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US Sports and Betting Opportunities

There are generally two sides to every story and in the case of sportsbooks; this theory tends to prove no different. What we are referring to are the US and UK sportsbook markets; how they are different in terms of what sports are regularly highlighted and available for bettors to place wagers on. One side of the story, the UK market, will highlight sports such as football (soccer), rugby and horseracing while the other side, the US market, highlights basketball, football and various fighting sports as the sport of choice to play and/or wager on.

In case you missed it, we have already come up with an article that focuses primarily on what sports are readily available for UK punters including the common bets that are available for each sport and/or game.

This article here will be no different other than the focus will now be on the US including the most popular sports to place wagers on as well as the most common types of bets available for each one.

Betting Opportunities for US Bettors

American Football: Football simply has to be one of the biggest sports wagered on in the US let alone possibly the whole world. Bettors can place wagers on teams in the NFL, UFL, CFL and the NCAA. Wagers can be placed on the outright winner of the game, the outcome of each quarter or half, the play that makes the first score or the margin of victory in which the winning team wins by. Additionally, future bets can also be made on the outcome of the Superbowl, who will win the Heisman and who will be MVP.

Now, unlike most sports, football uses a point spread in their betting lines. What this is, is a number that reflects how much the favorite team needs to win by for the bet made on them to push with anything earned over that being a winning bet. Negative numbers always show a favorite team while a positive number always reflects the underdogs. So for example, if team A was a -7 favorite while team B was a +7 dog, then team A would have to win by 7 points at least for any bets wagered on them to be a winner and 8 points are more for the bets to be winning ones. Anything less and the bets on team B will win.

Basketball: Similarly, bets that are made on basketball are not all that different from the bets that can be made on football games. Bets can be made on the outcome of the game, on whoever has the most points at halftime, on each division or on fantasy sports. Both the NBA and NCAA are available to wager on with many prop bets available to wager on as well for both leagues. Lastly, basketball is also similar to football in the fact that they also use a spread system for their betting lines.

Baseball: Wagers that are made on baseball games can be made on the outcome of a game, division or series. The betting lines differ from those in football and basketball in the sense that football and basketball use spreads whereas baseball uses money lines. The reason for this is simply that baseball is a lower scoring game.

It’s not all different though; favorites are still written as a negative and underdogs are still shown as positives. For example, if team A was an underdog they may be shown as +110 while a favorite would be shown as a -130. What this ultimately means is that if you place a bet on the underdog, you place a $100 wager in attempt to win $110 while if you place a wager on a favorite, you would have to wager $130 to win $100.

Although baseball uses a different kind of betting line there is something similar to a football spread that is referred to as a ‘run line.’ This uses the same idea as a spread where a team must win by so many runs for the wager to win.

Soccer: Soccer (football) is a much larger and more popular sport in countries outside the US, but is still a heavily wagered on sport in US sportsbooks. Teams and leagues all over the world can be wagered on as well as huge tournaments such as the World Cup. Bettors can wager on the outcome of each game, which team has the lead at halftime and under/over stats. Soccer is another sport that uses a money line spread similar to baseball.

MMA/Boxing: Bets made on extreme fighting or boxing can be made on the outcome of the fight, the outcome of each individual round or even on how the fight ends whether it’s by knockout, draw or decision.

Hockey: When placing a wager on hockey, bettors can do so on their favorite team, based on division or by conference. Bets can also be made on whether or not you think a team will be the first to score, how quickly they will score, total goals, most attempted goals and whether or not a game will go into overtime or not. Since hockey is a lower scoring games similar to baseball, the betting line used is also the money line.

Horse Racing: Betting on the horses is probably just as popular in the US as it is in the UK. Bettors can place wagers on which horse they think will win the race, which 2 horses will come in the top two or which horses will win first, second and third in a specific order. “Boxed’ bets can also be made which are bets made using a combination of horses.

Sports Betting Opportunities for US Bettors

While this is not a total list of all the betting opportunities available to US sports bettors, these are definitely the most popular ones. And although these are the most popular and common sports to wager on in the US, they can still be found regularly on many UK sportsbook sites as well giving everyone the opportunity to win big.

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