Guide to Over & Under Sports Betting

If you are relatively new to sports betting, then it's a good idea to orient yourself with the various types of sports bets that you might place. Depending upon the sport in question, some sports bets may be available for wagering while others may not. This is due to the nature of the sport itself. Some sports by nature just don't lend themselves well to particular types of sports bets. One type of sports bet that was created to apply to some of these sports was over and under betting. Some bookmakers might refer to it as totals betting.

When you place an over and under sports wager, the important factor is the total score of the game. It really does not matter which teams wins the competition. Bookmakers determine what they believe the total combined score of the game while be at the end of the game. Bettors would then place their wagers on what they believe the final total score of the game might be. They might place a wager that the final total score would be more than the score predicted by odds makers. In this situation, the bet would be called an over bet. On the other hand, the bettor may choose to place a wager that the total final score would be less than what the bookmaker predicted. This is an under bet. In the event that the total final score is exactly what the oddsmakers predicted, then a push would be declared. In a push, no one (bettor or bookmaker) wins the bet. Instead all of the money placed on the wager is given back to the bettor. Often time the bookmaker will set the total score with a decimal. Therefore, in these situations, a push cannot occur.

Let's illustrate this with an example from football. In an impending match between the Premier League Football teams of Chelsea and Liverpool, bookmakers set the over and under total for the game at 3 goals. This means they believe that the total of all the points scored in the game will be equivalent to 3 goals. In the actual game, Chelsea scored 3 goals and Liverpool scored one. This makes the combined total score equal to 4. Therefore, any bettors who placed wagers that the score would be over the predicted total score, would win their wagers.

Depending on which site you use, it is best to know what the betting odds are and how this affects your chances of winning. There are a number of online sports betting sites such as Bluesq.