Betting Terms Explained

Become familiar with the meaning of sports betting terms and you can place your next bet with the confidence that you understand what you are actually betting on. Our Sports Betting Glossary page contains some of the terms you will come across when you visit any Nigerian online bookmaker. Learn the different terms and how they are used when betting on sports games. Understanding how the game works has been shown to improve a player's chances of winning exponentially.

Betting terminology varies from sport to sport, and even from region to region within a country. Brush up on your horse racing terminology and you'll be able to understand what the guy next to you is babbling about as you both wait for the next race to start. Betting on football is becoming increasingly popular in the USA, and with that popularity has come a whole new world of football specific betting terms. While there is some overlap, betting on soccer (or football as most of the rest of the world calls it) requires its own vocabulary.

Betting on sports requires an understanding of some basic concepts, such as point spread, money line, and over/under. These three terms are at the heart of most bets. Beyond them, you should be aware of what odds mean. There are many other details - almost a whole language - that you can uncover.

A-H

Accumulator – this term refers to the collective bet that features two or more bets in a single bet slip.
Ante-post – this relates to the early market bets offered before the competition begins.
Betting Line – refers to the odds on a match that determine the favourites and the underdog in a tie.
Buy points – this bet entails paying more than what the sportsbook’s predetermined to move the point spread to a custom betting line.
Chalk – the team pegged as the favourites to win.
Cover – this reflects the scenario in which the favourite team wins the match by a bigger margin than described in the handicap or spread bet.
Double bet – also known as doubling up, when a player wagers twice the value of the bet to take advantage of the odds.
Draw – when a match ends in a tie after regulation time.
Edge – relates to the advantage that a bettor has from having knowledge about how the result will go.
Exposure – refers to the value attached to a potential loss in a match.
Favourite – this is the individual or the team that is perceived to have the best chance to win the match.
Future – this refers to wagers on the winner of the competition before the event begins.
Grand Salami – this refers to the bet on the total number of goals that will be scored in all the games in a single league round of matches.
Handicap – this refers to the point margin given to the underdog in a match that is intended to level the playing field.
Hedging – this refers to placing a bet on the opposite side after having placed a wager on a different side to ensure that you do not lose.

I-W

In-play betting – the process of placing bets on the outcome of the game after it has already started playing. It is also known as live betting.
Juice – this is the portion that the sportsbook charge for the allowing players to bet online.
Limit – reflects the maximum bet that is allowed on a specific line.
Lock – a situation in which a selected bet is considered an obvious win.
Money Line – refers to a wager on the outcome of the game to be either win, lose or draw.
Odds – indicates the probability of the outcome of a match.
Outright bet – betting on the winner of a tournament.
Pari-mutuel – this refers to a wager amongst bettors as opposed to against a sportsbook.
Parlay – the process in which the betting calculator adds extra bets onto a single bet slip to improve the odds.
Stake – to risk your money wagering on a sports event.
Teaser – a specific selection of parlay bets that are combined in a single ticket to attract players to wager online.
Total – the aggregate amount of goals or points in a match in which bettors predict the match will end. It is also known as the betting terms over-under.
Underdog – the team or player pegged the less likely to win in a tie.
Wiseguy – a term used to refer to a well-informed or knowledgeable bettor or handicapper.