In the past, you would have to go to custom-designed betting centres to stake on sports. You’d fill out a betting slip and place your bet using cash. Events such as horse races have become especially common, where you can wager squarely on each race’s result. This type of sports betting and physical betting shops are still quite popular, but much of the revenue from sports betting is now available on the Internet. Due to the presence of sports betting providers on the Internet, you can bet on virtually any sporting event globally, whether it is basketball, soccer, Formula One, dog racing, or camel racing (oh yes, this is performed in the Arabic region).
Table of content:
- What are the betting choices you’ve got?
- How do you find a good online bookmaker?
- Thanks to the extremely competitive market on the Internet
- Significant features of online betting providers
- British and US odds
- Sports betting bonus
- How do sports betting providers make profits?
What are the betting choices you’ve got?
You can not only wager on the outcome of a game, but on almost any possible occurrence that could take place during the game such as who scores the first goal, half-time score, which horse comes second, how many points a basketball player throws, or which player takes the fastest lap in the Formula 1 race.
How do you find a good online bookmaker?
Most bookmakers mostly vary in their choice of games and some specifics. Virtually all betting platforms allow you to bet on all popular sports – soccer, football, basketball, tennis, golf, Formula One, handball, and all big sporting events are still covered by all providers. If you’re searching for some out-of-the-box sports, such as greyhound racing, surfing, or badminton, you may need to dig a little, but some betting providers also cover these.
The main disparity between various providers is the odds they offer. Here, there could be significant variations. The individual bet determines the odds in various ways. For instance, it’s highly possible that a particular bookmaker has a favorite home team, and another bookmaker has a favorite away team in football games. It is worth analyzing which bookmaker provides the best odds since they are by no means the same for all bookies.
Strong odds are the most important characteristic of a great online bookmaker. When offering bets, all bookies leave a predefined house edge. This implies that if, for instance, you bet the same amount on a loss, a draw, and a win in a football game, you will immediately lose money. The amount of this loss is the edge of the house for the bookmaker. The more the betting provider holds to himself, the worse his odds are.
Thanks to the extremely competitive market on the Internet
Most online sports betting providers still have very good odds for renowned sports; otherwise punters will choose another bookie. However, you can still take a good look at whether the odds are fairly reasonable for more uncommon sports.
Outsider bets, in general, are chronically overpriced in most bookies. For example, in the Football World Cup, the biggest underdog’s chances to win are usually 1-1000 at most. That means you’ll get back 1000 times the bet if the outsider wins. However, the probability that a team like Saudi Arabia will win the World Cup is far smaller. It is also worth testing the best odds for various sports betting providers. The unlikely Leicester City championship in England in 2016 (at the beginning of the season, the team was considered the number one relegation candidate) brought a small fortune to some optimistic sports bettors when they find a bookmaker with 1-5000 odds for the Leicester Championship.
Significant features of online betting providers
- Fast handling of transactions;
- Support for common payment options (bank transfer, credit card, PayPal, etc.)
- Safe payment
- Excellent customer service;
- Clear visuals;
- VIP club for regular players;
British and US odds
The odds are given a little differently in the Anglo-Saxon region. British betting companies initially deal with rather confusing fractions, and Americans act with positive and negative numbers.
The odds in the UK system show the factor by which you have to multiply your bet to find out your winnings. Does that sound confusing? It’s pretty simple in the end. The odds of 1/1 in the UK system imply that if you win, you win your bet or, in other words, you double your original bet. The odds of 1/2 mean that half the bet will be paid out as a benefit if you succeed.
American odds deal for positive and negative numbers. The odds of +100 means that you get 100 per cent of your stake as a win if the game you bet on actually happens. For instance, +200 means that you get 200% of your stake as a win. -200, on the other hand, means that you have to stake $200 to make a profit of $100.
Luckily, we live in a digital age. If different odds systems are a little complicated, you don’t have to worry, since most sports betting sites on the Internet permit you to convert odds with a simple click so that you can work with the system you understand best.
Sports betting bonus
If you’re only beginning to bet on sporting events and searching for a new provider, most bookies make it simple for you. Many online bookmakers offer new players a bonus.
The amount of the bonus is also dependent on the amount of the first deposit. Such a bonus may be anything like up to 100 per cent of the first deposit up to $100. This implies that if the player deposits $100, another $100 will be credited as a bonus.
The player must bet the bonus before they can remove it. Bonuses must also be wagered between three and five times on bets with a minimum quota (mostly between 1.5 and 2.0). That means, before you can pay a bonus of $100, you have to make bets totalling $300 to $500. However, you’ve got some months to do this.
Relative to the bonus conditions you find in online poker or casino games, it’s really easy to clear the bonus. If you deposit to bet on many cases, you can immediately clear the bonus.
How do sports betting providers make profits?
It’s straightforward for bookmakers to make a profit from sports betting. For one aspect, bookmakers know a lot more about the market and games than most human competitors. They can predict odds and probabilities much better than most players who have a very emotionally motivated bet. A player who supports a team easily miscalculates the odds for emotional reasons and embraces way too low odds. Bookmakers don’t have such feelings, and they tirelessly take advantage of those emotional bets by giving way too low odds.
Also, all sports betting providers have built-in margins. No bets have a 100% payout ratio. Online, most sports betting providers have a payout ratio of about 95 per cent, so that in the long run, providers keep around five per cent of all bets as winnings. As a player, you don’t notice much about this payout ratio, because you can see the odds.
Also, online sports betting providers observe precisely what is happening on their website. If many players are betting on an outsider, the odds will be changed and reduced very quickly.
