Betting Glossary: Common Betting Terms Explained From A to Z

Betting has its own vocabulary, and a lot of it is borrowed from three traditions at once: British bookmaking, American sportsbooks and Asian football markets. The same bet can have three names, and the same word can mean different things depending on who is using it. This glossary gives each term a plain definition of one or two sentences and points to the guide that covers it properly.

Odds in the examples are shown in decimal form with fractional or American equivalents where they help. If a term involves a calculation, the odds calculator will check the numbers for you. Terms are grouped by letter, so scroll to the section you need.

A to C

• Accumulator (acca): a single bet that links several selections, all of which must win. The odds multiply, so four legs at 2.00 pay 16.00. Americans call it a parlay. See our accumulator guide.
• Action: US term for a bet that has been placed and will be settled. In baseball, an action bet stands even if the listed starting pitcher changes, as the MLB guide explains.
• Ante-post: a bet placed well before an event, often days or weeks ahead. Prices are usually bigger, but in horse racing you normally lose your stake if your selection does not run.
• Arbitrage (arb): backing every outcome of an event with different bookmakers whose prices disagree, so the return is the same whatever happens. Our arbitrage betting guide covers the stake maths and the risks.
• Asian handicap: a football handicap with no draw, using whole, half and quarter goal lines that can produce refunds, half wins and half losses. See Asian handicap explained.
• Back: to bet on something to happen. On a betting exchange the opposite is to lay.
• Bankroll: the money you set aside only for betting, separate from bills and savings. Our bankroll management guide explains how to size stakes from it.
• Banker: the selection you are most confident about, kept in every line of a multiple or system bet.
• Bet builder: several outcomes from the same match combined into one bet and priced by the bookmaker. The US name is same game parlay. See prop bets and bet builders.
• Bookmaker: a company that sets odds and accepts bets. Also called a bookie, a sportsbook or simply a book.
• BTTS: both teams to score, a yes or no football market on whether each side scores at least once. Our BTTS and goal lines guide has worked examples.
• Buying points: taking a worse price in exchange for moving a spread or total in your favour, for example from -3 to -2.5 in the NFL.
• Cash out: an offer from the bookmaker to settle your bet early for a set amount. The offer includes a margin. See hedging and cash out.
• Chalk: US slang for the favourite. A chalky weekend is one where most favourites win.
• Closing line value (CLV): the difference between the odds you took and the final odds before the start. Beating the closing price regularly is one of the better signs of a good bettor. See the line movement guide.
• Correct score: a bet on the exact final score of a match. Prices are long because there are many possible scores.
• Cover: to win against the spread. A favourite at -6.5 covers if it wins by seven or more. See point spread and handicap betting.

D to F

• Dead heat: a tie for a position, such as two golfers sharing fifth place. Your stake is divided by the number who tied and that share is paid at full odds. The golf betting guide works through an example.
• Decimal odds: odds that show the total return for each unit staked, stake included. A £10 bet at 3.00 returns £30. See how betting odds work.
• Double: an accumulator with two selections.
• Double chance: a football bet covering two of the three results: home or draw (1X), draw or away (X2), or home or away (12). See draw no bet and double chance.
• Draw no bet: a football bet that refunds your stake if the match is drawn. It settles the same way as Asian handicap 0.
• Drift: odds getting longer, usually because money is going elsewhere or the news is bad. A price that drifts from 3.00 to 4.00 is now seen as less likely.
• Each-way: two equal bets, one to win and one to place, so £5 each-way costs £10. See our each-way guide.
• Edge: your advantage over the price, usually shown as a percentage of the stake.
• Evens: odds of 1/1, which is 2.00 in decimal and +100 in American. A £10 bet wins £10 profit.
• Exchange: a platform where bettors bet against each other instead of against a bookmaker, and the exchange takes a commission on net winnings. The matched betting guide explains backing and laying.
• Expected value (EV): the average result of a bet if it could be repeated many times. Per unit staked it is probability × decimal odds - 1. See value betting.
• Favourite: the selection with the shortest odds, which the market sees as most likely to win.
• First goalscorer: a football market on which player scores the first goal. Own goals do not count, and the bet is normally void if your player takes no part.
• Fixed odds: a price that is locked in when you place the bet, unlike pool betting where the payout is set at the end.
• Fold: the number of selections in an accumulator, as in a fourfold or a sixfold.
• Forecast: a horse racing bet on the first two finishers in the correct order. In the US it is called an exacta. See the horse racing guide.
• Fractional odds: odds written as profit over stake. At 5/2, a £2 bet makes £5 profit and returns £7.
• Futures: the US name for bets settled at the end of a season or tournament, such as the Super Bowl winner. In the UK these are outright or ante-post bets.

G to I

• Goal line: an Asian-style total goals line such as 2.25 or 2.75 that can produce half wins and half losses. See BTTS and goal lines.
• Gubbing: UK slang for a bookmaker limiting an account, often after it has been used for bonus offers or arbs. A gubbed account may be restricted to tiny stakes or barred from promotions.
• Half win and half loss: results on a quarter-line Asian handicap or goal line where half the stake wins or loses and the other half is refunded.
• Handicap: a head start given to one side so the bet is about the margin. In European handicap there is also a handicap draw, a separate selection for a level adjusted score.
• Hedge: a second bet against your original one to lock in some profit or reduce a loss. See hedging and cash out.
• Implied probability: the chance a price suggests, found with 1 ÷ decimal odds. Odds of 4.00 imply 25%. See the implied probability guide.
• In-play: betting after an event has started, also called live betting. Prices change with every goal, point or wicket.

J to O

• Juice: US slang for the bookmaker's margin, also called the vig.
• Kelly criterion: a staking formula that sizes a bet according to your edge and the odds. Most people who use it stake a fraction of the full Kelly amount to reduce swings. See bankroll management.
• Lay: to bet against something on an exchange, taking the bookmaker's role. You win the backer's stake if the selection loses.
• Liability: what a layer stands to lose, worked out as (lay odds - 1) × the backer's stake. Laying £10 at 4.00 has a liability of £30.
• Line movement: the change in odds or in a spread or total between opening and the start of the event. See line movement and closing line value.
• Longshot: a selection at long odds with a small implied chance, such as 20/1 (21.00, +2000).
• Lucky 15: fifteen bets on four selections: four singles, six doubles, four trebles and one fourfold.
• Margin: the bookmaker's built-in edge, the amount by which a market's implied probabilities add up to more than 100%. Also called overround, vig or juice. See implied probability.
• Matched betting: using bookmaker free bets and exchange lay bets to turn promotions into a predictable return. See the matched betting guide.
• Middle: betting both sides of a line at different numbers so both bets win if the result lands in between. Over 44.5 points and Under 47.5 points both win if the game totals 45, 46 or 47.
• Moneyline: the US term for a bet on who wins, priced in American odds. See moneyline bets explained.
• Nap: a tipster's strongest selection of the day, a name taken from the card game Napoleon.
• Non-runner: a horse withdrawn after you bet. On fixed-odds bets placed on the day your stake is normally refunded, while ante-post bets on a non-runner usually lose.
• Odds-on: a price shorter than evens, below 2.00 in decimal, such as 1/2 (1.50, -200).
• Outright: a bet on the overall winner of a league, tournament or race rather than a single match.
• Over/under: a bet on whether a total, such as goals, points or corners, finishes above or below a set line. Also called totals.
• Overround: the total of a market's implied probabilities. A football match priced at 2.20, 3.40 and 3.50 adds up to 103.4%.

P to R

• Palp (palpable error): an obvious pricing mistake. Bookmaker terms usually allow bets struck at a palpable error to be voided or resettled at the correct price.
• Parlay: the US word for an accumulator. See our parlay calculator.
• Patent: seven bets on three selections: three singles, three doubles and a treble.
• Place terms: the fraction of the win odds paid on the place part of an each-way bet, and how many places count, for example 1/5 odds for the first four. Terms vary by bookmaker and race. The each-way calculator works out returns.
• Point spread: the US handicap, mainly used in American football and basketball. See the NFL guide.
• Prop bet: a bet on something inside a game other than the final result, such as a player's points or shots on target. See prop bets.
• Puck line: the ice hockey spread, usually set at 1.5 goals. See the NHL guide.
• Push: a bet that lands exactly on the line, so the stake is returned. A -7 spread bet on a team that wins by seven is a push.
• Round robin: a set of all the smaller parlays possible from a group of selections. Three picks as a round robin of doubles makes three two-leg parlays.
• Rule 4: a deduction from winning horse racing bets when a runner is withdrawn too late for a new market to be formed. The size depends on the withdrawn horse's price, up to 75p in the pound. See the Grand National guide.
• Run line: the baseball spread, usually set at 1.5 runs.

S to U

• Same game parlay: the US name for a bet builder, combining several outcomes from one game.
• Sharp: a bettor, or money, with a long-term edge. When a price moves because of sharp money, it usually moves fast. See line movement.
• Single: a bet on one selection. It is the simplest bet and carries only one margin.
• Square: a recreational bettor, or the side of a market that casual money tends to back.
• Starting price (SP): the official odds when a race starts. A bet taken at SP is settled at that price, whatever it was when you bet. See the horse racing guide.
• Stake: the amount of money you put on a bet.
• Steam: a sudden, sharp price move as heavy money hits one side, often across several bookmakers at once.
• Teaser: a US multiple bet where you move each spread or total in your favour, often by six points in the NFL, in exchange for a much lower payout. See the NFL guide.
• Tote: pool betting where all stakes go into one pool and winners share it after a deduction. The payout, called the dividend, is only known after the event. The US term is pari-mutuel.
• Treble: an accumulator with three selections.
• Trixie: four bets on three selections: three doubles and a treble.
• Underdog: the selection less likely to win, at longer odds. Shortened to dog in the US.
• Unit: a standard stake size, usually a fixed percentage of your bankroll, used to record results consistently. See bankroll management.

V to Z

• Value: a price that is bigger than the true chance of the outcome justifies. See value betting.
• Vig (vigorish): the bookmaker's margin. A standard spread priced at -110 on both sides implies 52.4% + 52.4% = 104.8%.
• Void: a bet that has been cancelled, with the stake returned. In an accumulator a void leg counts at odds of 1.00.
• Walkover: a match where one side goes through without playing, for example in tennis. Bets are normally void, though each bookmaker's rules decide the details.
• Without (betting without): a market that removes the favourite, or a named runner, so you bet on who finishes best of the rest.
• Yankee: eleven bets on four selections: six doubles, four trebles and one fourfold.

Putting the terms to work

Knowing the words is the easy part. Before you place a bet, it helps to be able to say what the bet is in one sentence: the market, the line, the price, and what happens on every result, including a push, a void or a dead heat. If you cannot, read the guide linked next to the term before you stake anything.

Betting laws differ by country and, in the US, by state, so only use operators licensed where you live. Set limits before you start, and if betting stops being fun, our responsible gambling page lists the tools and where to get help.