Thursday, July 29, 2010

Tread Cautiously When Choosing an Online Sportsbook

The Wall Street Journal estimated that about 100 million Americans bet about $100 billion on sporting events every single year. Yes, it is an exorbitant amount of money to spend on betting, but that is the level of craze for sports betting.

Although, betting on sports odds can fetch you money, people also tend to lose a lot of money when it comes to sports betting. This is not just when you lose the wager, but sometimes picking a fake or unreliable online sportsbook can make you lose a lot of money. Therefore, it is extremely vital that you choose a reliable sportsbook, which provides you with all the sports betting services.


Your best bet is to always choose a reputable online sportsbook offering responsible and honest services, on which you can rely completely without having to worry whether you are going to receive your payouts or not.


All of us have our preferred sport when it comes to sports betting, so you need to ensure that the sports betting website has the lines for your favorite sport. As customer support has always proven to come in handy in all aspects of life, you should ensure that you get prompt responses and you can count on it if ever there are issues with your account.

Once you have chosen your preferred sportsbook, you need to understand how sports betting odds and lines work. Sports odds are hard to figure out and require thorough research on your part to understand. However, once all your basics are clear, sports betting will be an exciting venture.

Learning to Comprehend Sports Betting Lines

Sports betting can be an intimidating task if you are a novice and trying to place a wager on a sporting event played in a foreign country. Nevertheless, the greatest opportunity to make a profit from sports betting is to place bets on American sporting events. Sports betting odds and betting lines are hard to fathom, but a bit of research will help you out tremendously.

The most popular sporting event to place a bet on in America is football. The methodology involved when betting on football games is by using the point spread, also known as the "line" or simply the “spread”. For example, take a match up between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. In this game, everybody expects the Steelers to win without much trouble. Therefore, the sportsbooks will put a ‘line’ on the game to try to get an equal amount of money bet on both teams.

Besides the point spread, bettors can also consider wagering on the money line. There are two ways to bet on money lines- first, when you bet on the favorite and second, when you bet on the underdog. Both of these money line bets are very different from each other. When you are betting on a favorite, the money line shows how much money you have to bet to come out ahead by $100. Whereas, when betting on an underdog, the line shows the amount you get for every $100 wagered.

With the Internet connecting the globe, sports betting lines are easier to find nowadays. If you are betting for the first time, you will want to consider checking out some sportsbooks beforehand. The ideal online sportsbook will offer fast payouts, bonuses and a varied range of betting lines.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Measures to be Taken Before Registering with an Online Sportsbook

Sportsbook betting has changed the face of betting altogether, and some people might have been very successful at it, while some must have faced huge disappointments. Just as every coin has two sides, sports betting also involve both good and bad aspects.

Along with the multiple benefits, various risks are also involved in betting with online sportsbook. They often deal with very personal and sensitive information such as customer accounts, credit card numbers, bet lines and money. And if the site is fake or corrupt, your information might be splashed all over the net or worse, they may vanish with all your money. So one should try to find out every detail about the sportsbook before registering with them. Moreover, carefully compare the sports lines, vigorish, payouts, sport betting menu and other aspects to ensure that you get the most appropriate services.

Apart from this, there are many other threats out there to your information, including but not limited to viruses, worms, hackers, phishing and malware. On the upside, though, most of these threats can be easily dealt with and prevented. Some of the measures that could be taken to protect your computer or information are:

  • Antivirus software: Sensitive information cannot be handled without the aid of good antivirus software.
  • Firewall: They are another basic element of data protection over a network.
  • Passwords: Basic passwords using only alphabetic characters are weak. Try using a combination of letters, numbers and symbols.
  • Outsource software: A safe bet is to hire price per head services that take care of all the data security as it is stored in state-of-the-art servers.

If one maintains complete caution and meticulousness while dealing with online sportsbook, one can avert the prospective damages and disappointments.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Sportsbook Betting Unveiled

Online sportsbook provide a massive menu for sports betting, so that the bettors can choose from any sports they want and bet on their favorite game. However, prior to placing a bet, one should always have complete information about the complexities of sports betting odds and sports lines. In short, betting odds are referred to as the wagering numbers that are established by the sportsbook. Bookmakers from betting sites make use of the latest and most technologically advanced computer programs to work out multiple statistical calculations, concerning the teams or players involved in a specific game or sporting event.

Usually in sportsbook betting, the public will always bet on a team or a player that is the favorite to win the game or tournament. For example, in basketball, if the LA Lakers are playing the Miami Heat, then obviously the public will favor the Lakers. Therefore, even if the computer program offers the sports odds of 140/100 for the LA Lakers for that game, the lines maker will probably increase the betting odds to 150/100, as the public opinion is in their favor.

Many sports fans get into sportsbook betting without giving any prior consideration to understand the venturing process completely. This can be tempting, but it is definitely not a wise thing to do. Nonetheless, many beginners may do well initially, but one should still gain some knowledge about the game you are going to wager on. Thus, it is extremely crucial to read the odds and also compare betting lines and odds with various online sportsbooks, to make sure of a winning pick.