Sports betting is a form of wagering on the outcome of a sporting event. The size of the industry is estimated to be around $231 billion.

Sports betting has grown in popularity in recent years, and there has never been a better time to get involved. Traditional bookies were a big deal in the past, but decentralized sportsbooks like UBET SPORTS are taking over and promising a better sports betting experience than traditional bookmakers. More on why decentralized sportsbooks are superior to traditional bookmakers may be found here.

This guide will show you how to turn your passion for sports into a profitable hobby, we will guide you on how to get started as a beginner punter.

How Does Sports Betting Work?

To bet on a sporting event simply means to take a chance on the outcome of the sporting event. There are various kinds of sports betting. You can bet on a team to win, the total number of goals, points, or runs scored by two teams in a sporting event, or even the statistical performance of an individual athlete or team. For example, you can bet on Anthony Joshua to win a fight against Tyson Fury in the WBC heavyweight championship, the Golden State Warriors to score more points against the Boston Celtics in an NBA game, or Mo Salah to score a hat trick against Chelsea in an English Premier League match. All of these are examples of different options you can wager on in a sporting event, and they are referred to as Market options.

The most standard markets are:

Match bet (Moneyline) — In these markets, you are betting on a team to win or the game ends in a draw. The 3-way outcome options are Home, Away, or Draw, which are commonly denoted by 1, 2, or X respectively. Some sports only allow for a win or a loss; there can never be a draw. These sports are known as two-way outcome options. A few examples of two-way sports include basketball, boxing, and tennis.

Over or Under (O/U) –In an over/under (O/U) market, a sportsbook makes a prediction for a particular metric/stat in a particular game, this metric could be the number of goals, match points, fouls, corner kicks, yellow cards, etc and bettors make a wager on whether the actual number in the game will be higher or lower than that figure.

Handicap — This option, sometimes known as point-betting, is utilized by bookmakers to level the playing field when two teams compete in which one team is clearly superior to the other. This option offers the weaker team an advantage in winning, putting the stronger team at a disadvantage. There are two kinds of handicap markets:

1. Asian handicap — It can be presented in positive or negative decimals, but there is never a chance of a draw because there is a .5 decimal. For example, in the Asian Handicap market, the favorite team can begin with a handicap of -1.5, meaning that the favourite team must win by at least two goals.

2. European handicap — It is also known as the three-way handicap since it allows for the match outcome to be a victory, draw, or defeat, and it differs from the Asian handicap in that it is a whole number.
   Fulham, for example, might be given +55 points to win the Premier League title, while Manchester City could start from scratch. If Manchester City wins the title with 100 points, Fulham would need at least a +46 point to equal 101 points (i.e. plus the 55 point head start) to win the title, and you would win your wager.

How to Read Odds?

Bookmakers set betting odds to reflect the likelihood of an event occurring. Odds are simply the ratio of the money bet by each party in a wager or bet. Odds of 3 to 1 indicate that the first party (the bookmaker) has staked three times as much as the second party (the bettor).

Sports odds are usually calculated either in decimals, fractions, or American odd style. You can easily convert from one to the other. Below are the different types of sports betting odds;

Decimal Odds — It is also known as European odds due to its popularity in Europe. The amount one wins for every $1 staked is indicated by the real number odd.

For example, Manchester City is given odds of 1.14 to win against Nottingham Forest, while the odds for Nottingham Forest to win are 7.55 and the odds for the game to end in a draw are 4.00. This implies you might win $1.14 for every $1 you bet on Manchester City to win and $7.55 for every $1 you bet on Nottingham Forest to win. And if you choose a draw, you would win $4 for every $1 wagered.

Fractional Odds — Given its popularity among the British, it is commonly referred to as British odd. It is typically written with a slash or hyphen, so 3/1 or 3–1 odds means you win $3 for every $1 wagered and receive the amount wagered back. Let’s say the odds on the three teams most likely to win the English Premier League in 2022/2023 are as follows:

Because you would win $14 for every $4 you bet on Manchester City to win the championship, it is clear that they are the most likely team to do so. For Chelsea to win, which is a little less likely, you would win $9 for every $2 you bet. For Nottingham Forest, for every $1 wagered, you would win $60 as they are the least favourite among the three teams.

American Odds — It is called the American odds because of its popularity in the United States. The money line odds for favorites are denoted by a minus (-) sign, along with the stake required to win $100. The odds for the underdogs, on the other hand, are indicated with a positive (+) sign and display the amount won for each $100 staked. The spread between the odds for the favorite and the underdog widens as the likelihood of the favorite winning increases.

Consider the money line odds for the English Premier League game between Manchester City and Nottingham Forest FC.

There is a significant difference between the two odds in this matchup, indicating a much higher probability of Manchester City winning the game with odds of -700. The bookmaker has given Nottingham Forest FC odds of +655, indicating a much lower probability that Nottingham Forest FC will win the game.

The table below shows the conversion table for the most common odds and also their implied probabilities.

How to Find Value When Betting on Football

A value bet is one in which the likelihood of a particular outcome exceeds the odds given. Value betting means only placing a wager when your chances of winning outweigh those predicted by the bookmaker.

It can be challenging to identify value when placing your first wager. The recommendations provided below outline a thorough method you can use to maximize your winnings when placing a football bet.

1. Look at teams with similar records

2. Check out their recent form in games against similar opponents

3. Compare their current stats with last season’s stats

4. Compare a team’s odds to other teams with similar records that have recently performed better or worse than that team

5. Look at injuries and suspensions for each team (both recent and long-term)

Sports Betting: Skill vs. Luck?

The outcomes of sporting events and betting are typically determined by chance, skill, or a combination of the two. But, you may wonder, can one truly foretell a future event? Is the weatherman certain it will rain tomorrow, or is it just a guessing game? For example, in-depth research of historical data can improve future weather forecasts. The question of skills vs. luck in sports is discussed in greater depth here.

Skill-based sports betting entails placing bets based on “knowledge” of a particular sport and a team. A skillful punter will usually base his bias about an outcome on a sporting event based solely on available statistics. Soccer is an excellent example. If, after thorough consideration of offered odds, you conclude that Team A has a better probability of winning than Team B, you will undoubtedly bet against Team B.

A skillful punter considers several factors that affect the outcome of any given match or event. For example:

• Past data — past data such as head-to-head between players and team is an important factor to consider

• Player fatigue/injuries — if players get tired during matches then they will not be able to perform as well as they would have otherwise

• Referee decisions — these have a huge impact on who wins and loses matches

• Weather conditions — if rainy or windy then this may cause the ball to fly out of bounds or even into touch before it reaches the goal line

The sportsbook in which you make your bets is a crucial aspect that can have a significant impact on your betting success. Naturally, bettors will seek out the best odds in order to maximize their profit. The odds offered by different sportsbooks vary depending on the level of risk that each bookie is ready to accept; this influences our bias and decision-making when selecting market choices to bet on. It is important to note that in this situation, decentralized sportsbooks like UBET Sports offer the greatest odds because the market determines them rather than a centralized bookmaker that frequently finds ways to always set the odds against the bettor. By removing this conundrum, the high odds offered by UBET Sports help you make smarter decisions.

Sports betting that relies on luck entails putting wagers on the result of the game rather than whether it will be won or lost based on skills or efforts put into pre-match analysis. An example is a 94th-minute Mo Salah goal against Chelsea to give Liverpool a 1–0 win in the waning seconds after you had bet on Liverpool to win could be attributed to luck even after you had skillfully conducted your pre-match investigation.

As a result, even after using skills to forecast, we may still have to rely on luck to succeed. However, skill’s contribution is crucial for your winnings over the long run, while luck accounts for a short-term reward or loss.

Other Ways to Invest in Sports Betting

One of the main advantages of a decentralized sportsbook over traditionally centralized sportsbooks is that an entirely new and more reliable way to profit from sports betting will be available to you: liquidity provision. Traditionally, punters stake against a centralized bookie who has all the leverage when it comes to odd-setting, liquidity provision, and wager limits. In such a closed system, the punters are at the mercy of the bookie and have to abide by rules that ever so slightly favour the bookie. Over time, this so-called “house edge” amounts to massive profits for the bookie, so much so that they can make it their entire business. In other words, the odds are always in the bookie’s favour because they set the odds!

With the advent of decentralization and web3 sports betting, things are changing in a big way. The gate to liquidity provision is opening to punters’ delight worldwide and innovation is finally entering a market that has been stagnant for decades. What does this mean for you? As a sports fan, you are now able to stake to earn passive yields no matter the outcome of a game, essentially becoming the bookie and taking the house edge for yourself. While the winnings (or losses) may not be as glamorous, the risk you take is far less than your average sports bet, which will amount to profit over time.

On top of this, there are technical advantages to decentralization that may further benefit punters. Features like limit order betting, betting API, liquidity provider dashboard, and more will surely amount to huge profits for the betting community rather than the house.

Learn more about liquidity provision on UBET Sports here.

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