galatasaray 4.10
A $10 bet on Sporting at 1.84 would return $18.40 if Sporting won in regular time.
A $10 bet on the draw at 3.95 would return $39.50 if the game finished level.
A $10 bet on Galatasaray at 4.10 would return $41 if Galatasaray won.
Notice that the outsider pays more, since the chances of them winning are smaller.
Spread and Handicap Betting
The next major market is the spread, also called a handicap. The terminology changes depending on the sport. American sports commonly use “point spread,” while football bettors frequently see “handicap”.
The principle is similar. Instead of asking only who wins the actual match, the sportsbook gives one side an imaginary advantage or disadvantage for betting purposes.
Imagine this basketball spread:
Boston -6.5
Chicago +6.5
For a Boston -6.5 bet to win, Boston needs to win the actual game by at least seven points. A 110-100 Boston victory works, for instance.
A 110-106 Boston victory does not. Boston won the match, but only by four points. Someone betting Chicago +6.5 would win that bet even though Chicago lost the actual game.
That’s the main point in handicap betting. You are not necessarily betting on who wins the real sporting event, but on who wins after the handicap has been applied.
Why Do Sportsbooks Use Half Points?
You will regularly see spreads with decimals. The half point prevents a tie in the bet.
If a basketball team is -6.5, it’s obvious that it can’t win by 6.5 points. That means the bet has a clear winning or losing result.
Whole numbers can sometimes produce a push, depending on the market rules. If a team is -6 and wins by exactly six, the bet may be void and the stake returned.
Football Handicaps Work the Same Way with Goals
The same rules apply to football. Imagine Arsenal -1.5. For that selection to win, Arsenal needs to win by at least two goals.
A 3-1 result works.
A 2-1 result does not.
An underdog at +1.5 works in the opposite direction. Betting on a team +1.5 means the bet can still win even when that team loses by one goal.
Handicaps allow sportsbooks to create markets around games where one team is a clear favorite.
Over/Under Betting
A total, more commonly called over/under, focuses on a number rather than a winner. Consider a football market:
Over 2.5 goals
Under 2.5 goals
An over 2.5 bet wins if the match ends with three or more goals. Scores such as 2-1, 3-0 and 2-2 all win the bet.
Under 2.5 wins with two goals or fewer. Scores such as 1-0, 1-1 and 0-0 are all good.
It doesn’t matter which team wins, which is what makes totals different from 1X2 betting.
Basketball totals use exactly the same principle.
Team Totals Narrow the Market Further
Totals don’t always need to cover the entire game. A sportsbook might offer:
Liverpool over 1.5 team goals
Liverpool would need to score at least twice. The other team’s score is irrelevant.
This is how sportsbooks build many markets out of the same sporting event. One match can generate bets on the winner, winning margin, total score and each team’s individual total.
Prop Bets Focus on Specific Events
Prop bets, short for proposition bets, focus on a particular event or statistic. Basketball games are great examples.
A player prop might look like:
Player points Over/Under 26.5
Over 26.5 wins if the player scores at least 27 points.
Under wins if they finish with 26 or fewer.
Other basketball player props can include rebounds, assists, three pointers made, and blocks.
Football props can be just as specific. Stake’s football sportsbook includes markets such as anytime goalscorer, first goalscorer and player shots on target. Someone betting on an anytime goalscorer doesn’t care which team eventually wins. The bet is based on whether the named player scores.
Correct Score Is Another Type of Specific Market
Correct score takes that idea further. Instead of choosing a winner, you predict the exact final score. For example, Manchester City 2-0. A 2-0 result wins. 3-0 does not and 2-1 does not, even though Man City won in both cases.
Pre Match vs Live Betting
Sportsbooks offer both pre match betting and live betting, also known as in play betting.
Pre match bets are placed before the event begins.
Live bets are placed after it has started.
The major difference is speed.
An NBA team might begin a game as a heavy favorite, fall 15 points behind in the first quarter and suddenly have much longer moneyline odds.
A football total might begin at over/under 2.5 goals. An early goal could quickly change the available live total.
Stake offers live markets alongside pre match markets, with odds and betting lines changing as the sporting event develops. Selected events also have live streaming.
What Is a Bet Builder?
Sportsbooks also allow several selections from the same game to be combined. Stake calls its version a Bet Builder, while similar products elsewhere may be called a same game multi or same game parlay.
A football combination could include:
Liverpool to win
Over 2.5 goals
A particular player to score
All conditions must be satisfied for the combined bet to win. Because several outcomes have to occur, the combined odds can be much higher.
That larger potential return comes with an important trade off: there are also more ways for the bet to lose. If only one bet is missed, the whole ticket is lost.
Singles and Multiples
A single contains one selection. For example $10 on Team A at 2.00.
A multiple combines selections. Imagine three teams priced at: 1.50, 1.80, and 2.00.
The approximate combined decimal odds are: 1.50 * 1.80 * 2.00 = 5.40. A $10 successful three selection bet returns $54. But all three selections must win. If the first two win and the third loses, the multiple loses.
Odds Are Prices, Not Predictions
This may be the most important information in the entire beginner’s guide. Betting odds are prices attached to uncertain outcomes.
Sports involve injuries, mistakes, unexpected performances and simple randomness. Thinking of odds as prices makes sports betting easier to understand.
Shorter price = larger implied probability and smaller potential payout.
Longer price = smaller implied probability and larger potential payout.
Start With the Market Before Thinking About the Team
Beginners often begin with a question such as: “Who do I think will win?”
A better first step is understanding exactly what each option means. A football match could raise very different questions: Who wins? Will there be at least three goals? Can the underdog stay within one goal? Will both teams score? Will a particular striker score? How many shots on target will a player have?
Those are separate markets. The same applies across Stake’s sportsbook, where major sports can have match winner markets, handicaps, totals and more specific bets available for the same event.
The Main Betting Markets to Learn First
Most sportsbooks become much easier once you understand basic markets.
Moneyline or 1×2 asks who wins, with football’s 1×2 adding the draw.
Spread or handicap changes the score and bets by giving one side an advantage.
Total or over/under betting is about whether the total number of goals or points goes above or below a set number.
Props focus on a particular event, player or statistic rather than simply the final winner.
Learn those four and most unfamiliar sportsbook markets will become much clearer.
Learning the Odds Is the Best Place to Start
Math is simple. The sportsbook defines an outcome. It assigns a price to that outcome. You choose the amount to wager. If the conditions of the selection are met, the return is calculated using the odds.
The odds themselves will keep changing. Teams improve, players get injured and live games move from one situation to another. But the basic mechanics behind moneyline betting, 1X2 odds, spreads, handicaps, totals and prop bets remain the same.
correct score. A single football match can have more than a hundred betting options before kickoff.
The general idea is much simpler. A sportsbook creates a market for something that could happen in a sporting event and assigns odds to the possible outcomes. Those odds determine how much a bet could pay in return. Everything else is essentially a variation of that idea.
Sports betting starts with three guidelines: what you are betting on, what the odds mean and what must happen for the bet to win.
What You’re Actually Looking at in a Sportsbook
A sportsbook is a platform that accepts bets on sporting events. That can include major sports such as football, basketball, tennis and baseball, along with motorsport, combat sports and esports. Stake’s current sportsbook, for example, includes football competitions from countries around the world, basketball leagues such as the NBA, NCAA and EuroLeague, baseball and esports among its available categories.
Within each sport, the sportsbook creates individual betting markets.
A football match could have markets for the match winner, total goals, a handicap, both teams to score, the correct score, first goalscorer, anytime goalscorer, shots on target, and more.
A basketball game may have a moneyline, point spread, total points and player markets covering points, rebounds, assists or three pointers.
You don’t need to understand all of these before placing a first bet. In fact, learning the simplest markets first makes bets significantly easier.
How Sportsbooks Price a Betting Market
Pricing a market means estimating how likely each possible result is. Sportsbooks take into account enormous amounts of information, including team strength, previous results, player availability, venue, expected lineups and market activity.
If two basketball teams are playing and a sportsbook estimates that Team A has a 60% chance of winning, then fair decimal odds based on that would be: 1/ 0.60 = 1.67.
If Team B had a 40% chance: 1/0.40 = 2.50.
However, sportsbook markets normally include a margin, which is why the probabilities represented by all the available odds usually add up to more than 100%.
How Odds Reflect Probability
Decimal odds can be displayed as implied probability with a simple calculation:
1/decimal odds × 100
Odds of 2.00 imply a probability of 50%. Odds of 4.00 imply 25%. Odds of 1.25 imply 80%.
The sportsbook margin is built into the market, and odds may also move as conditions change. Still, implied probability is a good way for beginners to understand what a price represents.
Lower odds generally represent an outcome considered more likely. Higher odds represent an outcome considered less likely, with a larger potential return.
How Decimal Odds Calculate Your Payout
Stake.com displays decimal odds, so the calculation is simple.
Multiply the stake by the odds.
A $10 bet at odds of 2.00 returns $10 * 2.00 = $20. That $20 includes the original $10 stake, meaning the profit is $10.
A $10 bet at 1.50 returns $15, for a $5 profit.
A $10 bet at 4.00 returns $40, for a $30 profit.
The return includes the money originally wagered.
Moneyline Betting Is a Good Starting Point
In moneyline betting you are simply choosing which team or player will win. It’s common in sports where the winner is clear, like tennis and basketball.
For example:
Team A 1.70
Team B 2.10
A $10 bet on Team A at 1.70 would return $17 if Team A won.
A $10 bet on Team B at 2.10 would return $21 if Team B won.
The odds tell you both which side the sportsbook considers more likely to win and how large the potential payout would be.
Football Usually Uses 1X2
Football has one extra possibility: the draw. The symbols mean:
1 = home team wins
X = draw
2 = away team wins
Stake’s sportsbook rules define its football 1X2 market in exactly this way, with the standard market based on the result after regular time. Regular time includes injury or stoppage time but doesn’t include extra time or penalties.
Take a real example from Stake’s football sportsbook. Sporting against Galatasaray was priced:
Sporting 1.84
Draw 3.95
Galatasaray 4.10
A $10 bet on Sporting at 1.84 would return $18.40 if Sporting won in regular time.
A $10 bet on the draw at 3.95 would return $39.50 if the game finished level.
A $10 bet on Galatasaray at 4.10 would return $41 if Galatasaray won.
Notice that the outsider pays more, since the chances of them winning are smaller.
Spread and Handicap Betting
The next major market is the spread, also called a handicap. The terminology changes depending on the sport. American sports commonly use “point spread,” while football bettors frequently see “handicap”.
The principle is similar. Instead of asking only who wins the actual match, the sportsbook gives one side an imaginary advantage or disadvantage for betting purposes.
Imagine this basketball spread:
Boston -6.5
Chicago +6.5
For a Boston -6.5 bet to win, Boston needs to win the actual game by at least seven points. A 110-100 Boston victory works, for instance.
A 110-106 Boston victory does not. Boston won the match, but only by four points. Someone betting Chicago +6.5 would win that bet even though Chicago lost the actual game.
That’s the main point in handicap betting. You are not necessarily betting on who wins the real sporting event, but on who wins after the handicap has been applied.
Why Do Sportsbooks Use Half Points?
You will regularly see spreads with decimals. The half point prevents a tie in the bet.
If a basketball team is -6.5, it’s obvious that it can’t win by 6.5 points. That means the bet has a clear winning or losing result.
Whole numbers can sometimes produce a push, depending on the market rules. If a team is -6 and wins by exactly six, the bet may be void and the stake returned.
Football Handicaps Work the Same Way with Goals
The same rules apply to football. Imagine Arsenal -1.5. For that selection to win, Arsenal needs to win by at least two goals.
A 3-1 result works.
A 2-1 result does not.
An underdog at +1.5 works in the opposite direction. Betting on a team +1.5 means the bet can still win even when that team loses by one goal.
Handicaps allow sportsbooks to create markets around games where one team is a clear favorite.
Over/Under Betting
A total, more commonly called over/under, focuses on a number rather than a winner. Consider a football market:
Over 2.5 goals
Under 2.5 goals
An over 2.5 bet wins if the match ends with three or more goals. Scores such as 2-1, 3-0 and 2-2 all win the bet.
Under 2.5 wins with two goals or fewer. Scores such as 1-0, 1-1 and 0-0 are all good.
It doesn’t matter which team wins, which is what makes totals different from 1X2 betting.
Basketball totals use exactly the same principle.
Team Totals Narrow the Market Further
Totals don’t always need to cover the entire game. A sportsbook might offer:
Liverpool over 1.5 team goals
Liverpool would need to score at least twice. The other team’s score is irrelevant.
This is how sportsbooks build many markets out of the same sporting event. One match can generate bets on the winner, winning margin, total score and each team’s individual total.
Prop Bets Focus on Specific Events
Prop bets, short for proposition bets, focus on a particular event or statistic. Basketball games are great examples.
A player prop might look like:
Player points Over/Under 26.5
Over 26.5 wins if the player scores at least 27 points.
Under wins if they finish with 26 or fewer.
Other basketball player props can include rebounds, assists, three pointers made, and blocks.
Football props can be just as specific. Stake’s football sportsbook includes markets such as anytime goalscorer, first goalscorer and player shots on target. Someone betting on an anytime goalscorer doesn’t care which team eventually wins. The bet is based on whether the named player scores.
Correct Score Is Another Type of Specific Market
Correct score takes that idea further. Instead of choosing a winner, you predict the exact final score. For example, Manchester City 2-0. A 2-0 result wins. 3-0 does not and 2-1 does not, even though Man City won in both cases.
Pre Match vs Live Betting
Sportsbooks offer both pre match betting and live betting, also known as in play betting.
Pre match bets are placed before the event begins.
Live bets are placed after it has started.
The major difference is speed.
An NBA team might begin a game as a heavy favorite, fall 15 points behind in the first quarter and suddenly have much longer moneyline odds.
A football total might begin at over/under 2.5 goals. An early goal could quickly change the available live total.
Stake offers live markets alongside pre match markets, with odds and betting lines changing as the sporting event develops. Selected events also have live streaming.
What Is a Bet Builder?
Sportsbooks also allow several selections from the same game to be combined. Stake calls its version a Bet Builder, while similar products elsewhere may be called a same game multi or same game parlay.
A football combination could include:
Liverpool to win
Over 2.5 goals
A particular player to score
All conditions must be satisfied for the combined bet to win. Because several outcomes have to occur, the combined odds can be much higher.
That larger potential return comes with an important trade off: there are also more ways for the bet to lose. If only one bet is missed, the whole ticket is lost.
Singles and Multiples
A single contains one selection. For example $10 on Team A at 2.00.
A multiple combines selections. Imagine three teams priced at: 1.50, 1.80, and 2.00.
The approximate combined decimal odds are: 1.50 * 1.80 * 2.00 = 5.40. A $10 successful three selection bet returns $54. But all three selections must win. If the first two win and the third loses, the multiple loses.
Odds Are Prices, Not Predictions
This may be the most important information in the entire beginner’s guide. Betting odds are prices attached to uncertain outcomes.
Sports involve injuries, mistakes, unexpected performances and simple randomness. Thinking of odds as prices makes sports betting easier to understand.
Shorter price = larger implied probability and smaller potential payout.
Longer price = smaller implied probability and larger potential payout.
Start With the Market Before Thinking About the Team
Beginners often begin with a question such as: “Who do I think will win?”
A better first step is understanding exactly what each option means. A football match could raise very different questions: Who wins? Will there be at least three goals? Can the underdog stay within one goal? Will both teams score? Will a particular striker score? How many shots on target will a player have?
Those are separate markets. The same applies across Stake’s sportsbook, where major sports can have match winner markets, handicaps, totals and more specific bets available for the same event.
The Main Betting Markets to Learn First
Most sportsbooks become much easier once you understand basic markets.
Moneyline or 1×2 asks who wins, with football’s 1×2 adding the draw.
Spread or handicap changes the score and bets by giving one side an advantage.
Total or over/under betting is about whether the total number of goals or points goes above or below a set number.
Props focus on a particular event, player or statistic rather than simply the final winner.
Learn those four and most unfamiliar sportsbook markets will become much clearer.
Learning the Odds Is the Best Place to Start
Math is simple. The sportsbook defines an outcome. It assigns a price to that outcome. You choose the amount to wager. If the conditions of the selection are met, the return is calculated using the odds.
The odds themselves will keep changing. Teams improve, players get injured and live games move from one situation to another. But the basic mechanics behind moneyline betting, 1X2 odds, spreads, handicaps, totals and prop bets remain the same.
