Sports betting glossary

American oddsUS odds

Prices written as + or - numbers based on $100. Minus means favorite, plus means underdog.

ArbitrageArb

Bets on both sides at different books, priced so either result pays a small profit — usually 0.5–2%. Books cap stakes, limit accounts and void obvious pricing mistakes, so in practice it is not risk-free.

Backdoor cover

A late, meaningless score that flips the spread result.

Bad beat

Losing a bet in an unusually brutal way, normally on a garbage-time swing.

Bankroll

The money you have set aside for betting, kept separate from money you need, and treated as money you can lose.

Beard

Someone betting under another person's name, because the real bettor has been limited or banned.

Bonus betFree bet

Promotional credit that pays you the profit only, not the stake, if it wins. Worth roughly 60–80% of its face value.

Cashout

Settling a live bet early for less than the full payout. Almost always worse than what the bet is really worth.

CloserClosing line

The last price before the game starts — the market's most accurate number of the day.

Closing line valueCLV

Whether the price moved your way after you bet: the gap between your price and the last one before kickoff. Beating that final price regularly is the best long-run sign you are picking well.

Cover

Winning a spread bet — the favorite won by more than the spread, or the underdog stayed inside it.

Decimal odds

The price as a multiplier that includes your stake. 2.50 decimal is the same price as +150.

Devig

Removing the sportsbook's cut from a market's prices, to estimate the real win chances underneath.

+EVPositive EV, Expected value

A better price than it should be: the payout is bigger than the real chance of winning justifies, so it makes money across many bets. Single bets still lose.

-EV

A worse price than it should be, which loses money across many bets. Standard sportsbook prices are -EV unless you have found an edge.

Fractional odds

The UK way of writing a price: profit over stake. 5/2 means $5 profit for every $2 risked.

Futures

A bet on how a whole season or tournament ends — champion, MVP, season win totals.

GGRGross gaming revenue

What a sportsbook won from bettors, before promo credits and running costs are taken off.

Handle

The total amount wagered at a book or on a market over some period. Not the same as what the book keeps.

Hedge

Betting the other side of a bet you already have, to cut your risk or lock in a smaller return — usually giving up some long-run value to do it.

Hold percentage

The share of everything wagered that the sportsbook keeps. US books typically hold 7–9%.

If bet

A sequence where the next bet is only placed if the one before it wins.

Implied probability

The win chance a price is quietly claiming. -110 implies about a 52.4% chance.

Kelly criterion

A formula for how much to risk: stake more when your edge is bigger. Most people use a quarter or half of what it says, to smooth out the swings.

Key number

A winning margin that happens far more often than its neighbours, so points around it cost more. In the NFL that's 3 and 7.

Limit

The most a book will accept on one bet. Books that welcome professionals take large bets; casual-facing books cap them low.

Line movement

A posted price changing over time, because money came in on one side or news broke.

Line shopping

Checking the same bet at several books and taking the best price. The single most valuable habit in betting.

Live betIn-play

A bet placed after the game has started, with prices updating as it goes.

Middle

Betting both sides at different numbers so there is a narrow window where both win. Most of the time only one does.e.g. +3.5 at one book, -2.5 at another: a 3-point win cashes both.

Moneyline

Bet on who wins outright. Negative odds = favorite (risk $X to win $100); positive = underdog (win $X on $100 risked).

No-vig priceFair odds, Fair price

The price with the sportsbook's cut taken back out — the closest thing to what the bet is really worth.

Opener

The first price posted on a game, often by a book professionals bet into before the rest of the market copies it.

Parlay

One bet made of several picks — every pick has to win. The payout multiplies, and so does the sportsbook's cut.e.g. Three -110 picks pay roughly 6-to-1.

Pleaser

The reverse of a teaser: you move every spread against yourself in exchange for a much bigger payout.

Point spreadSpread, Line, ATS

A handicap that evens out the two sides. The favorite has to win by more than the spread; the underdog can lose by less than it and still cash.e.g. Patriots -6.5 → New England must win by 7 or more.

Promo abuseBonus bagging

Systematically turning promo credit into withdrawable cash by covering both sides. Legal, but books may limit accounts that do it.

Prop betProposition

A bet on something other than the final score — a player's stat line, the coin toss, the first score of the game.

Push

The bet lands exactly on the number, so your stake comes back. No win, no loss.

Reverse line movementRLM

The price moves the opposite way to the crowd — 80% of bets are on Team A, yet the number shifts toward Team B. Often a sign of professional money.

Round robin

A set of smaller parlays generated from a bigger list of picks. Three teams becomes three two-team parlays.

Runner

Someone who places bets for a winning bettor whose own accounts have been limited or closed.

Same-game parlaySGP

A parlay built entirely from one game. Books re-price picks that depend on each other, which usually means a bigger cut for them.

Scalping

Taking both sides for a small margin as prices move — like arbitrage, but timed deliberately rather than found.

Sharp

A bettor who wins over the long run — judged by consistently beating the last price before kickoff, not by a hot week.

Sharp line

A price from a book built for professional bettors, such as Pinnacle or Circa. These move first and are the hardest to beat.

Sharp money

Bets from professionals and betting groups. Sportsbooks move their prices when it arrives.

Soft line

A price from a book aimed at casual bettors that lags behind the rest of the market. That lag is where better-than-fair prices turn up.

Sportsbook

A licensed company that takes bets. In the US, betting apps are licensed state by state.

Square

A recreational bettor, betting for fun rather than profit.

Square moneyPublic money

Everyday recreational bets — usually leaning toward favorites, overs and popular prime-time teams.

Steam move

The price moving fast at several sportsbooks at once — usually large, well-informed money landing everywhere together.

Teaser

A multi-pick bet where you move every spread in your favor (say 6 points in the NFL) and accept a smaller payout for it.e.g. A 6-point, two-team teaser typically pays -120.

TotalOver/Under, O/U

Bet on whether the two teams combined score more or fewer points than the number the sportsbook posts.e.g. Total 47.5 → the over needs 48 combined points.

Unit

Your standard bet size, usually 1–2% of your bankroll. Talking in units lets people compare sizing without sharing account balances.

VigJuice, Margin

The sportsbook's cut, baked into every price. Add up the win chances both prices imply — whatever is over 100% is the cut.e.g. -110 both ways adds up to 104.8%, so the cut is 4.8%.

VoidNo action

The bet is cancelled and your stake refunded — the player didn't play, the game was postponed, or a condition in the rules wasn't met.

Voided promo

Promotional credit a book takes back, because its terms were broken or it decided afterwards that the bet didn't qualify.

Whale

A recreational bettor who stakes a lot. Books extend high limits and offers to keep them.

Today's picks · Compare prices