Sports betting is the art of predicting the results of a sporting activity, then placing a wager or a bet on the out come.

Sports betting is a form of gambling whose legality and general acceptance varies from nation to nation. In the United States, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 makes it illegal to operate a “betting, gambling or wagering scheme”, except for in the states of Delaware, Nevada, Montana and Oregon.

In many European nations bookmaking (the profession of accepting sports wagers) is highly regulated but not criminalized. Proponents of legalized sports betting generally regard it as a hobby for sports fans that increases their interest in particular sporting events, thus benefiting the leagues, teams and players they bet on through higher attendances and television audiences.

Opponents fear that, over and above the general ramifications of gambling, it threatens the integrity of amateur and professional sport, the history of which includes numerous attempts by sports gamblers to fix matches, although proponents counter that legitimate bookmakers will invariably fight corruption just as fiercely as governing bodies and law enforcement do.

Most sports bettors are overall losers as the bookmakers odds are fairly efficient. However, there are professional sports bettors that make a good income betting sports, many of which utilize sports information services. Sports betting is illegal throughout most of the United States, common throughout much of Europe, and an everyday part of the gambling industry in Nevada.

It’s difficult to figure out how much money is bet on sports in the United States since the majority of it is done illegally, but experts estimate more than $200 billion annually.

Now placing a bet can be a confusing for the new bettor as sports books have their own lingo, and their systems vary. Figuring out how to bet well enough to make some money is another matter entirely. How are the odds determined? What percentage of the time do you need to win to break even? What to bet on?

Sports Betting Basics
Have you ever wanted to place a bet on a sporting event, but been overwhelmed by all the talk of odds, point spreads, bookies, and sportsbooks?

At first glance the world of sports betting can seem to be a complex one; it’s not nearly as daunting as it may first appear.

Sports gambling has been around since the beginning of time, with people through the ages been known to have wagered on fighting, horse racing, and even cockfighting.

In the 1800s, horse racing was the sport of choice among gamblers, with boxing also popular, but as the popularity of baseball in the US of A increased in the later part of the century, so did baseball betting, and the popularity of wagering on the sport was brought to the forefront during the 1919 World Series, which will live on in infamy as the Black Sox Scandal.

College sports, such as football and basketball, began to catch the public eye in the early stages of the 20th century, and over time, those two sports soon rivaled baseball as popular betting activities. For a number of years, football and basketball bets were placed using odds, a practice that still takes place today and is known as betting with the money line .

The Advent of the Point Spread
The only problem with the money line is that a number of the college football and basketball games were mismatches and all of the gamblers would be betting on the same team, which is not what the bookmakers want.

In the 1940s, the bookmakers changed the face of sports gambling forever when they came out with the point spread.

The point spread is a handicap placed on the expected winner of a football or basketball game in points. If Team A are expected to beat Team B by a large margin then the point spread on the game could be as high as 20 points. Basically, that means 20 points are subtracted from Team A’s score or added to Team B’s score for betting purposes. If a gambler places a bet on Team A, they must win by 21 or more points for the gambler to win their bet. Those placing bets on Team B will win if Team B win the game or lose by 19 points of less.

The primary purpose of the point spread was to help the bookmakers balance their books. Instead of the vast majority of gamblers all betting on the same team, there were more bets placed on both teams.

Because the bookmakers make the bettor risk $11 to win $10, balanced action will guarantee the bookmaker a profit regardless of which team wins the game.

The television explosion of the 1950s was another boost for bookies, as sports and television was a perfect match. People soon found out that a wager on a game would add to the excitement of watching the game and sports gambling has been growing at a steady rate every year.

The Start of Totals
Bookmakers aren’t dumb and they quickly realized the more betting opportunities they had for the public, the more wagers the public would make. That thinking led to the creation of totals.

Totals, or over/unders, is a betting proposition where gamblers wager on the combined final score, without any regard to the winner of the game.
Betting against the point spread, with the money line, or on totals are the three most popular forms of sports betting that take place today.

In recent years, bookmakers have continued to come out with additional betting opportunities, such as parlays and teasers.

You’re now well on your way to joining the exciting world of sports betting. For the next step, how to improve your odds against the bookies.

For more on Sports Betting and ways to improve your odds
Check out System Betting Review

[tags]Sports Betting[/tags]