Sports Betting Glossary Explained: Master the Language of Betting

January 12, 2025 by Staff

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Sports betting is growing in popularity like never before — drawing in die-hard sports fans and casual fans looking to jump on the action. With sports betting, you're wagering on your favorite teams, trying new ways to experience the games you enjoy. Its rise also comes with a complicated language — a unique (and sometimes confusing) one — that can leave the smartest of bettors at a loss. Whether you understand or not, this terminology is useful—and necessary. Mastering the language of betting will also help you sharpen your techniques, maximize your enjoyment, and even give you a better chance at winning. That's where this guide comes in, explains the jargon in simple, clear terms so beginners can learn the ropes and veterans can stay ahead. This is an all-you-care-to-read glossary that will certainly make your head spin and make you ready to be the best when it comes to betting.

Glossary for Betting Terminology

Understanding sports betting terminology is necessary to make an informed path ahead and make your experience as a bettor better.

Action - A bet or wager of any type.

Against the Spread (ATS) - Putting the point spread bet is deciding whether you are choosing the favorite (laying points) or the underdog (taking points). Sometimes a game is a pick 'em, which means both teams aren't considered favorites and there's no point spread to the game.

Backdoor Cover - If a late score doesn't affect the game's outcome but makes a difference in which team with a spread bet gets the win.

Bad Beat - If an unlikely event produces a loss at a bet that appears likely to win.

Bankroll - Amount of money that can be bet.

Bankroll Management - Considering how to manage your bankroll smart and organized.

Book - An abbreviation for a sportsbook.

Buying Points - If you want to modify a line, you must pay a fee. As an example, suppose you wanted to bet on a -3.5 point favorite, you may have the chance to buy the half point (the hook) and convert that into a -3 point favorite.

Chalk - The best, or most popular, option.

Closing Line - Odds are released shortly before a match starts.

Confidence Pools - It's a form of a winner pool where you choose the winner of each game but rank your choices so that each of them is worth a different value.

Contrarian - Against the consensus, or the volume of public wagers.

Cover - We'll consider that bet successful if the spread is covered. For instance, if you're a team that's favored by 3 and wins by 4 you cover the spread.

Dog - Any competitor that isn't at the top.

Draw - Another term for a push. One such example is if 3 points and wins favor a team by exactly 3 points, bets on both favorite and underdog return a draw, with neither side winning. In such a case, both side's wagers are refunded.

Edge - To advantage of a bet. For instance, if you gain an edge on a wager because news comes out of an injured starting quarterback's not being able to competently play. If you can place a bet on the opposite team, before the sportsbook updates the line, or removes the game from the betting option you'd be in a good spot.

Even Money - These odds appear as +100 juice (vig), with odds that yield an equal return without any vig.

Expected Value (+EV, -EV) - Terms used in statistics and finance. Expected value in sports betting is figuring out how much difference a sports book will make with a bet and putting it against how much the bettor intends to win on a wager. This bet is +EV (negative) margin or -EV (positive) margin. The reasoning behind that is that somewhere out there, you can repeatedly place the same +EV bet on the same event an infinite number of times, and it will be profitable in the long run because it will win more often than it will lose.

Favorite - Thought to be the team or competitor that would win a contest. A negative number is a way of saying how much money you made or lost on your favorite—for example, -3 against the spread or -250 on the money line.

Field - A field bet on specific prop or futures bets includes all options not listed for that particular wager. A perfect example is if Buffalo starts 10-0 and becomes the clear favorite to finish the year as the AFC's top seed, a sportsbook might offer the Buffalo vs. field bet on the top seed position. The field is for all the other AFC teams besides the Buffalo Bills. In this case, rooting for everyone outside of the AFC would be a field bet.

Future - They place wagers weeks in advance of a future event. Future bet examples could be predicting which team will take home their division or the Super Bowl before the season even starts.

Handle - Amount of money a sportsbook can take on the event.

Handicapping - Give some form of prediction as to the performance of teams and players in sports.

Hedging - Betting the opposite of your initial wager to lower potential losses or gain a profit. Say I place a parlay of $100 that pays about $2,200 if it hits, but I win the first four legs with the final leg being 2-point home favorites Dallas Cowboys winning against the Buccaneers at +100 NFL odds, and I hedge my original bet. Bet $1,000 on Tampa Bay as a -2 road favorite, and I'll make a profit regardless of who wins Sunday Night Football.

Hook - An additional half point is added to the spread or total bets only. When a line wins there is always an odd number, and a push is impossible. In just one example, the Washington Commanders are -3.5 point home favorites with the Jacksonville Jaguars on opening day. The hook in this line is the half-point.

Juice - The vig or vigorish is commonly used for a sportsbook fee or cut for a given bet. The juices tell us, the amount you would need to bet to get a $100 profit (if the bet wins) when the juice is a negative number. Then, for example, if a bet carries -300 juice, you'll have to bet $300 to win $100 if the bet wins. If the said bet wins, that number is how much profit you get back on a $100 bet if you put your money on positive juice. For instance, if you bet $100 with +500 juice, you would make $500 if it wins.

Key Numbers - In spread betting these are known as key numbers and are based on the most frequent winning margins in games. In football, the key numbers in the NFL are three and seven points. The other common winning margins in the Division 1 included six, 10, and 14.

Laying the Points - Laying the points is simply betting on a favorite.

Limit - The maximum amount a sportsbook will allow you to bet.

Line - Odds set by oddsmakers.

Line Shopping is comparing lines or prices between different sportsbooks to place the best bet. Let's assume the Packers are +1000 to win the Super Bowl at Sportsbook A but +1200 at Sportsbook B — in this case, you'd pick the +1200 because it's the better payout for the same outcome.

Live Betting - After starting, a game is available to place a bet. Of course, they don't change every time, but live betting odds are adjusted after each play.

Long Shot - A significant underdog.

Middle - Place a bet on the betting side of your preliminary wager and odds, hoping that if the result lands between the two, both bets will be won. For example, if you bet on the Chiefs as a 3-point home favorite, and they later become a 10-point favorite, you could lay your bet on their opponent as a +10-point underdog. If the Chiefs win by four to nine points, then you'd win both of them bets.

Money-line Bet - Moneyline gambles are essentially wagers positioned on the straight-up winner of a competition, arranged without some play-on-point spread.

Oddsmaker - A bookmaker or line maker is usually an individual or an organization listed with the title of the responsible person or entity for placing the odds and prices.

Off the Board - Uncertain factors such as injuries or weather conditions cause wagers not to be taken in a situation. A good example is that most sportsbooks have removed the Browns' win total vote this offseason, as there is no certainty as to what Deshaun Watson will become for them.

Over - A bet on the over is a bet that the points scored will be more in numbers than the set game total that was chosen.

Parlay - A parlay is a bet combining two or more bets, where you get a higher payout. But all legs must come out as winners for the bet to win, and each bet in the parlay is called a 'leg.'

Pick'Em - Point spread where neither team has an advantage over the other, leading to a point spread of zero.

Point Spread - The amount by which the favored team is expected to win.

Prop Bets - Single-game gambling options include predicting which team scores first, the number of sacks a team will have, how many receptions a wide receiver will have, or any number of other possibilities. Prop bets get even bigger during the Super Bowl, with bets even on how long the national anthem will last.

Push - Another term for a tie. If a favorite is chosen by 3 points and the favorite wins by a full 3 points, bets on the favorite and the underdog push. In these cases, no one is declared the winner; the wagers are returned on both sides.

Return on Investment (ROI) - The profit you can take from one bet or many bets.

Reverse-Line Movement - Reverse line movement is when that betting line goes the other way from the type of action it is being given. Take, for example, the Chargers are 4-point home favorites against the Raiders on opening day. On Saturday, 65% of bets are taken on the Raiders as 4-point underdogs, but the line swings to Chargers -6. Reverse line movement is despite Raider's support in the majority.

Second-Half Bet - Bets that can only be made on the performance in the second half of a game.

Sharp - An expert in sports betting.

Straight Bet - Either a spread or money line bet.

Steam - If odds shift heavily, money is laid on one side of a bet.

Survivor Pool - You pick each week's winner from a single game, and once you choose a team, you can't choose them again all season. Knockout pool or otherwise, contests like these are common.

Tail - To place a bet the same as someone else did or to replicate someone else's bet.

Taking the Points - If you're willing to take the points on an underdog, you're betting on them.

Teaser - A teaser bet combines two or more wagers however, the bettor receives extra points on the spread or total for each selection to receive a bonus instead of a higher payout. How many legs are in the teaser determines how many additional points. Let's say, for instance, the Lions come out as +3.5 point home underdogs, the Steelers as +6 point road underdogs, and the Panthers as +1.5 point home underdogs. Using the lens of +10 points per leg, you'd have Lions +13.5, Steelers +16, Panthers +10.5, and would get +10 points whether you favored those or not.

Totals - The line set amount that is projected to be scored by each team in a game.

Under- If you're betting the under, you're betting that the total points scored will be less than the predicted game total.

Unit - It's a unit that is typically 1% of your initial bankroll. For instance, in this case, one unit would equal $10 with a $1,000 bankroll.

Vigorish - The fee charged or commission for a bet by a sportsbook is sometimes called the vig or juice. Positive vigorish is the profit taken on $100 wagered if the bet wins. For instance, if you bet $100 on +500 vigorish, you win $500 profit if you win. A -300 vigorish is the inverse of that, which means that you'd need to wager $300 to win $100.

Wager - Any type of wager.

Win Totals - During the season, sports books predict what each team is going to win, and then for a win total bet you're betting on over or under that figure before the season.