All Betting Terms in One Place – From A to Z

I’ve created this A-Z betting glossary to help you understand the many words and phrases used in the betting industry, as some of them can be perplexing.

But worry not my betting terms list is here to help!

Just by scrolling down you will be able to find all the betting terms you can think of. They are categorized alphabetically for easier navigation.

I have tried to cover all the terms I could think of in my betting terminology article, and the topics range from:

#

• 1×2 – A kind of wager that can only be made when a draw seems likely. The three possible results—a home win, a tie, or an away win—are alluded to in the name. Bet type most commonly found in football betting.

A

• Acca bet / Acca Betting – An acca, often called an accumulator, has several selections. To consider your bet a win, each pick you make needs to be successful.
• Across the card – Referring to the activity of putting down bets in the form of multiples or pairs of bets on races staged at different events that take place concurrently or around the same time.
• Action – A bet or a wager.
• All out – A betting term that describes any player, horse or team that is giving 100% of themselves to win.
• All weather racing – Horse racing held on artificial surfaces or tracks that are intended to be used in a variety of weather situations is referred to as all-weather racing.
• Alphabet bet – An expression used to describe a wager on six selections with a total of 26 bets: 1 yankee (11 bets), 2 patents (14 bets), and a single six-fold accumulator (1 stake).
• Also ran – A term used in greyhound and horse racing to describe a horse that did not finish in the top 3.
• Ante-post betting – A wager that is placed before to the market’s official opening is known as an ante-post wager.
• Anytime Scorer – A common sports betting term used in soccer. It describes the ability to back a player to score at any point during a particular game, while it’s available as either a pre-game or in-play wagering option.
• Arbitrage betting – Is a betting strategy where you bet on all possible outcomes in order to guarantee profit.
• Asian handicap betting – A type of soccer betting where each team is given a handicap, eliminating the chance of a draw and giving bettors alternatives like +0.5 or -1 to generate a more balanced betting outcome.
• At the Post – The moment when all participating horses have reached the starting position for a race, signaling that betting is closed for that event.
• ATS (Against The Spread) – The spread is a predetermined range of points used to level the playing field and eliminate a favorite or underdog, much like a handicap.

B

• Backdoor cover – When an underdog behind by more than the point spread starts making meaningless points late in the game to cover the spread, this is known as a backdoor cover.
• Bad beat – When something unlucky happens that costs you the win.
• Banker – Is a heavy favourite to win. Almost a guaranteed bet, used often when betting on multiple selections.
• Batter / Batsman / Batswoman – Betting term used in cricket for a player that is currently batting.
• Beard – A term made popular in Las Vegas, when a skilled bettor will typically use a third party to covertly place a wager on their behalf.
• Bet builder – A feature that give you the ability to build multiple bets within the same event from a vast range of markets.
• Bet calculator – A bet calculator is a tool that works out how much you stand to win from any bet you place with a bookmaker or betting exchange.
• Betting exchange – A platform where members bet against each other, rather than against the bookmaker.
• Betting In Running (BIR) or Betting In Play (BIP) – Refers to the act of wagering on a sporting event while it is already underway, also known as live betting, enabling participants to respond to events that occur during the match or competition.
• Betting line – Most commonly found in NFL and basketball betting a betting line is when bookies determine a minimum amount of money you need to bet in order to get the payout.
• Betting odds – The amount a bookmaker is willing to pay for a specific option. Bookies calculate the odds using a variety of factors, including the probability of the prediction coming true, prior performance of the individual or team, their current condition, and the opponents they face.
• Betting prediction – Forecasting the outcome of a future event, such as the winner of a game or match.
• Betting scam – When you are offered insider knowledge or “foolproof” procedures in exchange for your funds this is known as betting scam.
• Betting slip – A receipt that features your selections, odds, stake and potential returns.
• Betting strategy – A structured approach to gambling, in an attempt to gain profit.
• Blowout – A game in which one side wins by a large margin.
• Bookie – Bookie or bookmaker is someone who facilitates gambling, most commonly on sporting events.
• Booking points football – You can wager with specific bookmakers on how many cards an official will display during a football game. Typically, a yellow card is worth 10 points, and a red card is worth 25 points.
• Bowler – A cricket player throwing the ball in a game is a bowler.
• Buying points – Every NFL fan should know of buying points. In order to obtain better odds, one can buy points in NFL betting by adding or removing 0.5 from an NFL point spread.
• BTTS (Both Teams To Score) – Accessible on a few sports, such as ice hockey and football. You only wager “Yes” or “No” on whether both teams will score a goal.

C

• Canadian bet – A multiple bet of five selections that is popular with bettors in various sports consisting of 26 individual bets.
• Cash out betting – Online bookmakers include a function called cash out that lets bettors settle wagers before they are completed. Based on the current in-play odds, the bookie makes an offer of money.
• Cashback bonus – A cashback bonus is a kind of bonus that bookmakers offer for a sporting event that lets the player get a portion of his losses back.
• Century – Century or a ton, in betting terms means one hundred pounds £100.
• Chalk – A slang term commonly referring to the strong favorite.
• Circled game – A game on the betting menu where the sportsbook restricts betting or the amount wagered as it awaits updates on injuries, the weather, or other variables that might change before kickoff.
• Colt – A male horse that is four years old or younger, and it is commonly used in horse racing.
• Combination forecast – Picking several horses to place first and second in a race; the wager is successful if any of the selected horse combinations place first and second, regardless of the order in which they are placed.
• Combination Tricast – In a “Combination Tricast,” your goal is to correctly predict the 1-2-3 in a given race. The three candidates you have chosen can place in any order as long as they are among the top three finishers.
• Consensus – Percentage of the betting public on each side of a game. Some bettors will bet against the “public money” (whichever side more bettors have placed their bets on).
• Contrarian betting – Betting against the public perception or popular opinion.
• Corner match bet – Only found in football, the bet involves selecting the team that will earn the most number of corners during the match.
• Cover – The outcome of a bet on point spreads. To cover, a favorite must win by a margin larger than the spread. To cover the spread, an underdog must either win the game hands-down or lose by one point less than the spread.

D

• Dam -A horse’s female parent.
• Dead heat – Where an event is tied. Two (or more) selections finish level.
• Decimal / European odds – By wagering £100 on the odd that is 3.00 if you win you will earn 300 in total. Commonly found in Continental Europe, Canada and New Zealand.
• Dime – US sports slang term for a $1000 bet.
• Dime line – A betting line where the juice or vigorish is 10%.
• Double bet – A single wager combining two selections. The cumulative odds for both selections must be met for your wager to be profitable.
• Draw no bet – A market where, should the event conclude in a draw, your bet will be returned.
• Duck – A cricket term referring to a batsman’s dismissal with a score of zero.
• Dutching – Spreading the stake among the selections according to their odds and likelihood of winning in order to place several bets on various outcomes in the same event in order to guarantee a profit.

E

• Each way betting – An each way bet consists of two wagers – a “win bet” and “place bet”. Commonly found in horse racing and other sports where there is a winner and other participants finishing in placed positions.
• Edge – A bettor’s belief or strategy that makes them think that they have an ace in the sleeve that will make them gain victory over the bookies.
• EV betting – EV or expected value is a way to measure the probability gap between a bettor’s expectations and the sportsbook’s.
• Evens bet – Evens is a betting term used when bookmakers offer a price at 2.00 or even money.
• Exposure – The total sum of money that a bookmaker might lose on a particular bet or occasion.

F

• Favourite – The choice (person, teams, greyhound, or horse) with the least amount of odds to win. The most anticipated victor.
• FGS (First Goal Scorer) – A kind of wager in which you guess which player will first score in a game.
• Fillie – A female horse will be called a Mare once it reaches five years of age, before which it is called a Fillie.
• First Past the Post – The selection which is first to cross the finish line in a race. The winner.
• Flag bet – In horse racing, a flag bet is a complicated wager that consists of 23 bets spread among four selections, including singles, doubles, trebles, and a fourfold accumulator.
• Flat betting – Betting the same amount on every wager.
• Form – The performance history of an athlete, player, horse, greyhound or team. The level at which the selection usually performs or has recently performed.
• Fractional / British odds – Written with a slash (/) or hyphen (-); If the odd is 4/1 you can win £4 for every £1 you wager. If you wager £1 and win you will get £5 in total, earning £4
• Free bet – Free bet is a type of bonus offered by the bookies in which if you win you profit only from the wager and not the stake.
• Futures bet – A bet made on a multi-stage event. Some examples of that are – betting on who wins the championship league; betting on the 3rd place in the NBA or NFL;

G

• Gambler’s fallacy – A belief that if an outcome occurs more often than normal in the past, it will happen less often in the future.
• Gambling budget / Bankroll – A sum of funds that you wager with and that you are prepared to lose.
• Goliath bet – An eight-selection multiple wager in horse racing with 247 wagers total. There are 28 doubles, 56 trebles, 76 fivefolds, 28 sixfolds, 8 sevenfolds, and 1 eightfold accumulator in all. This kind of wager covers a range of combinations and pays out if all of the chosen options are correct.
• Graded bet – A bet that has been formally proclaimed as a winner or loser (or a push once the match has begun) is referred to as a “graded bet.” This could be called a “settled bet” more widely.
• Grand – A grand is one thousand pounds sterling £1,000.

H

• Halftime bet – A bet placed on the outcome of the second half of a game.
• Handicap betting – When there is a clear favorite and an outsider with the intention of leveling the odds of both teams, a team or individual is given a surplus or deficit.
• Handicap race – Handicap races, which are popular in horse racing, include horses carrying varying weights to promote more competitive racing. Stronger horses can tote more loads.
• Handicapper – A bettor who bets on handicap bets.
• Handle – The handle is the total amount of money that bettors have placed a stake. It is the total sum of money wagered at online and physical sportsbooks.
• Hedging bets – A method where you place a wager on the result that will be the opposite of your previous wager in an effort to make a small profit.
• Heinz bet – Multiple bet that comprises 57 bets in total, across six selections.
• Home field advantage – Home field advantage describes the innate advantage that teams have when they play in front of their own fans. This varies from one sport to another, but it’s highly prevalent and a key factor in how outcomes are priced.
• Hook – A term used to describe the last half point of a non-whole number spread.
• House edge – A term used to describe the advantage that the bookmaker has over you as you play over time.

I

• Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) – An impartial third-party organization in the UK that provides adjudication and resolution services for disputes between licensed gambling operators and their customers.

J

• Juice – The sum a sportsbook charges to accept a wager on any sporting event is referred to as the “juice.”

L

• Lay betting – Lay bets, which are available on betting exchanges, involve placing a wager on the non-occurrence of a specific event. You become a bookmaker in a literal sense.
• Lay points – Betting the favorite by giving up points against the spread or ATS.
• Liability in betting – The amount of money required in order to cover the result of a bet.
• Line shopping – Comparing betting lines from different bookmakers to get the best odds.
• Linemaker – A sportsbook that creates odds is a linemaker or an oddsmaker.
• Live betting – Betting during live games; Also known as in-play betting and betting in running.
• Lock – Some teams may be clear winners, and that is called a lock.
• Longshot – A longshot, like the term underdog, indicates that a team or individual is unlikely to win; hence, the bookmaker will give them high but improbable odds to accomplish so.
• Lucky 15 – Often linked to horse racing, a Lucky 15 wager consists of four singles, six doubles, four trebles, and one 4-fold accumulator. The bettor only has to win one of the selections in order to win.
• Lucky 31 – A multiple wager in horse racing, usually placed in sports betting. There are five selections totaling 31 bets: 5 singles, 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 fourfold, and 1 fivefold accumulator. Winning requires at least one selection.
• Lucky 63 – A particular kind of multiple bet that is frequently used in horse racing and has 63 wagers spread among 6 selections. 6 singles, 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 fourfolds, 6 fivefolds, and 1 sixfold accumulator are all included; only one of the selections needs to win.

M

• Maiden – A slang term meaning that a horse has never won a race before.
• Maiden over – In cricket, an effective bowler’s six successive deliveries without giving up a run are referred to as a maiden over.
• Matched betting – A tactic whereby punters place opposing bets to ensure a profit in order to maximize free bets and bonuses from matched betting bookmakers.
• Money line bet – Bets placed on a game’s outcome.
• Moneyline / American odds – Used in the US; the symbols utilized are (-) for the favorite who is likely to win and (+) for the underdog who is unlikely to win; if the odd is -600, you must risk £600 to gain £100, and if the odd is +600, you must wager £100 to make £600;
• Monkey – A slang term for £500 in the UK.
• Multiple bet – A parlay, sometimes referred to as an accumulator, is a single wager that combines two or more separate bets into one.

N

• Nailed on – Nailed on / Sure thing / Certainty are similar terms which refer to an almost certain win.
• Nap – Best bet of the day.
• Nickel – US slang term for $500.
• Nickel line – A betting line where the juice is reduced to 5%.
• No action – A game that is no longer taking bets and all wagers are refunded.
• No deposit bonus – A type of bonus that is usually for new customers in the form of a free bet is called a no deposit bonus.
• Non-runner no bet – If the wager is non-runner no bet and the selection withdraws from the race, the customer receives their stake back.
• Novelty bets – A novelty bet is a term used to characterize wagers made on arbitrary political and entertainment events, such the winner of the Oscars or the next US president.

O

• Outright bet – A wager on a league or tournament as a whole rather than just one particular match. Take the World Cup football winner, for instance.
• Over-under bet – A bet made on whether a specific in-game statistic will surpass or fall short of a given figure.
• Overround – Bookmaker’s profit margin embedded in the odds, ensuring they make money regardless of the outcome.

P

• Parimutuel betting – This type of betting, sometimes referred to as pools, pits players against one another as opposed to a bookmaker.
• Parlay bet – A parlay, which is another term for an acca, is a single wager with several choices.
• Patent bet – A multiple wager with seven equal-value wagers placed on three separate selections. There are placed 3 singles, 3 doubles, and 1 treble.
• Place bet – A bet in which the bettor believes a particular competitor or racer will place among the top three finishers.
• Placepot bet – A wager that is the same as one 6-fold accumulator.
• Point spread betting – A type of wagering in which, as opposed to betting on the overall result, you place a wager on the number of points a team will win by.
• Pony – A slang term commonly used in the UK to refer to £25.
• Proposition bets – A wager on anything unrelated to how the game will turn out. As an example, a player receives a red card.
• Puckline – Hockey has a point spread of -1.5 for the favorite and +1.5 for the underdog.
• Punter – Also known as a bettor, player or customer; A person who bets.
• Push – A bet which has landed on the exact number offered by the bookie, the bet will be refunded in this situation.

Q

• Quarter bet – A bet which can be placed before or during any quarter of a match, usually the bet is placed on who wins the quarter.

R

• Reload bonus – A kind of bonus that bookmakers offer you once you deposit a specific amount of money into your account; for instance, a bookmaker may offer a monthly reload bonus in which you receive £5 for every £100 you deposit in a given month.
• Return – Profit + returned stake in a successful wager.
• Reversed forecast – A kind of wager in horse racing when you choose two horses to place in the top two; it doesn’t matter which horses finish first or second as long as they finish in the top two.
• Round Robin bet – A series of smaller parlays created from a larger list of bets.
• RTP or Return to Player – Refers to the average amount of money that a casino game will pay out over time.
• Rule 4 deductions – An adjustment to a horse racing price that a bettor has previously taken in order to cover a withdrawn horse is known as a rule 4 deduction.
• Runline – Baseball has a point spread of -1.5 for the favorite and +1.5 for the underdog.
• Runners – A term used in sports betting that has two meanings: a runner in horse racing refers to the horse competing in the race, and a runner in general betting might be the bettor.

S

• Scalping – A short-term trading technique in which traders try to take advantage of price fluctuations or disparities in the betting markets in order to quickly and modestly benefit.
• Score – Result of the match or game in points.
• Selection – The athlete, player, team, individual, greyhound, horse, etc, that the punter has their bet on.
• Sharp bettor – A person or a group of people who work for living as professional bettors.
• Single bet – Often described as the simplest bet type. It is a bet placed on a single outcome of a specific event. Use our free single bet calculator to determine your winnings.
• Sire – A horse’s male parent is a sire.
• Square – A recreational or newby bettor, who typically follows the public hype and opinion of games.
• Stake – The amount of money that a bettor wagers on a particular bet or outcome.
• Steam – A sudden shift in a game’s spread. It typically occurs when a large number of gamblers or a betting syndicate pour a tsunami of money into one side of a game.
• Straight forecast – A kind of wager in which the bettor forecasts the precise order in which two designated horses will place among the top two finishers in a race.
• Super flag bet – A wager on five selections competing in several competitions, comprising 10 doubles, 10 triples, 5 fourfolds, 1 fivefold, and 10 single stakes About 46 bets in pairs of bets.
• Super heinz bet – A multiple bet that features seven selections and totals 120 separate wagers.

T

• Teaser bet – A bet type of Parlay bet that gives the bettor the option to change the game’s point spread, increasing the odds of winning. If they win, the bookmaker will decrease their payout in exchange.
• Tips – Also called picks, they are forecasts made by betting experts and presented to the general public or, in certain cases, to bettors pay for tips.
• Tipster – A person who constantly provides predictions on the likely outcomes of sporting events.
• Tote bet – A bet where your stake goes into a pool, from which winnings are paid from.
• Tout – A person who sells or gives away their betting tips.
• Treble bet – A multiple bet that consists of three separate wagers, on three different events. All picks must be accurate in order for your bet to win.
• Tricast bet – A bet where you must pick the first three finishers, in the correct order.
• Trixie – A bet type that includes three selections. 3 doubles and 1 treble. At least 2 are nedded for a win.

U

• Undercard – Used in the world of boxing and other combat sports, the undercard is the list of fights that precede the main event.
• Underdog – A sports team, player or outcome that is highly unexpected or almost certain to lose according to the bookmakers.
• Up and down bet – A wager that is divided into two parts. With the “Up” wager, you are betting on your selection to win. The identical pick placement is meant for the “Down” wager.

V

• Vig/Vigorish – Also known as the house edge or a fee charged by the bookies.
• Void bet – Because of an unanticipated event, your stake is returned. Consider a tennis player who is injured and has to withdraw from a match.

W

• Wagering requirements – A must-read text that specifies the rules, criteria and situations that you have to achieve in order to get a bonus is called wagering requirement.
• Welcome bonus – A bonus bookmakers make that is a one time item when you make your first deposit earning you some extra cash that you can bet with is termed a welcome bonus.
• Wiseguy – Punters that place smart and well thought out bets.

X

• X – A sign that represents that a game ended in a draw.

Y

• Yankee bet – A bet type made of up to 11 individual bets derived from 4 selections.

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A responsible gambler is someone who:

• Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
• Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
• Never chase their losses
• Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
• Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
• GambleAware – www.gambleaware.org

Find our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices here.

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