Full Cover Betting options

There are several betting options including my personal favourites – multiple bets. These include Trixies (wagers on 3 selections with 4 separate bets (such bets include 3 doubles + a treble) Note that in this type of bet an absolute minimum of 2 selections must win to provide a positive return on the principle bet. I know this may sound a little strange to you, but there are bets called Yankee bets. This is essentially a wager placed on 4 selections and it consists of 11 separate bets. These are comprised of 6 doubles, 4 trebles and the inimitable four-fold accumulator. At the very minimum 2 selections must be winners in order to cash out.

Other popular types of full cover bets:

• Super Yankee bets (also known as Canadians) are quick-fire wagers on 5 selections with 26 separate bets. Again 2 selections must produce winners to effect a payout.
• Heinz and Super Heinz bets – nothing to do with ketchup but they are bets on 6 and 7 selections respectively. The former consists of 57 separate bets while the latter consists of 120 separate bets. Incidentally the  57 varieties is from the H.J. Heinz Company’s advertising slogan. In both instances, 2 selections must win in order to produce a return.
• Patent bets are placed on 3 selections with 7 separate bets. It’s only necessary for 1 winning selection to guarantee a payout
• Goliath bets are placed on 8 selections and there are a whopping – or GOLIATH – 247 separate bets. In order to cash up you will need to hit a minimum of 2 selections.

Other options available to punters include the following: Lucky 15 bets (4 selections and 15 separate bets. It’s the same as a Yankee plus 4 singles);  Lucky 31 bets (wagers on 31 separate bets and it’s the same as a Canadian plus 5 single bets);  Lucky 63 bets (wagers on 6 selections with 63 separate bets – only 1 is needed to guarantee a return) and an Alphabet ( 6 selections on greyhound or horse racing bets. It’s necessary for at least 1 correct selection to provide returns). In all cases the punters are playing their hearts out – pushing for massive paydays based on the results of multiple bets. Enjoy the punting folks .

The power of a multiple bet is that it affords punters with the option of generating massive paydays with very little cash. It’s sort of what I like to call a ‘leveraged bet’ in that a little juice goes a really long way. It’s also known as accumulator betting or laying a parlay. In a couple of words, a multiple bet works by placing a single bet on a number of sports matches. As you can well expect – the outcome can provide a handsome payoff.

Multiple bets in greater detail

A bettor would typically place a bet on the 1^st event. Note that this follows a specific order and if this bet is successful then the winnings and the principle are transferred to the next event. Each time the betting selection wins, the bet is carried over. This pretty much explains how you can leverage your small initial bet to make an absolute fortune. The flip-side is that if your result doesn’t come in, you’re going to dip out. There are essentially several different categories of multiple bets and these are them:

• Double Bets are bets on 2 selections. In order to win, both the results will have to come in.
• Treble Bets are bets on 3 selections. As in the above example, all three bets must come in for a win to be generated.
• Accumulator Bets are the big daddies of bets and there are 4 betting selections that must be recorded in order to win a massive payday.  The definition of an accumulator bet is not however simply one restricted to 4 bets coming good. There are accumulator bets for 5, 6, 7 or more options.

Winning an accumulator bet is pretty tough, but it’s easy to see how a small bet can lead to bigger and bigger winnings. Indeed I have seen Multiple Bets paying out $600,000 or more and that’s no joke. In the UK alone a £1 punt can spin into a payday of £500,000. Let’s say you’re keen to win a whole lot of money – who isn’t – and you place a selection of smaller multiple bets on a selection of large accumulator bets. This is what is known as combination betting and if you win. It’s plenty different from a single bet where you may have odds of 3/1 if your soccer team wins a match. If Multiple Bets were on offer at McDonalds, they would be Whoppers!

What about place bets? How do they work and what do they offer?

Let’s say that you’re punting on the outcome of a horse racing event. In this race there are multiple positions that you feel will come in. If you feel that Charlie’s Treasure (a fine steed) will not win a race, but will ultimately fare well, then a place bet is exactly what you should be punting on. Typically a place bet is made when you feel the horse will finish in 2^nd, 3^rd of 4^th position in a race. This is attractive to punters who are backing big money outside prospects.

Depending on the number of horses racing, place bets may/may not be an attractive proposition. With less than 4 runners there are no place bets. With 5, 6 or 7 runners you could be backing a horse to finish in the first two places (the greater the number of horses competing, the better the odds). With 8 -15 runners a place bet would be made to back a horse to finish in the top 3 positions. With more than 16 horses running (handicaps) a place bet covers the top 4 slots.

Let’s turn our attention to each-way bets

When you make an each way bet, you’re effectively making a bet on 2 separate betting markets. These include the outright winner and the place bet. The mathematics of the bet is such that 50% of the amount wagered is placed on the selection winning the event and the other 50% on the selection placing in the event. When you punt on this type of event you’ll notice a small box on your betting slip. When you mark this box the stake bet is doubled on the outright selection. Note: half the total stake is on the selection placing in the market. The part of the bet placed on the selection doesn’t pay the selection’s price as reflected in the outright betting market. Rather it’s fractional and depends on the amount of competitors in the race.

Getting going with money line bets

The way the odds work is rather amusing at first: risk a little to win a lot with the underdog or risk a lot to win a little with the favorite. Imagine picking the Green Bay Packers (favorites in this example) to win by placing a $145 bet to win back $100 ($100 profit + $145 principle). Whereas if you bet against the GBP and in favor of say the Washington Redskins (Underdogs) you might place a $100 bet to win back $156. Notice the differential here: you’re getting $156 back off your $100 wagered, whereas with the former bet you’re wagering $145 to win just $100.

These bets are represented by way of + and – signs. The minus sign means that you’re betting on the favorite and the plus sign means you’re betting on the underdog. The ‘juice’ is the figure that is reflected as the amount ‘left over’ beyond the 100 figure. So -120 has juice of 20 meaning you’d have to punt $120 to win back $100. All bets with a + or – 100 are even money bets and there’s nothing in it for you – win or lose. Happy punting and remember to seek out the favorable money lines – they really pay off in a big way.

In its most basic form a moneyline can best be described from this example. Let’s assume that two of my favorite teams are playing – the BRS (Boston Red Sox) and the New York Yankees (NYY). I’m going to take the following random + and – signs for the purposes of illustration since these often confuse first time punters and sports bettors. Let’s say that a big game is taking place and the ‘odds’ show the Yankees as the preferred team to win.

Boston Red Sox +133 (Note the + sign here means that this is the underdog)

New York Yankees -156 (Note that the – sign here means that this is the favorite team)

Before I go any further I must stress how this numbering system works. You notice the – sign in front of the New York Yankees as -156. If this figure becomes more negative, then the team with the most negative figure is the favourite. So -199 is preferred over -133 and so on. Right – back to basics we go.  All punters placing a bet on the Yankees will have to pay $156 to recover $100 in winnings.  These are called negative moneylines and they reflect how much you need to lay out in order to win $100 bet.

Now let’s turn our attention to the positive money payments. A clear example can be seen from the above +133 on the Boston Red Sox. What this means is that in order to win $133 from a moneyline bet placed on the Boston Red Sox, you’d need to wager $100. It’s that simple   In essence every bet placed on a positive number team will yield more than $1 payoff for every $1 wagered. Conversely, a bet on a negative number team will yield a fraction of a dollar for every dollar wagered – hence it’s a bet on the favorite team. I’ve given sound advice to all punters regarding moneyline bets. It’s clear that for sports like football and basketball the going ‘moneyline’ is around 110. A moneyline lets you bet on who you think will win with no pointspread.

It gets more complicated so for now let’s wrap it up and enjoy the moneylines

Finding the breakeven points in moneyline betting is all important. This tells you as the punter how many times (%) a team must win in order to break even. These figures can be found in charts and by way of example; a +100 moneyline can be translated into making a $1 bet to recover $1. But reading into what this means is critical. If you win a bet and then you lose a bet you have broken even. That means that there is a 50% chance you’ll break even here. If the odds are -200 then that means you have to wager $200 to win $100 or a ratio of 2/3. And so it goes.  Join me next time for more exciting new on moneyline bets.

Positive figures (+) in front of the odds represented are a reflection of how much money stands to be won on a typical $100 bet.  So if we were to have fractional odds of 5/1 they would be reflected as +500.  Negative figures (-) on the other hand show how much money must be wagered in order to win a $100 bet. This is always done for the purposes of odds that are less than even. So a fractional bet of 1/2 would be shown as -200. The other option in moneyline betting is the term even odds. Thus it would be reflected as + or – 100 with most bookmakers not bothering to place the sign in front of the 100.

Moneylines in great detail

I’ve compiled a list of several points that should always be born in mind when playing the moneyline bets. Remember that moneylines are all about the team winning. With that in mind, let’s see what needs to happen with these bets:

• Moneylines change between the placing of the bet and the event’s starting time – but payouts depend solely on odds at bet placement
• In order for punters to win the bets, the team that he/she bet on must win the game
• When it comes to the same event, then both moneyline bets and totals lines can be placed
• Moneyline bets can be placed on 1 team while a Point Spread bet is placed on the other team
• Moneyline bets and Point Spread bets cannot be placed on the same team
• If there are tie games these are considered no action results
• Moneyline bets can only be placed on 1 team

To clarify much of the information that I’ve listed above, I’d like to make use of a simple example. Let’s say that a sports bettor decides to bet on Buffalo (-190) beating Miami (+285). That means that the bettor must wager $190 to win back $100 if Buffalo wins the game. But another sports bettor needs to wager only $100 to potentially win back $285 – a real treat and unlikely.

How sports betting became a massive force in South Africa

Make no bones about it – sports betting is a massive and growing enterprise in South Africa. The whole business of punting on sports is regulated by various gambling laws and authorities. Suffice it to say that everything is under the watchful eye of big brother and that’s just grand. Only bookies who are actually licensed to accept wagers on things like horse racing and the like can legally operate. These selfsame bookies also take wagers on all manner of other bets such as cricket, rugby, football, tennis, athletics and so forth.  And because we’re dealing with everything with an African flavor, there is little appeal or desire to be involved with typical American sports in the NFL, NHL, NBA and the like. It’s all football,  horse racing, cricket, rugby, hockey and boxing in South Africa – and the fans go berserk for these sports.

More about what sports bets are most popular in South Africa

First thing that comes to mind when I think of sports wagers in South Africa is cricket. The Proteas are a world force in the game and their performances regularly evoke a mountain of sports betting activity. While countries like India and Pakistan certainly outdo South Africa at the bookmakers when it comes to cricket, the SA market is large and thriving.  Another sport that has captivated players and punters alike is rugby This is a far bigger betting market than cricket in South Africa. The Super 14 Rugby is all the rage and the local teams competing in the contest draw lots of attention from sports punters.

An aspect – somewhat unfavorable many years ago – was the betting scandal that dogged SA cricket with Captain Hansie Cronje. The said player was accused alongside other notable players in a match-fixing scandal. Although Cronje was certainly not the only player to be accused or convicted of malfeasance, this tarnished the golden name of cricket in SA until this day. Conversely however, this catapulted sports betting into the limelight and the repercussions have been sublime.  But both cricket and rugby pale in comparison to the massive appeal of  sports betting on football match outcomes. The recent 2010 FIFA World Cup is a case in point, but in spite of that, local teams are the central focus of punters in a new concept to SA called the Soccer 6. Popular operators in South Africa include BetFair and Lance Michael. A characteristic of SA sports betting is that most of it is done over the telephone or in person.

In this case, the Phillies are the favourites as can be seen by the – (minus) written in front of the 140. On the other hand the NY Yankees would be the underdogs with the + (plus) sign in front of the 120. All it means is that if you wager on the NY Yankees you will wager $100 to win $120 and if you wager on the hot favourites the Phillies you would risk $140 to win $100 back. This is the way money lines work. In fact you can pretty much bet as much as you like – you don’t’ have to bet in multiples of $100 at all – it’s simply for illustration purposes.

The money lines are used for many great sports where the point spread is no longer of any value to punters. As mentioned earlier this includes sports such as boxing, baseball and hockey. The differential between money line odds on the hot team and those on the underdog normally results in the hot team winning increases in payouts. The odds change the + and – signs accordingly.  This is because bookies only cash in when the underdog wins – that’s where less punters are placing their bets! Whereas with point spreads, the bookmaker would typically have an equal volume of cash on each team – that guarantees a profit either way. That’s why money lines are generating a lot of interest because the hope is that massive profits can be gained from wagering on the underdog. Happy sports betting sports fans!

Another popular betting type is the inimitable spread betting. These are rather standard and they’re hugely popular. Bets here are popular and they are represented by + and – signs in front of competing teams (see previous blog post for more information). One of my favourites of course is the over and under bet category. Here there are options to wager that the total score of both teams will either be over or under an assigned number of points. A quick refresher of a parlay bet is in order too – it’s sort of a multi-bet or a multi-outcome bet. It provides punters with higher odds than the individual bets would amount to – so it’s a worthwhile option if it comes good. A caveat is in order here – the more events that you wager on in parlay fashion, the greater the advantage shifts to the sportsbook. Just before moving onto money lines, I’d like to say a few words about teaser bets. These are bets where you can move the spread bet by a set amount. It costs you cash to do it – but it’s well worth it if it pays off. You must bet at least 2 teams like a parlay bet and both must win.  And now for money lines – these are bets on the straight up total of events as well as the odds for a straight up proposition bet. Like I mentioned earlier with the + and -  figures. The minuses represent hot favourites with lower payout odds. And the plus figures in front of the team represent the underdogs  with better payout options for money wagered. Enjoy your sports punting!

Entering the world of sports betting

Before I put this to rest, I’d like to add that the feeling you get when your team/player wins is that much more amplified when that team/player also wins you money. That’s where it’s all at for me. The combination of passion for sport and cold hard cash are like the duo – dynamite and kerosene.  Take a peek at the following money lines:

• Chicago Cubs +145

• LA Dodgers -110

What we can tell right off the bat is that the Cubs are the underdogs and the Dodgers are the favorites. This is reflected by way of the + for the Cubs and the – for the Dodgers. It’s a little tricky for a first-time punter but I’ll try to be as clear as possible in this explanation. A punter wanting the Dodgers to win would be willing to wager $110 for a $100 return for a winning outcome. A standard bet on the Cubs would be wagering $100 to win $145. Now if the underdogs come in that’s a return of 45% on your investment of $100 – not too shabby J However if the Dodgers don’t come in , then you’ve wagered $110 – lost it – and the most you would have received was $210 ($110 wager + $100 winnings). Note that each and every sport has different money lines. These can get really tricky if you’re not familiar with the tote.  When we turn our attention to point spread betting then the bookie hopes that there is a relatively equal ‘spread’ of bets on both the favorite and the underdog. This always guarantees the bookie a profit.   But if every one always bets on the favorite and he/she always wins, then the bookies go out of business.