Can someone explain "the spread" and "over/under" sport jargon?

Ed_Flecko

Ed_Flecko

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Point spread. The difference in points where one will win. The house gets a "vig" or a small cut. Typically it's where a $110 bet can win $100. That's getting the original $110 back plus $100.

For the point spread, it's currently -4 for the Ravens, meaning they need to win by more than 4 points. It's +4 for the Chiefs, meaning they can win or lose with less than 4 points. If the Ravens win by 4 points, the original bet is returned.

Over/under is the total number of points scored and one either bets over or under that number. The win is the same $100 for a $110 bet.

There are other bets like straight up to win (no point spread), and they'll be something like +300, which means a $100 bet will win $300 with the original $100 returned. Or -300 means giving up a certain amount, where a $100 bet wins $33.33 (I think) with the original returned. That part is a little trickier and anyone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
The numbers are created by the most logical outcome and will fluctuate by the amount of money placed on each side of the number. This is to increase the chances of profiting. It took a bit for me to fully understand the financial outcomes of the +/- numbers, but having participated in this for awhile now (as it's legal here) I get how it works.
 
Ravens vs. Chiefs spread: Baltimore -4
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If you place a points spread bet on Baltimore, the team has to win by 5 or more or your bet loses. This is called a bet "against the spread" or "giving [up] the points." The minus sign means to handicap Baltimore by subtracting 4 from their actual score, then compare the resulting numbers.
Baltimore winning by 5 or more is called "Ravens covered the spread"
Kansas City losing, but by 3 or fewer points (so a bet on Kansas City still wins) is called "Chiefs beat the spread"
If the points difference is exactly 4 neither bet wins. This is a "push." Points spreads are often quoted with an offset 0.5 point so a push is not possible.

The vig takes away any hope of making money overall on sports bets, unless you're the casino. The casino really doesn't care who wins. They try to set the spread so the same amount of money gets bet on both sides.
 
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mk378 said:
The vig takes away any hope of making money overall on sports bets, unless you're the casino. The casino really doesn't care who wins. They try to set the spread so the same amount of money gets bet on both sides.
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That doesn't necessarily work out with equal action though. There might be about equal action on both sides across a wide swath of legal casinos, but a lot of casinos might take heavy action on one side. And many win or lose all the time. Their exposre is often similar to how they deal with banked games like blackjack and baccarat. They're looking to the vig in order to win over time, but sometimes they lay down their own numbers and lose. I mean - I've seen a board with all sorts of games and if there's a bet on some Ivy League men's basketball game, that might be the only bet they take or with almost nobody ever betting on that game. They can even lose with NFL betting. But some weeks they win considerably more than the vig, but also lose way more than the vig other weeks depending on where the heavy betting is. The vig allows them to win over time, but not for every game or every week/day since there typically isn't equal action.

Sportsbooks lose big in NFL Week 12: 'We got crushed' | FOX Sports

One sportsbook put Week 12 into perspective for the house: “This is as bad as you can do on a Sunday, really." Check out the full betting recap from the football weekend.
www.foxsports.com www.foxsports.com

I'm not a heavy sports gambler. I've never made a sports bet with an illegal bookie nor an online sportsbook. I think the total number of bets I've made is less than 6 and all were in Nevada where it was legal and most I ever put down was $30. But I take interest in the little details.
 
y_p_w said:
Or -300 means giving up a certain amount, where a $100 bet wins $33.33 (I think) with the original returned. That part is a little trickier and anyone correct me if I'm wrong.
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Basically yes. What it means is it takes a $300 bet to win $100, but your math is correct on a smaller bet.
 
Jimmy_Russells said:
Basically yes. What it means is it takes a $300 bet to win $100, but your math is correct on a smaller bet.
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I had a bet like that once where I would have won something like 1.7:1 for my bet winning. And the irony was that the team I bet on just had to win, but the spread was something like 4 points. I actually wanted to bet the spread and get the points, but I said "straight bet" and the casino worker in Reno thought I wanted the odds. He actually said he thought it was a good bet.

The team I bet on was winning by 5 points with a minute left and it seemed like a solid win and I wouldn't need to worry about not betting the spread. Then it went to overtime but I still had a chance. Then the team I bet on lost by two points, so I was wondering why I made that mistake.

But I'm not really a sports better. I was just bored in Reno with family.
 
y_p_w said:
That doesn't necessarily work out with equal action though. There might be about equal action on both sides across a wide swath of legal casinos, but a lot of casinos might take heavy action on one side. And many win or lose all the time. Their exposre is often similar to how they deal with banked games like blackjack and baccarat. They're looking to the vig in order to win over time, but sometimes they lay down their own numbers and lose. I mean - I've seen a board with all sorts of games and if there's a bet on some Ivy League men's basketball game, that might be the only bet they take or with almost nobody ever betting on that game. They can even lose with NFL betting. But some weeks they win considerably more than the vig, but also lose way more than the vig other weeks depending on where the heavy betting is. The vig allows them to win over time, but not for every game or every week/day since there typically isn't equal action.

Sportsbooks lose big in NFL Week 12: 'We got crushed' | FOX Sports

One sportsbook put Week 12 into perspective for the house: “This is as bad as you can do on a Sunday, really." Check out the full betting recap from the football weekend.
www.foxsports.com www.foxsports.com

I'm not a heavy sports gambler. I've never made a sports bet with an illegal bookie nor an online sportsbook. I think the total number of bets I've made is less than 6 and all were in Nevada where it was legal and most I ever put down was $30. But I take interest in the little details.
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Thank you! This is something that non-bettors don't understand and think the books want things at 50/50 on each bet and make their money off the vig. The books are very confident in their spreads and are in it for the long haul. For example, last week's 49ers/Packers game had 78% of the money bet on the over at 50. The books cleaned up when the under paid at 45. Houston Texans took 62% of the handle at +9.5 and the books cleaned up again. The books might also lose a lopsided bet. It evens out in their favor over time.
 
Leo99 said:
Thank you! This is something that non-bettors don't understand and think the books want things at 50/50 on each bet and make their money off the vig. The books are very confident in their spreads and are in it for the long haul. For example, last week's 49ers/Packers game had 78% of the money bet on the over at 50. The books cleaned up when the under paid at 45. Houston Texans took 62% of the handle at +9.5 and the books cleaned up again. The books might also lose a lopsided bet. It evens out in their favor over time.
Click to expand...

The one thing I believe the "house" never loses is with horse racing, which I've seen in legal casinos. I'm not sure how it works with online horse racing. I was under the impression that all these tracks, offsite betting locations, and casinos pooled everything together where it's parimutuel and the odds aren't final until bets are closed. And there's a certain cut that goes to the track where the race takes place. And I believe the "house" is not allowed to lose by most laws that allow parimutuel betting.

It might be different for other racing. Betting isn't legal in Islamic countries, but it's possible to bet on horse racing competitions there internationally. That must be closer to other types of sports betting.
 
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