Point spreads. Money lines. Cash outs, same-game parlays, totals and in-game wagering, oh my. Sports betting is entertainment, but understanding the variety of sports wagers and what the numbers mean can be overwhelming in the beginning. Reading the market, handicapping games, and knowing value requires experience.
To that end, Sports Handle offers this review of common pitfalls to consider, and a little advice for newcomers to legal mobile sportsbooks. Allow us to be your humble guide, your sherpa, the Jimmy to your Greek as we navigate the 10 biggest pitfalls you're likely to encounter when becoming a sports betting hobbyist.
(Go here to check out our article on expected value and how to factor it into how you look at your bets.)
Beginner Sports Betting Mistakes, Lessons: Homerism, Bankroll Management, Betting While Boozing and More
While it's fun to put a few bucks down on your favorite team or player, please note the “fun” and “few bucks” portion of this sentence. Rooting for the home team is one thing; willing to lose money on them is a whole 'nuther ballgame.
In short: Don't let your homerism hinder your sports betting research.
And don't think this “.” Let’s, for instance, look at some intel provided by DraftKings. They went live in Tennessee halfway through the NFL season in 2020. They launched in November. The hometown Tennessee Titans were the most-bet team in Tennessee for the football season. They didn't crack the top five in any other state DraftKings operates.
But it wasn't just Tennessee; the Pittsburgh Steelers were the most bet team by Pennsylvania bettors, and they only cracked the top five in a few other states.
Bottom line: The lyric is “,” not “.” Check your home squad biases at the door.
[Also See: Sports Betting Sharps, Top Betting Twitter Accounts to Follow]
Parlays are a sportsbook's best friend. They bring in the most profit — by a lot — at all sportsbooks.
And they are so very, very tempting.
$250 ?? $103,041.28… Are you kidding me?!? ??
The dream parlay ?? https://t.co/14gzcjXlwd
— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) January 21, 2021
Putting together two, three, four, five, six (stop us any time), seven, eight, nine or more bets into one parlay — and watching that “” number climb exponentially — is fun. Hitting a parlay is even funner (not a word, but you know what we mean).
So why beware? Well, for starters, the odds aren't in your favor. Literally. You might think you put two bets together, you'll get a 4-to-1 payout, three bets an 8-to-1, four 16-to-1, etc. But you don't. You get maybe 3.6-to-1, 6.84-to-1, etc. So to be clear: While your odds increase with each successive bet, the individual odds that go into the whole bet shrink up. In short: Parlays aren't worth the money.
But they are fun, which is why we recommend going easy! Parlays should not be your bread and butter. Put another way, the won’t butter your sports betting bread.
Consider this: Generally speaking, sportsbooks “hold” around 30 percent of parlay bets. Compare that to single-game NFL bets, for instance — where the “hold” is roughly five percent — and you'll see why sportsbooks love those parlays.
A few bucks here and there, no big deal. But chasing down six-figure takedowns is a fool's errand.
Bankroll management is crucial for sport bettors of every experience level. It's something beginners probably think little about, if at all. Even if you're only a “recreational” bettor who's looking for entertainment, discipline will make your dollars go a much longer way.
Put in place a certain set of rules, such as setting cap limits (the max amount you'll wager on any day), and determine the size of your sports betting “unit.” A unit refers to the standard size of your wager, often connected to a percentage of your overall bankroll.
For example, if your bankroll is $200, based on 5 percent, one unit for you would be $10. Let's say you feel especially strong about a game or side, you could bump up your wager to three units, or $30.
You can use units as a way to account for total wins or losses and track them over the course of a season. Although many personal rules may change over time, it's vital to follow some personal guidelines, while maintaining self-control, rather than chucking dollars around – or chasing – with no rhyme or reason.
Pennies from heaven … add up after a while. For most states with legal online sports betting, competition is the name of the game. And with competition sometimes comes … well, competition. As such, before you place a wager, you owe yourself the few minutes it will take to make sure you're getting not only the best number, but also the best odds.
Let's say you love the Detroit Lions at home against the Chicago Bears, and the Lions are getting 3.5 points at -112 on DraftKings, where you already have a DFS account, and so it's just easy to bet there.
But maybe the odds are only -108 at PointsBet … or maybe they're -120 on FanDuel, but you're getting four points instead of 3.5. Or maybe FOX Bet is running a promo, and you can get +100 odds?
It always, always, always, makes sense to shop the line. Maybe it saves you a dollar here, makes you a dollar there. Those dollars add up, and can even be the difference between a profitable year and a not-profitable year. Don't get married to any one sportsbook; shop, shop, shop.
Things you should never do while drunk, a sublist:
- Get behind the wheel of a car.
- Call or text or ex.
- Place a bet.
We're going to be talking about chasing losses in a moment, but how easy is the following scenario to picture: You bet the Philadelphia 76ers -4.5 against the Charlotte Hornets, you have a few beers while watching the game, your bet is clearly going to come down to the wire, you have a few more beers, and … the Sixers win by four after they allowed a meaningless layup to the Hornets as time expired.
At this point of the bad beat, you're angry. You're also a little drunk. Your decision-making capabilities are not what they normally are. Now is not the time to bet twice the amount on the Warriors-Clippers 10:30 game, a game you've done zero research on.
Seriously: If you know you're going to be drinking, it's best to also keep your fingers off the “” button.
There's probably some psychology behind it, who knows, we're not psychologists, but Joe Q. Public loves to bet the favorites, and they love to be the overs. I guess it makes sense: Who wants to root for an under? We want to see points!