By J.T. CHADWELL
As we wrote last week, it’s important to treat sports betting as a hobby, not a stream of income. Still, even though it’s a hobby, you want to be informed. In this week’s Friday 5, here are five sports betting terms you need to know as you navigate the marketplace looking for different bets to place.
Unit
You will see this term quite often as you read up on handicappers’ content. A unit refers to the amount you stake when placing a bet. It’s up to you to decide what this amount is. It can be anything from as small as 10 cents to as large a wager as the sportsbook will allow you to place. Generally, a recommended unit size is anywhere 1-5% of your allotted bankroll. For example, if you start the month with a bankroll of $100 and your unit size is 5% of your bankroll, then one unit for that bettor would be a $5 bet. Unit size betting works on a sliding scale. Let’s say there is a straight wager you feel good about … you would normally play that wager for one unit (This is normally about 80% of straight wagers). If there is a straight wager that you feel very strongly about, you might increase it to 1.5 or two units (This is normally about 12.5% of straight wagers). On the flip side, if you are just placing a bet for fun or just to entertain yourself, you might take it down to 0.5 units (This is about 5% of wagers). Finally, if you have a play that you cannot get your mind off of, one of your favorites of the year, you might increase it to three units (This is normally 2.5% or less of your straight wagers). If you’re playing a longshot parlay, you typically want to keep those at .1 units or less, depending on the odds.
Juice
This is the amount the sportsbook is charging you to place a straight wager. Understanding juice is necessary, as it plays into your weekly, monthly, or yearly profit margins, if you are tracking them (and you should be). Remember, there is always a cost to placing a bet, so you want that cost to be as low as possible to bring you the highest return on investment (ROI) possible. For example, if FanDuel is offering Tennessee at +7.5 (-115), -115 is the juice. This means a bettor with a unit size of $10, would need to place an $11.50 bet in order to win $10. If DraftKings is offering the same spread at -110, you would then only need to place an $11 bet to profit that same $10. This is why it is so important to shop around different books, especially if you are placing lots of bets throughout the month.
Spread
Spread is the amount of points, goals, or any scorekeeping metric that sportsbooks create to theoretically give each side of the bet a 50/50 chance of winning or losing. For example, if Tennessee is playing Florida and Tennessee is +7.5, then Florida is -7.5, with 7.5 the spread of this contest. This means the risk department in the sportsbook thinks the most likely outcome of the contest will be either a 7- or 8-point margin. When betting, it is important to keep a close eye on the spread, as it can change depending on how much money is bet on either side. Remember, sportsbooks don’t care about who wins or loses games. They care about making money. And if there is lots of money bet on one side of a spread, it will change to encourage others to bring money to the other side.
Moneyline
Each team or side in a contest is given odds by the sportsbook to win, and this is considered each team’s moneyline. Let’s look at Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The spread in this game was 4.5 points and the Spurs were favored. For the Spurs to win the game outright regardless of the spread, the Spurs moneyline was -185. This means a bettor with a unit size of $10, must bet $18.50 in order to profit $10. On the flip side, the non-favored New York Knicks were +154 on the money line. This means a $10 unit bettor would only have to bet $6.50 of their bankroll in order to profit $10. Most sports bettors lean more towards betting non-favored teams on the moneyline because the juice can get too expensive, and can really eat into profit in the event of a loss. Favorites on the moneyline are much more geared toward parlays, a term we will get into a little later this month.
Over/Under
Over/under is the total amount of points, goals, or any other score metric that the sportsbook sets, if you’d rather not bet on the spread or the outcome. For example, tonight in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the over/under was set for 218.5. This means the risk department at the sportsbooks feels that the highest percentage of games played between the Knicks and Spurs would end in either 218 or 219 points.
DISCLAIMER: Sports betting involves risk. I-81 Sports and its contributors provide analysis and picks for entertainment purposes only. No bet is guaranteed, and all wagers carry the risk of loss. If you struggle with gambling, help is available. Contact the National Council on Problem Gambling at 1-800-522-4700 or visit ncpg.org. In Tennessee, contact the Tennessee Problem Gambling Help Line at 1-800-889-9789.