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Sports Betting Glossary

Sports Betting Glossary for AustraliansNewcomers in the gambling scene need to be familiar with the sports betting glossary. I’m sure you don’t want to be looking up for terms while wagering on sports.  It would be silly and a waste of valuable time that you can use for bets. That’s why we have taken the time to compile a list of common terms used in the sports betting industry.  We hope no one has fooled you into thinking that betting terms are a headache to get ahold of. You can learn these betting terms in just a few minutes.

This Australian guide will help you on your wagering journey. After raping your head around our sports betting glossary you’ll be on your way to sports betting. Whenever you come across such terms you’ll swiftly move along and get on with your betting activities. While some of the betting terms are ones you’ve seen before, I’m sure there’s that one that you’re not quite sure of. Go on, read more in our guide!

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List of Betting Terms

Here is a guide to some of the most common sports betting terms:

  • Action: this means having a bet on a game.
  • Against the point spread (ATS): player wager on one side of the point spread.
  • Backdoor Cover:  when a team wins to wrap the spread.
  • Bad beat: this is when a punter loses a bet they must have won.
  • Beard: it’s when a person makes a wager for someone else.
  • Book: this is an abbreviation for sportsbooks or bookmaker. They take bets from players.
  • Buying Points:  sportsbooks that allow punters to change the decided line and switch the odds.
  • Chalk: players who are called the chalk wager on the favorites.
  • Consensus Pick: data taken from different bookmakers. This involves the pick, percentage and gives insight about which side the public is taking in a match.
  • Closing Line: The final line prior to a match or event starts.
  • Cover: the wagering outcome on a point spread bet.
  • Dog: this is simply short for underdog.
  • Dime: this is a slang term for $1000 sports wager.
  • Edge: players might think they have an upper hand on a sportsbook because they feel the lines are not precise
  • Even Money: when odds are said to be 50-50.
  • Exotic: a bet is referred to as an exotic bet if it’s not a straight wager or parlay.
  • Favorite: this is the expected winner of the event or match.
  • Fixed: a person in a specific game changes the outcome of the game the whole or partially based on pre-decided results.
  • Future Bet: a bet that is made in the long run to determine who will win the season.
  • Halftime Bet: a bet that is made during halftime when the players take a break.
  • Handicapper: when a person tries to guess who will win an event.
  • Hedging: when a punter makes an original bet and an opposite bet to maximize their potential winnings and keep the loss to a minimum.
  • High Roller: a gambler with high stakes.
  • Handle: the cash taken by a book or the total money you bet based on a game.
  • Hook: this is a half time point. For example, a team is a 6.5-point favorite; it is referred to as laying six and a hook. This means it draws the punter to one side or the other.
  • In the game wagering:  bookmakers allow bettors to make several wagers as the game is playing.
  • Juice:  the commission the sportsbooks take.  Juice also means vigorish
  • Limit: it’s the maximum wager a book takes. The book has a certain limit and will take the wager but the book will choose whether it’s going to alter the line before a punter can bet again.
  • Lock: a person who is convinced that they are going to win.
  • Middle: As the line moves punters can attempt to bet and win both sides with less risk.
  • Money line: a wager which your team only requires to win.
  • Mush: a player who is thought to be bad luck.
  • Nickel: it means a $500 bet.
  • Oddsmaker: the bookmaker who sets the odds.
  • Wager: another name for bet.
Sportsbook Glossary Australia
  • Off the Board: when a bookmaker has taken a wager down and doesn’t allow any more wagers on the match.
  • Over/Under: the sum total of a game.
  • Parlay: a bet in which several teams are wagered, either against the spread or on the money line.
  • Pick ‘em: a match with no favorite underdog.
  • Point Spread: the points by which a favorite team has over the underdog.
  • Proposition Bet: a wager based on which team will score first.
  • Push: a result that ends up on the betting number and all bets are paid back.
  • Runner: a person to makes wagers for someone else.
  • Sharp: a professional sports bettor. Sharp also means the “wise guy.”
  • Square: it means point spread
  • Steam: a line that is moving quickly which is a result of a number of bettors making their wagers at the same time.
  • Straighten Up:  the favorite winner of the money line in a game.
  • Teaser: wagering a couple of teams and altering the point spread in the matches the player’s favor.
  • Total: the total score a game will add up to.
  • Tout: a person who gives or sells picks on a match.
  • Underdog: a team that is not expected to win but to lose from the get-go.
  • Welsh: not paying off a losing wager.

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