If you are a sports enthusiast and had wished to wager on sports in the past, but were weighed down by all the technical jargon such as point spreads, odds, and book making, relax. After you have read this post, you shall be ready to participate within a short period of time. Although sports betting may appear quite daunting at first, it isn’t as complex as it may seem.

A Brief History Of Gambling In Sports

Gambling had deep roots in England and quite naturally, the colonists brought their love of gambling over to the United States and continued with the tradition. Early colonists have been known to bet on cock-fighting, boxing, and horse racing. In the early nineteenth century, the majority of gambling was centered on horse racing with boxing in second place. However, with increasing popularity of baseball, the focus of sports gambling shifted to baseball betting towards the later part of the century.

By the start of the 20th century, sports like the college basketball and football started getting the attention of general public and with the passage of time these sports were competing with baseball in terms of popularity. The earliest form of wagering on football and basketball involved the use of odds – a system still practiced today – also known as the money line.

Evolution Of The Sports Betting

The method of betting with money line posed big problems for the bookmakers and they were forced to come up with a substitute. A majority of gambles were inclined to place bets on college teams that were quite superior to their opponents, making the outcome of the matches a foregone conclusion and resulting in losses for book makers. Just before the Second World War broke out, the bookmakers introduce a new method of sports gambling that transformed this industry forever.

Enter The Point Spread

In simple terms, the point spread is a handicap that is placed on the likely winner of any basket ball or football game in points. For example, if the Lakers were expected to simply demolish the Clippers, the point spread for the game may be calculated 메이저사이트 at as high as 20 points. Simply put, 20 points would be either subtracted from the total score of Lakers score, or added to the total score of Clippers. In such a case, any sports enthusiast who placed a sports bet on the Lakers would only make money if the Lakers win by at least 21 points. Similarly, gamblers wagering on the Clippers stand to win their bets if the Clippers win the game and even if the Clippers lose the game, gamblers can still win provided Clippers lose by 19 points or less.

The point spread helped the bookmakers to balance their books as bets on sporting events were more evenly placed as compared to the previous system where the majority of gamblers placed bets on the same teams.

The Advent Of Totals

The huge success of the point spread helped the bookmakers realize that the more betting options the public had, the more bets they would be likely to place. This realization resulted in the creation of another system, the totals. Also known as “overs / unders,”, this betting proposition provides the gamblers to bet on the total score of both the teams, irrespective of the outcome of the game.