It may be high risk, but sports betting done right can have high rewards. When you’re just starting out, however, it can be difficult to get to grips with all the terminology used. That’s why we’ve put together an A-Z guide to sports betting with some of the most common terms.

So, next time you’re spending the day at the races or heading to a match with your buddies, you can feel confident that you understand the terms being used to describe the best being placed throughout the day. And, if you’re lucky, you might win a few, too! 

Accumulator

This is a bet with 4 or more different legs. You will need each part of the bet to come in to receive the accumulated odds, but therein lies their popularity as they can generate high rewards for only a small initial bet.

Best Odds Guaranteed

This is a type of promotion offered in horse racing that ensures the greater odds are paid if your selection’s starting price is more than what the price was when the bet was placed.

Cash-Out

If a bet comes with a cash-out option it allows you to close out early for a smaller profit (or sometimes a loss) before the bet has finished. In most cases, you’ll be offered a higher cash-out amount the more likely it looks like your bet will be successful.

Double Result

This is when the bet applies to the result at both half-time and full-time, also known as the HT-FT market. This can improve the odds in a football game that is otherwise pretty one-sided as you can back a team to win at both halves, doubling your chances of winning.

Enhanced Odds

These are promotional deals that offer inflated odds to encourage new customers to sign up. A staking limit of between $1 to $10 is applied and your winnings are returned as free bets.

Free Bets

Pretty much exactly what the name says on the tin, free bets are sometimes offered as a promotional deal, not including the original stake in returns. These types of offers can be available to both new and old customers.

Handicaps

Handicap betting is a way to level the playing field of the market to balance out the odds. This is very common where the underdog receives additional points, for example.

Money-Back Offer

This is another type of promotional offer that means your original bet will be returned (typically in the form of another free bet) depending on conditional criteria such as a certain team or player scoring.

Palpable Error

A palpable error is when the bookmaker makes a mistake, which voids the bet. With less reputable betting organizations, this can happen when the odds they’re offering outmatch a realistic payout amount, as they can claim a palpable error to void the bet. However, there are official institutions that monitor the fairness of these claims to avoid dodgy dealings.

Sportsbook

This is a bookmaker or multiple bookmaker’s website that allows you to wager with fixed-odds on a range of sporting events (in addition to other areas of interest) but is different from a casino in the way it operates. This varies with the sport and type of game.

Turnover Requirements

Turnover requirements are typically part of a bonus offer for signing up. This is essentially how many times a bonus or deposit sum is required before you can withdraw your winnings. So, a turnover requirement of X 20 would mean a bonus amount of at least $50 must be put up for a total stake of $1,000 before you will be able to withdraw any of the winnings.

Unders/Overs

Particularly popular in soccer, this is a bet that predicts the number of goals under or over a specified value in a match. They are typically given as halves to discount a draw.

Weight-of-Money

This is what is used to refer to a method of pushing the price down that betting markets can be known to do. A big bet with one bookmaker results in the prices being forced to fall for that selection, typically causing a domino effect where the other bookmakers follow suit.

Final Thoughts

We hope this article has been helpful to you and that you’re confident you know the meaning of some of the most popular sports betting terms. From A to Z, this guide to sports betting has covered everything you need to know before getting into the sports betting scene.

Good luck!