Today, online sportsbooks cover several types of sports and racing events and offer different betting options for each of them. Punters looking to place a bet online will have to first understand the different betting rules for the particular sport they wish to bet on. Some of the top sports covered include soccer, tennis, baseball, basketball, cricket, formula 1 and golf, and racing events like horse racing, greyhound racing and handicap events.
Before placing a bet online for your sporting event, you must first find a secure sportsbook, register with it and make a deposit there. You may be awarded a free bet as a welcome bonus but you will have to understand the range of betting options open to you by the sportsbook you are dealing with, before placing a wager.
UK bookmakers and US sportsbooks have various types of bets and use unique names for the same bets.
When it comes to football, soccer and basketball betting, punters will have to use the point spread system to place their wagers. These bets are made on teams, scores and occasionally on individual players. They involve over and under bets and punters who bet on any one of these games will usually be able to bet well on the other. These bets constitute point spread bets, parlays, teasers, money line bets and totals. Parlay and teasers fall under the exotic bet category and usually involve the outcome of two matches or more.
Horse racing on the other hand is one of the most common forms of betting and has its own types of bets; this system is also extremely similar to grey hound dog racing betting. Ensure that you check with your sportsbook about the types of bets offered, because not all sportsbook cater to every type of bet for each sport.
In horse racing, the Straight bet also known as the Single or Win bet, is by far the most common and involves betting on one animal. There are also other bets such as the Place bet, show bet, the Combination bet and then the pick bets. The pick bets include the Pick 3 and the Pick 6. There are also forecast bets called the Quiniela (a reverse forecast bet), the Perfecta or Straight Forecast, the Trifecta or Treble Forecast, the Superfecta, the Daily Double and the Jackpot. Horse race betting also has exotic multiple bets like the Accumulator bet and the future bet which wagers on events to come. The accumulator bets have several categories of their own, although only a few are offered by each sportsbook.
Tennis bets and Cricket bets include match bets where the outcome of the match is wagered upon. You can also bet on the winner, a place finish which is a proposition bet, or opt to make combination bets, two ball bets, three ball bets, group bets and spread bets.
Some sportsbook also offer proposition bet also called prop bets, which are special bets put up by the site with the odds chosen by the sportsbook.