Sports Gambling is Easy: A How to Guide for Picking Winners

Advice for Beginners

Whether you're new to gambling or an old pro, there is always more to learn about the art of competitive wagering. Like most things in life, you need money to make money. It helps if you have thousands of dollars to lay down, but if you don't, here's my guide for productive sports gambling under a hundred dollars a month.

1. KNOW THE BASICS: There is a wealth of terminology and information within the gambling world. Here's a quick rundown of the factoids and phrases that you'll need to be comfortable with to make effective wagers.

The Spread: In most games (especially basketball and football) there is a point spread which is very popular for betters (other sports like baseball, only offer the money line and odds for betters). Favorites are denoted with a - sign while underdogs are assigned a + sign. For instance, the Knicks if the knicks were 3 point underdogs against the Nuggets, they would be +3 (you could also say the Knicks are getting 3). The Nuggets would be -3 (or giving 3). If you felt that the Knicks were likely to lose by 2 points or less or win the contest, you would take the Knicks (+3). If you like the Nuggets to win by a margin of 4 or more, you would pick the Nuggets (-3). If the Nuggets won 99-96, this would be considered a PUSH- and all money would be returned. Betting on the spread in singular games usually pays slightly less than 1-1 (or if you wagered $20 and won you would recieve around $19 in return, or $39 total back)

The Money Line: If you don't want to get mixed up in the spread or want to bet on baseball, then you have to understand the money line. The money line is simple- pick a winner. If you pick a favorite to win without using the point spread (for example, UCONN is -12 vs. Notre Dame) the payout will be very low (you will only win about $5 on a $20 wager). It works in the reverse when you pick an underdog to win out right as well, however (if you have a hunch that Notre Dame will upset UCONN, the payout will be more like $60 on your $20). The oddsmakers determine the odds for the moneyline and they are constantly changed and updated.