There are many ways to wager on sports. Preferences vary, so it's great to have as many options as possible. Here is a rundown of the types of bets you will see at PointsBet.
✔️ Point Spreads
A point spread wager is a straight bet on a sporting event where you are either picking a favored team to win by a set amount or an underdog to either win outright or lose by less than the spread. Kansas City Chiefs -6.5 over the Las Vegas Raiders is an example of a point spread bet. If the Chiefs win by 7 or more, they cover the spread. If the Lions win, or lose by 6 or less, they cover. PointsBet standardly prices point spread bets at -110.
✔️ Moneylines
A moneyline is a wager on who will win the game. Negative odds are expressed in the amount you must risk in order to win $100. Conversely, positive odds show how much you win on a $100 bet. For example, say you see the Kansas City Royals -180 vs the St Louis Cardinals +150. If you want to bet on the Royals, you need to risk $180 to win $100. Likewise, a $100 wager on the Cardinals nets you $150.
✔️ Total Lines
A Total, or Over/Under bet is a wager on the combined total points (or runs, or goals etc.) scored in the game. In the Chicago Bears vs Detroit Lions you see a total of 47 points. If you bet the Over, you win if the teams combine to score more than 47 points, and conversely the Under wins if they combine for less than 47. Totals typically price at -110 as in regular spread bets.
✔️ Parlay Bets
A parlay is a bet where you combine at least two or more bets. In order to win the parlay, all the “legs” within the parlay must cash. You can create a parlay out of any combo of straight bets, money lines, totals, props, or virtually anything that has a line on it.
And you can parlay across different sports. Combining the Royals moneyline with the Chiefs-Raiders Over is a perfectly legal parlay. Payouts depend on how many legs are in the parlay and on the individual odds of each leg. There are often PointsBet Kansas promotions associated with parlays.
Teasers are a very popular type of parlay. It's a combo of between 2 and 5 bets where you are allowed to move the lines in your favor on each leg. In order to win the teaser, you must hit every leg. A typical two-team teaser lets you move a football spread 6 points on each game and a basketball teaser 4 points each game. You can also tease Totals with similar point moves.
PointsBet Sportsbook also offers Round Robins, which are actually a series of smaller parlays carved out of a larger parlay. Say its a 4 leg parlay. A round robin parlay would subdivide it into 4 separate 3-leg parlays, or 6 separate 2-leg parlays, or a combination of all the 3-leg and 2-leg parlays on top of the initial 4-leg parlay bet.
The plus side is that the multiple parlays give you many more chances to win. And you will get a nice potential payout if at least three of the legs do cash. The downside is that you need to put money down for each separate parlay.
✔️ Futures Bets
A typical futures bet is a wager on some event to occur by the end of a season. For example, you might see something like Kansas City Chiefs +1100 to win the next Super Bowl. A $100 bet nets you $1100 if the Chiefs take the trophy. Futures bet on Win totals are also popular, such as Kansas Jayhawks basketball Over/Under 25.5 wins.
✔️ Prop Bets
Prop bets are wagers on a specific achievement. There are player props such as “Pat Mahomes to throw Over/Under 2.5 TD passes vs the Broncos” and team props like “Kansas City Royals Over/Under 8.5 Hitss vs. the Minnesota Twins”. And there are props that are barely tethered to sports at all, like props on the length of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.
