Sports Betting Glossary
If you want to get into the action of sports betting, it is important that you know what the terms mean on betting sites. Sports bettors place wrong bets a lot of the time. The sports betting terms can also make you overwhelmed at times.
In our guide, we have deconstructed all the major betting terms used in very simple language. Before you start betting using some of the best betting sites in India we recommend, let’s look at the sports betting glossary.
Accumulator (Acca) – A bet made up of several bets where all selections need to win for the overall bet to win.
Arbitrage – Same as hedging; spreading liability or placing a bet to lock in a profit.
Asian Handicap – A head-start in terms of goals or portion of a goal given in football.
Bad beat – A bet lost in unlucky circumstances. E.g., as a result of a last-minute goal in football.
Best price – The betting site offering the highest odds on a particular outcome.
Betting Exchange – Type of betting platform where customers place bets against each other.
Betting limit – When a bookmaker limits how much a customer can wager per bet, per day or per week.
Bhav – Bhav is a local Indian term for the team’s betting odds to win a match.
Bonus – Betting money or free bet given as a reward to customers by a betting site.
Bookmaker (bookie) – A company or individual offering customers betting markets.
Dead-heat – Where two selections tie e.g., two bowlers taking three wickets each. Not to be confused with a draw in football or cricket.
Decimal odds – Popular method of displaying odds, especially online, where odds of 2.0 mean evens.
Deposit – Act of transferring money into your betting account. We have a guide on how to deposit money on betting sites as well.
Deposit bonus – Extra money given to a customer when they make a deposit.
Double – A bet made up of two bets. A double is therefore a form of acca.
Draw no bet – Money returned if the game ends a draw, so the customer has to choose one team or the other.
Each-way bet – A bet where half of the stake is to win and the other half is to place.
Even money – A bet that pays out at exactly the value of the stake and theoretically has a 50% chance of winning.
Exotic bet – Betting markets beyond winner or total points, sometimes based on individual player achievements.
Field – All the selections available to bet on in a particular market.
Handicap – An artificial head-start given to the outsider in terms of goals, runs or points.
Handicap race – Horserace where horses carry different weights according to their career-long ability or recent form. This is one of the things to watch out for when you do horse race betting.
Hedging – Placing alternative bets to limit your liability or ensure a profit of sorts.
Implied probability – Chances of something happening expressed as a percentage rather than betting odds.
Favourite – The player, horse or team with the lowest odds and therefore biggest chance of winning.
First goalscorer – Soccer bet on which player will score the opening goal of the match.
First Innings Runs – Betting market with odds on how many first innings runs will be scored.
Form – How a team or player has performed in recent games.
Futures – Betting on the winner of a future event (e.g., the IPL) rather than just an individual match.
Fractional odds – Old-fashioned way of displaying odds as fractions, still sometimes used in the UK.
Joint-favourite – Where two teams or players are both available at the same (shortest) odds as anyone in the market.
Jolly – Another name for a betting favourite.
Lay – Offering odds and accepting bets based on them.
Live betting – Betting on an event after it has already started.
Livestreaming – Sometimes offered by bookmakers to allow customers to view events live while they bet on them.
Matka – Matka is a local Indian numbers based game which is a type of lottery. Satta matka is still widely played in small Indian towns & cities.
Mobile betting – Bets placed by a customer through a smartphone or other mobile device.
Odds – Numbers that assess/express a player or team’s chances of winning. For example, India’s playing Bangladesh in a T20 match. The cricket odds for an India win are 1.42 while Bangladesh odds are 3.00. This means
Odds-against – A player or team whose odds suggest it has a worse than 50% chance of winning.
Odds-compiler – A person who works out the odds on something happening and adjusts them if necessary.
Odds-on – A player or team whose odds suggest that it has a better than a 50% chance of winning.
Outsider(s) – Player or team not among the favourites and available at big odds.
Overround – The house margin or profit built into bookmakers’ prices.
Over/Under – Whether there will be more or less than a set number of points, goals, corners etc.
Outright betting – Betting on who will win a tournament or be the top tournament batsman rather than betting on individual matches.
Parlay – Another name for an accumulator or acca, where all selections need to win.
Place – Betting that a horse or team finishes Top 3 or Top 4 rather than winning.
Price – Another name for odds.
Punter – Slang term for betting customer or bettor.
Satta – Satta is a local latin hindi term for betting. This term is widely used by people who take part in online cricket betting.
Satta bazar – Satta means betting and bazar means market. Satta bazar is highly popular term in the betting circle.
Sportsbook – A betting site or company offering odds on sports events.
Specials – Betting markets about singing contests, reality TV or award ceremonies.
Stake – The amount you decide to place on a particular bet.
Super Over – Extra over at the end of a T20 match to decide the winner in the case of a tie.
Steam – Where a selection is heavily bet, causing the odds on it to become shorter.
Team with top batter – Which side will have the player who scores the most runs in the game.
Tip – Betting advice given by tipsters or previewers ahead of a betting event.
Tipster – Person offering betting tips either for free or as part of a subscription.
Two-way odds – Market with just two selections and no tie. T20 matches (that have a Super Over to decide the winner if necessary) are an example.
Value – Getting better odds than what the bookie should be offering.
Void market – Betting market cancelled due to such factors as bad weather cancelling the event or an Act of God.
Welcome bonus – Cash or free bets given to new customers, normally on their first deposit.
Wager – This is an American term that means to place a bet or put your stake in any event.
Withdrawal – A customer receiving money from their betting account to a bank account, card or E-Wallet of their choice.
Online Cricket Betting Glossary
Let’s now look at the online cricket betting glossary:
Century scored? – Betting market on whether any player will score 100 (or more) runs in the game.
Highest Opening partnership – Which team will score the most (cricket) runs before losing their first wicket.
IPL – Short for Indian Premier League, India’s premium T20 annual tournament. IPL betting is extremely popular. This is the most highly-awaited event for any cricket fan in the world.
Limited-overs matches – Includes ODI and T20 cricket matches where each team bowls a finite number of overs.
Man of the match market – Betting market on which cricketer will be considered the man of the match.
Most match sixes – Which team will hit most sixes? The tie is normally a third runner in the market.
Pre-toss odds – The odds on the winner of a cricket match before the toss is made.
Top Batsman market – Popular betting market on who will score most runs for their team.
Top Batsman in the match – Betting on which batsman will score the most runs from across both teams.
Top Bowler market – Popular betting market on which bowler will take the most wickets for their team.
Toss winner market – Betting on which cricket team will win the toss.
Series score – Betting on what the final score will be over an ODI, Test or T20 Series.
