Week 2: Definition of Sports Betting, Terms, and Concepts

via GIPHY

Hey everyone, just wanted to start this project off with my first research blog post! This week I wanted to introduce you to what sports betting is, as well as giving myself a better grasp of the topic. I decided to begin by looking up definitions of “sports betting” by using keywords in Google such as “sports”, and “betting”, “gambling”, and more. I also though it would be a good idea for me to search for key terms and concepts that will likely arise frequently throughout this project. This could not come at a better time, since my all-time favourite sports team (Tampa Bay Lightning) are currently in the Stanley Cup Finals, and I am going to place a bet on them to win!

Definition:

Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. (Wikipedia)

Thomas, M. (2018). Sports Betting is NOT Gambling. Zen Sports. https://blog.zensports.com/sports-betting-is-not-gambling-its-skill-based-63a8af49ea62

I learned a lot about my topic this week! It was very insightful gaining more knowledge on the background of sports betting and becoming more familiar with certain terms and concepts that I have see before, but never really knew what they meant. I read through so many terms, such as “Moneyline” (payout, based on odds), “Accumulator” (series of single bets that have been grouped together), “Handicaps” (advantage given to underdogs), and “Parlay” (moving money used on one bet to the next one).

I also learned that the “Bookmakers” (sports betting organizations) – who are the ones who determine the odds and payout (moneylines) for the games – make commission every time a bettor loses their bet (Nerds of Gambling, 2020). This is important because it shows how sports betting is a game and, in the end, the Bookkmakers and companies always win over the ones who are betting. This is also why an odds of -110 means that you need to risk $110 just to make $100 back (Monroy, 2013). You rarely make as much back as you risk, even if you win! Conversely, odds that are underdogs (denoted by a +), mean that is how much money you’ll win if you risk $100. Although the payout is higher, these wagers usually never win, and the consumer usually ends up losing all their money!

It is also important to note that there are three different formats for displaying odds; different bookmakers use different formats. American odds use the format that I discussed above. Decimal odds are expressed by a number that shows how much the payout will be per unit staked (i.e., 1.30 means you’ll make 130% of your money back if you win); fractional odds do the same using fractions (i.e., 3/1 means you’’ win 300% of your money back, 1/3 means you’ll only make 33% back, etc.). Again, this illustrates how math is at the heart and soul of gambling!

One last thing I wanted to discuss are some common bet types (Gambling Sites, 2020). Win and moneyline bets are the most straightforward – simply select who you think will win and the odds will determine your payout. Totals and over/under bets are also simple: bet on whether you think the total score will be over or under the bookmaker’s prediction. Points spread and handicap betting are where things get a little trickier. Here, the bookmaker predicts how many points the favoured team will win by, and adds this many points to the underdog’s final score. For example, if a favourite with a handicap of -6 wins a basketball game 105-100, they actually “lose” that game 100-99. The last major type of bet that someone can place is called a prop bet, which includes wagers on just about anything (ex. which team will score first). There are several other types of bets you can place, but I think that’s enough for the purpose of my Genius Hour. After all, I’m trying to provide you with some sense and educate you on the risks of gambling based on statistics, not teach you how to become a gambling addict!!

For our next Genius Hour, I will definitely need to continue to learn about some more key terms regarding sports and gambling. It will be nice to continue to freshen up on some of these concepts for next week. I also want to apply my new knowledge by betting a little bit myself and exploring some betting websites online.

I will use the newly gained understanding from this week to drive my project further. Having this basic and fundamental knowledge will be crucial from here on out, while doing the remainder of my research. It is vital that I keep the definitions and concepts that I learned this week in mind when completing the rest of my project. I cannot wait to see where this knowledge will take me, and research more about how sports betting works and how statistics has a critical role to play!